Noah’s report, “Bye Buy Canada? Evaluating social procurement strategies under Canada’s trade commitments,” has been published with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
In his report, Noah Fry finds that Canadian trade deals have held back progressive public procurement strategies. This is evident in recent attempts to align public purchasing with social objectives like local and worker skill development. These instances of ‘social procurement’ aim to mitigate the domestic costs of globalization. In the last three years, the federal, Ontario and Québec governments have each introduced their own social procurement strategies. Fry observes significant limits to each strategy. He argues that while ideological factors are partly responsible, the largest barrier to social procurement is our trade commitments. The report suggests moderate policy reforms but concludes the greatest social procurement potential is locked behind recent trade agreements.
This report draws from an essay submitted to the Progressive Economics Forum’s Graduate Essay Competition 2023, for which he received an honourable mention for best paper.
Originally posted to: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives