2021

Report on
Redefining
Local:
Centre for Local
Prosperity

Prepared by Amos Creaser, Aaliyah

Lahai, Bee Morrison, Vanessa
Moulaison, Callum Russell, and Sarah
Steele

College of Sustainability
It is impossible to discuss local systems or questions of locality without first
stopping to acknowledge the land on which these systems are situated. This
report was researched and written on unceded and unsurrendered Mi’kmaq,
Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territory. The Centre for Local
Prosperity operates largely in Mi’kma’ki and is accountable to the Peace and
Friendship Treaty of 1752. We invite all persons interested in local economies,
local procurement, and trade within Atlantic Canada to read the Peace and
Friendship Treaty of 1752. There is a rich history of trade between nations
within Mi’kma’ki, which existed long before the arrival of european settlers.
Understanding our place in local systems, both spatially and historically, can
open opportunities to reimagine and co-create just futures. We are all Treaty
People.
 I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Table of Contents II. INTRODUCTION

Purpose of Project 1
Background 2
Overview of Sustainability 4

III. TOOLKIT
Description 6
Indicators 8
Toolkit Application Example 13

IV. DISCUSSION 16

V. CONCLUSION 18

VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 19

VII. REFERENCES 20

VIII. APPENDICES
Glossary of Terms 22
Research Methods 23
Interview Questions and Answers 27
Executive Summary
This report, in partnership with the Centre for Local Prosperity, will examine
opportunities around adding nuance to local procurement policy. We explain
that by combining local procurement with the three pillars of sustainability, the
Centre for Local Prosperity will be able to both encourage local producers to
engage with their communities in a more sustainable way and also reward those
who already value sustainability within their work.

There is no fixed definition of the word ‘local,’ which makes it an easy term to
manipulate. While public perceptions of what the word ‘local’ means can vary,
generally there is consensus that local is equivalent to sustainable. While local
products might be more sustainable in some sectors, local products are not
inherently more sustainable than standard products.

We provide our recommendations for sustainability indicators within the three

pillars in the form of an adaptable Toolkit. The Centre for Local Prosperity can
use this Toolkit when connecting local businesses to institutions that are
interested in localizing their procurement strategy. Based on our research and
conversations both with the Centre for Local Prosperity and individuals who
work in procurement within Atlantic Canada and globally we provide specific
recommendations for focus areas within each pillar.
 Introduction
Purpose of Project
In conjunction with the Centre for Local Prosperity (CLP) and the College of
Sustainability, our research team has designed a Toolkit containing a collection of
sustainability indicators and adaptable resources. This Toolkit addresses the apparent
inconsistencies that occur when organizations attempt to secure local procurement. We
clarify vagueness within the term ‘local’ while simultaneously reiterating its connection
to sustainability. The term local has no set definition - its boundaries are defined by the
individual (Global Affairs Canada, 2018). A company that is considered 'local' could also
hold practices that harm the environment, local economy, and/or social systems within
the community. The Toolkit we created will exist as a user-friendly and flexible device
that links the broad concepts of sustainability and locality together. Through the Toolkit,
we have defined local to include all of Atlantic Canada (i.e., Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador) (Figure 1). The CLP
and their clients may use the Toolkit to understand how local procurement strategies
should consider the environment, social impact, and economic development. We
believe this resource has the potential to continue to grow from this framework.

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 Figure 1: Locality is defined by the individual. The CLP's scope for what is defined as local is the Atlantic
Canadian Provinces. This is consistent throughout the report.

Background
Sustainability is more than a buzzword people use in different industries. The increasing
conversations among industry advocates and academia surrounding sustainability has
required companies to improve their corporate sustainable practices (Varsei &
Polyakovskiy, 2017). Successful adoption of these requests will require the
development of sustainable indicators that embody the three pillars of sustainability as
they pertain to supply chain and operational practices (Figure 2) (Varsei & Polyakovskiy,
2017; Fritz et al., 2017). Sustainability is defined as "development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs" (Brundtland Commission, 1987). The definition further separates sustainability
into three distinct pillars: economic, social, and environmental. The procurement
department in various companies have yet to grasp a holistic understanding of this
definition of sustainability. When asked, some procurement officers viewed
sustainability in the sole context of renewable resources and environmental protection.

