When first announced, the background materials that accompanied the Prime Minister’s speech included the statement that these measures, to be known as the Policy on Prioritizing Canadian Materials in Federal Procurement would make sure that Canadian suppliers, and their products are prioritized in all federal spending, that both domestic and foreign suppliers contracting with the federal government will be expected to source key materials from Canadian companies in both defence and construction procurements that exceed a still unknown threshold, and that the policy would initially cover Canadian steel and softwood lumber, but be sufficiently flexible to allow the Government to adjust the parameters and include additional domestic materials over the following months.

In his speech to students at Ottawa U earlier this week, the Prime Minister named those additional domestic materials when he stated that: “Our upcoming budget will move forward our new Buy Canadian policy — prioritizing Canadian steel, aluminum, lumber, manufactured goods, and technology for Canadian projects.”

For tech vendors to the federal government, both domestic and foreign, already feeling the pressure to respond to Canada’s expectations on data residency, data sovereignty and digital infrastructure sovereignty, this means finding more ways to include Canadian tech firms in their supply chains.  A far better approach, in this humble writer’s opinion, than the inconsistent ‘Buy Canadian’ provisions in several large tech procurements that the federal government has been rolling out of late.

Note, I don’t blame civil servants for this; trying to buy purely Canadian tech is like trying to buy Canadian bananas.  You can only do so much.

Remember that procurement obligations under the new policy will also apply to federal agencies and crown corporations in addition to departments.  And as was also promised, the federal government will provide a roadmap so that it can be adopted by provinces, territories, and municipalities as well.  This amounts to billions upon billions of procurement dollars.

For tech vendors to the public sector, it’s hoped that the new policy will provide clarity, and if it does, it will be welcomed.  The proof will be in the pudding, or in this case, the application.