Buy Ontario: Practical Strategies for Implementation Webinar

In this video, Rosslyn Young discusses the Buy Ontario Act and its various directives. She covers the implications for public procurement and how organizations can implement this legislation effectively. The session also addresses practical steps for compliance and the potential legal considerations involved.

• The Buy Ontario Act is a framework law that empowers the provincial government to issue binding procurement directives requiring public entities to give preference to Ontario and then Canadian goods and services, effectively using public purchasing power to promote and protect the provincial economy.
• Four main directive pillars sit under the Buy Ontario Act – Building Ontario Business Initiative, Procurement Restriction Policy, Fleet Vehicle Procurement, and Capital Infrastructure Procurement – with municipalities currently required to comply only with the fleet and capital infrastructure pillars, marking the first time the province has directly mandated procurement policy at the municipal level.

• Compliance and defensibility are central to implementation: organizations must update policies and templates, train internal stakeholders and suppliers, document exemptions and evaluation decisions rigorously, and be prepared for provincial compliance reviews that can result in corrective actions or even withholding of funding for non-compliance.