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 Figure 2: The three pillars of sustainability; economic, social, and environmental. If one of the pillars does not
meet the same height as the other ones then the entire system remains unbalanced.

When corporations prioritize profits over sustainability, the balance of the three pillars
becomes offset (Figure 2) and disrupted as the economic pillar dominates industries.
The CLP reports how large institutions exert their power on the market and how large
foreign corporations hold absolute economic persuasion when profit margins are
prioritized. The local procurement information currently available is fragmented,
creating difficulty for institutions to make informed decisions on how to procure goods
and services locally in accordance with our definition of sustainability. Organizations
like the CLP face many challenges when encouraging institutions to localize their
procurement policies. The benefits to procuring locally for the institutions include lower
shipping fees and reliable relationships between the supply line and the business. For
the community, local procurement can strengthen relationships and circulate more
dollars spent throughout the economy (Global Affairs Canada, 2018).

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 The CLP has already generated research and data for local procurement activities.
Although our team noticed that there is a significant gap between their research now
and how it connects to the three pillars of sustainability. We believe the sustainable
Toolkit we are providing will improve their research moving forward and provide
institutions with an encompassing understanding of the relationship between locality
and sustainability.

Overview of Sustainability
In order for a healthy environment, the social and economic pillars must coexist with
each other, and therefore they must operate within the confines of the environment
(Figure 3). As mentioned previously, the goal of sustainability is to improve human
welfare without compromising environmental resources for future generations.

ENVIRONMENT

SOCIAL

ECONOMY

Figure 3: Layers of sustainability showing how social and economic sustainability fit within the greater system
of the environment.

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 Social sustainability works to create healthy and livable communities with
characteristics like diversity, equity, and connectivity, while maintaining good quality of
life for all its residents (ADEC Innovations, 2021). In the business world, social
sustainability is trying to improve people’s lives in society by understanding the impacts
businesses have (ADEC Innovations, 2021). For example, how stakeholders may be
affected by a development project would be addressed under social sustainability. This
sector can also create opportunities for the working sector as it may open-up new
markets, mitigate risks, and improve company-community relationships. Consumers
who are conscious about the three pillars are attracted to businesses that care about
this same approach (McCann, n.d.). Therefore, businesses will be able to expand their
consumer base by marketing their sustainable efforts.

Economic sustainability is meant to support the production and continuation of the

economy indefinitely and therefore must be mindful of the resources available now and
in future generations (Think.org, 2014). True cost accounting is a new bookkeeping
method for businesses trying to record the indirect costs associated with the
production of their products, whether it be the total positive or negative impacts their
business has on the environment (Chouinard, Ellison, & Ridgeway, 2011). The issue up
to this point is that economic activities have caused the environment to degrade
rapidly. Environmental costs have never been assigned responsibility (Chouinard,
Ellison, & Ridgeway, 2011). Economic sustainability starts with taking responsibility for
business actions and then trying to reduce their impact.

All three pillars of sustainability can be incorporated into businesses. Aligning with a
sustainable mindset can mean reducing your carbon footprint, being energy efficient,
and/or reducing waste (Haanaes, n.d.). In the case of the CLP and our project we are
focusing our energy on providing examples of how businesses in Atlantic Canada can
be more aware of sustainability options and how they can fit our toolkit into their
procurement practices.

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 Toolkit
A quick description.

The Toolkit will be comprised of indicators which have been outlined and supported by
corporate sustainability research. Our team has categorized these indicators under the
three sustainability pillars: economic, social and environmental, as well as a unique
supply chain indicator classification. The decision to broaden our scope and include the
supply chain as its own category was supported by research that highlights how vast a
supply chain can be. Upon further research, we noted the indicator's ability to host the
all three economic, social and environmental pillars (Varsei & Polyakovskiy, 2017; Fritz et
al., 2017). Figure 4 demonstrates the various icons that will be a visual representation of
the indicators. The CLP can use these icons to provide a brief overview to an institution
seeking to procure locally through identifying the potential benefits of supporting local
suppliers.

Figure 4: The four main categories of the Toolkit are represented by the above icons. If a business satisfies the
indicators outlined in the Toolkit, they will receive a specific badge or icon on their profile.

