What Happened?
In response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic protectionism, the Ontario government has been signaling over the past year that it intends to shift towards an Ontario-first and Canada-first procurement regime. Today, the Ford government tabled the Buy Ontario Act, 2025, confirming its long-awaited plan to create an Ontario-first procurement framework across the public sector. The main impact will be felt by suppliers that provide goods and services to any Ontario government ministry, agency, organization, and even municipalities.
What’s New
The new Act repeals the previous Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act, 2022, otherwise known as “BOBI”, and strengthens the spirit of the former legislation by advancing a stronger made-in-Ontario procurement regime. Unlike BOBI’s regulation-based approach, this Act centralizes the power to issue directives on made-in-Ontario procurement into the hands of the Management Board of Cabinet.
The announcement revealed a procurement hierarchy in which nearly every Ontario ministry, agency, organization, and municipality will be required to source from Ontario suppliers first. If an Ontario supplier cannot meet reasonable cost or timeline requirements, buyers may then turn to Canadian suppliers, and only after that to international sources. This marks the first time the province will explicitly codify a tiered structure that prioritizes province-made goods and services in public procurement.
Supply chain intermediaries and funding agreements will also be targeted with substantially more financial and administrative oversight to ensure these requirements are met throughout the supply chain.
The government also confirmed it is developing centralized vendor lists of qualified Ontario and Canadian suppliers. These lists will serve as authoritative tools for accessing procurement opportunities and will make registration and qualification an early prerequisite for doing business with the province.
This framework is expected to create advantages in securing government contracts for Ontario-based providers, assuming they meet the eligibility criteria in demonstrating Ontario origin or local value-add.
What’s Next
Domestic suppliers should ensure they can document local content and be ready for vendor-list registration once details are released. Meanwhile, suppliers that depend on international sourcing should begin mapping potential vulnerabilities and documenting where domestic substitutes do not exist. Transition directives, compliance guidelines, and additional clarity are forthcoming.
This new act serves as a reminder that we are living in a new reality, and McMillan Vantage is here to help you navigate it. Our team is ready to help you understand how this new legislation affects your business and ways you can benefit from it. Contact us at info@mcmillanvantage.com.
