Government “Buy Canadian” policies favouring domestically produced material for public infrastructure would put B.C. projects in a bind when it comes to steel due to the added cost and lack of availability for key products, according to industry insiders.

Canadian steel, aluminum and wood products are at the centre of Canada’s tariff war with the U.S., and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent budget includes efforts to prioritize domestically produced materials for federally supported procurement.

On the West Coast, however, it can be more expensive for construction companies to ship Canadian steel from Central Canada than it is to import material by sea, which puts added cost pressure on public projects already subject to soaring budgets, according to economist Jock Finlayson.

Buying do

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