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 Upon assessing a company’s ability to satisfy the indicators outlined under the various
categories, the CLP may connect them with a procurement opportunity. If the CLP
wishes to create a public database on which they host local businesses and further aid
institutions in their quest for local procurement, they may include these icons as well.
The icons in addition to the descriptions provided may serve as a means of educating
the public on the sustainable endeavours of these businesses, and provide an
understanding of the magnitude to which their actions benefit the local economy,
community, and the environment (Figure 5). The next sections of the paper will provide
a guided tour of the various indicators under each category.

Figure 5: A sample of the theoretical CLP database which will identify and host businesses. Institutions
looking to procure locally can search by region and products. The icons and subsequent descriptions
represent the various sustainable indicators that the company’s operational and supply chain strategy
satisfies. This figure is an example and none of the businesses highlighted above have been subjected
to the Toolkit assessment.

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 Indicators
In the quest for sustainability, it can be helpful to have a roadmap. The sustainability
indicators we have chosen will help provide markers for sustainable practices. The
desire for sustainability may seem obvious, but our social, environmental and economic
sustainability indicators serve specific purposes, both in bettering the greater
community and the companies that hold these practices. The sustainability indicators
we have chosen to include in this Toolkit are not an exhaustive list as there are
numerous directions that institutions can take in their journey towards sustainability.
While we believe these specific indicators are important, they are only a sampling of the
possible indicators that could be included in a sustainability Toolkit.
The indicators included in this report have been chosen based on a wide variety of
criteria. Based off our interviews, literature review and conversations with the CLP, we
have chosen indicators that can best encapsulate all three pillars of sustainability.

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 Environmental
Environmental indicators will refer to an institution's impact on the earth's biodiversity
and ecosystems. The environmental indicators can be measured through both
quantitative and qualitative research. These indicators will help guide institutions who
are concerned about the climate, biodiversity loss, and the state of the global
ecosystem. They will also help identify suppliers that work towards lessening these
issues. The benefits of this may seem obvious from a global community perspective, but
environmental sustainability is important from an internal perspective as well. Globally,
we are shifting to sustainability, and it is better to be on the edge of innovation as
opposed to playing catch up (Brundtland Commission, 1987). Consumers are trending
towards sustainable products at an ever-increasing rate in order to support
environmentally conscious companies.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

An analysis of a product, either cradle to dreidel or cradle to grave,
assesses the product's environmental impact throughout its lifecycle
(Simonen, 2014) (Appendix 1.0).

Ecological Footprint
The ecological footprint can range from one person’s consumption to an
entire nation. The biocapacity of the individual or nation measures the
number of natural resources being consumed throughout their lifetime
(Hayden, 2019) (Appendix 1.0).

Carbon Footprint
Sustainable consumption and production patterns in terms of carbon
emissions through the use of non-renewable resources (Selin, 2020)
(Appendix 1.0).

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 Economic
Economic sustainability refers to the financial well-being of an institution. The Bruntland
Commission explains that economic growth can not be at the expense of the
community or the environment. Economic sustainability indicators can be both
quantitative and qualitative. They are concerned with the long-term health of
institutions within the current economic system. Economically sustainable companies
will be able to outperform their competitors and contribute to the community in a
positive way. They contribute more to their local systems than they take.

Employees paid a living wage

Whether or not the employer pays their full-time employees a living wage
based off of the municipal standards (Ex. Halifax: $21.80, Bridgewater:
$16.85) (Driscoll & Saulnier, 2020).

Cost savings through efficient energy usage

Does the business utilize renewable energy or utilize any sort of
government subsidies for transitioning to renewable energy?

Triple Bottom Line and B Corp Status

Has the business earned any of these certifications/designations?
(Appendix 1.0).

Percentage of green jobs in the local economy

Does the business provide any green jobs? Green jobs respond to global
challenges and try to provide environmental protection, economic
development, and/or social inclusion (International Labour Organization,
2021) (Appendix 1.0).

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 Social
Social standards for sustainability are more difficult to measure or set into specific
structures and indicators. They require change and reevaluation to adapt to society's
ever-changing values. Institutions that are socially sustainable are the companies that
are socially progressive. Within an institution, social sustainability allows for a diverse
range of perspectives and skills. The UN defines social sustainability as the process of
identifying and managing the impact of one’s business on people. These people
include employees, other workers within the value chain, customers, and surrounding
communities (UNGC, n.d.).

