Coquitlam council put fear over principle this week when it failed to add a "buy local" clause in its procurement policy.
Such a clause would have been more ceremonial than practical; indeed, there would be many cases when the city couldn't find local businesses to do the job and there would be little likelihood of some big American firm crying foul over NAFTA. In tendering, the city already has to go with the cheapest bid, and it would do little harm to favour a local business when every other point on the scale is the same.
But it appears that the issue is a dead one for now despite the efforts of some Coquitlam councillors, and while it's not a subject to get people marching up the ramparts (or even much of a vote getter in November), at the very least, a more thorough review of the idea could have been considered.
In Canada, where large chains dominate the landscape, it's hard to define exactly what a local business is. But Coquitlam could at least have given the semblance of trying to favour those companies that pay taxes in their city.