Local communities
A company should be providing the community it operates in with immediate
and clear benefits such as charitable donations, hiring local employees, paying a
high tax rate, build infrastructure, or sell their products for affordable rates (Reed
et al, 2006). These are benefits that could otherwise be unavailable.

Social innovation
A company should be working to create new social practices which can meet
the social needs of their employees and communities. These social practices
should be better than pre-existing ones and should result from better working
conditions, more education opportunities for upward mobility, development
within the community, and health resources.

Diversity
In accordance with the Government of Canada’s employment equity standards,
the company should “encourage the establishment of working conditions” that
are barrier free, aim to “correct conditions of disadvantage in employment, and
promotes the principle that it requires special measures to accommodate
differences for the four designated groups” (Government of Canada, 2021).
These four groups include: Women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with
disabilities, and members of visibie minorities.

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 Supply Chain Indicator
Prioritizes institutions who have transparency across their supply chain. All aspects of
the supply chain will meet the criteria of the sustainable definition that was identified
above. It will further ensure that all aspects of the other indicators (environmental,
social, and economic) are upheld throughout the entire supply chain.

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 Toolkit Application
Example

We have applied the Toolkit we created to a local business within Atlantic Canada to
demonstrate how it can be used. This example will identify the most sustainable aspects
of the company while also identifying aspects that could be improved. This was not
done in collaboration with Stone Hearth Bakery but rather simply an analysis to show
the effectiveness of the Toolkit we created.

Stone Hearth Bakery is a social enterprise that was established in 1982 and they provide
a work-based training program in “the demand[ed] skill of baking” (Stone Hearth
Bakery, 2021). Stone Hearth is the only retail and wholesale kosher bakery east of
Montreal which produces “premium quality European-styled breads, bagels and
specialty baked goods'' which are distributed in Atlantic Canada (Stone Hearth Bakery,
2021). Their products can also be found in large grocery stores such as Sobeys.

Stone Hearth Bakery is considered a social enterprise because it is operated by the not-
for-profit MetroWorks Employment Association. This association exists to “provide
meaningful training and employment opportunities for individuals 19 years of age and
older who are...experiencing barriers to employment” (Stone Hearth Bakery, 2021).

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 Indicators

Environmental Indicators:
Does the organization measure its carbon emissions? Unknown
Does the organization have an environmental management strategy? Unknown

Economic Indicators:
What percentage and/or number of employees are based locally? All of them
What percentage and/or number of suppliers are based locally? Unknown

Social Indicators:
Awarded Champions of Mental Health Awards
Work Skills training - opportunities for advancement
Profits reinvested back into their programs
Does the organization provide a living wage? Yes
Does the organization engage in activities that support the voluntary/community
sector? Yes
Does the organization provide work opportunities for hard to reach populations (i.e.,
disabled, homeless, at risk youth, ex-offenders, over 50 with health issues)? Yes

Supply Chain Indicators:

When assessed under the qualifications for our 'supply chain indicator.', Stone
Hearth Bakery demonstrates that they care about the rights of their employees, they
value education and upward mobility, and they ensure the health and safety of their
employees. The bakery items they produce stay within the locality of Atlantic
Canada - further growing the economy through all steps of the supply chain.

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 Analysis
After much research, we were able to identify that Stone Hearth Bakery is extremely
socially sustainable and aligns with the indicators put forward by our team. The Bakery
addresses one of the economic indicator questions, yet none of the environmental
indicators. It would be recommended that companies should do more research into
these indicators to find out if they align with the economic and environmental
sustainability interests.

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 Discussion
Our team proposes recommendations for the use of the Toolkit. The Toolkit will be
congruent with the CLP's current practices and will amplify its positive impacts within
Atlantic Canada. Our goal for the Toolkit is to help balance the three pillars of
sustainability for anchor institutions looking to procure locally. The Toolkit will include
already established commerce concepts such as the triple bottom line and B Corp
status. These concepts look to emphasize people, planet, and profits simultaneously
which aligns with our definition of sustainability and the three pillars.

The Toolkit will provide a clearer definition of what sustainable business are for the CLP.
Our sustainability indicators provide a framework for which they can analyze companies
through a broader social, economic, and environmental lens. The indicators that we
chose for this Toolkit are not an exhaustive list, however, we identified them as the most
insightful. We hope the CLP will add to this list and grow from the foundation we have
started for them. In the future, if the CLP wants to grow the Toolkit into a database that is
user friendly for the wider public they will already have a prototype design available.
The icons provide a simple and eye-catching method of portraying the sustainability
indicators to the public. Our team would like to highlight that a user friendly and
accessible interface is important when working with new concepts like sustainability.

Millennials and Generation Z cohorts have shown that they value environmentally and
socially conscious businesses more than previous generations of consumers (HBR,
2019). Partnering our Toolkit design with local procurement will help develop consumer
and supplier relationships and strengthen our community’s economy. Using the
pandemic as an example, we can see how international shipping relationships have
slowed down or even stalled. More resilient, prosperous, and close communities are the
result of procuring locally. Our Toolkit will be one of many actions that create a positive
change for local procurement in Atlantic Canada. Scaled down, every dollar directed
from large businesses and anchor institutions into a sustainable local business is a
success. Empowering consumers through sustainability indicators with the use of our
Toolkit in a larger database will make this spending transition easier to facilitate.

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 Moving from a consumer level to a more corporate level, where larger amounts of
money are spent, companies are also encouraged to transition to this sustainable
economic framework. If the corporate level shifts to being more sustainable then the
impact will have long-term gain. Large anchor institutions and businesses within
Atlantic Canada who are making the transition to increased local procurement would
benefit these businesses. As mentioned in our interview with David Burch it may not be
possible to source all products locally, but as discussed with the public sector employee
interviewee, increasing contract-based local procurement still supports the economy
(Appendix 3.0). Our framework can provide the criteria used by these institutions when
making their procurement decisions. Moving forward, it will be useful to measure the
economic impact of providing sustainability indicators to businesses working with the
CLP, as it will demonstrate whether or not the indicators are effective in implementing a
new business model across Atlantic Canada.

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 Conclusion
The journey to sustainability lends itself to focusing on local systems, but local systems
are not necessarily sustainable. Partnering locality and sustainability can lead to strong
economic systems that will last for generations. By giving institutions the option to
contextualize their local procurement with a Toolkit that outlines environmental,
economic and social sustainability, they are able to make informed decisions that
benefit their local systems. It also benefits the long-term sustainability of the systems
they are buying into. The sustainability Toolkit we chose to put together will allow for
the CLP to facilitate more informed decision-making for their clients. By focusing this
Toolkit on sustainability, we are able to capture a holistic understanding of
procurement. Each indicator was chosen to cover a key aspect of sustainability. The
Toolkit will be able to grow and change as society progresses and our understanding of
sustainability and local systems evolves.

It is our hope that the Toolkit, in partnership with the CLP’s current practices and
expertise can be used to highlight the importance of the longevity of Atlantic Canada's
local systems.

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 Acknowledgments
Our team would like to extend our gratitude to the many people and groups who helped
our shifting perspectives around sustainability, and the individuals who helped further
our project. We would like to thank the teaching team of our course, Debra, Georgia and
Peter, but specifically our teaching assistant, Alysha, who was available for every
question we had. We would like to extend our thanks to our interviewees, for their time
and expertise. Last but not least, we would like to thank our counterparts at the Centre
for Local Prosperity, for the guidance and the opportunity to work with an organization
within our community.

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 Appendices
1.0 Glossary of Terms
B-Corporation: A certificate that measures the social and environmental capacity of a business. It
evaluates how a company's business model impacts their employees, the community, the
environment, and their customers (B-Corporation, 2021). If a business has this certification it means
they are performing the highest standards for best management practices.

Carbon Footprint: A carbon footprint refers to the entire amount of greenhouse gas emissions
(GHG) “produced to, directly and indirectly, support a person’s lifestyle and activities” (Britannica,
2021). A carbon footprint is often measured in equivalent tonnes of CO2 per annum and can be
related to an individual, an organization, an event, or a product.

Ecological Footprint: An ecological footprint refers to the impact that a person or community has
on the environment. It is measured in the amount of land which is required to sustain use of natural
resources (Oxford Dictionary, 2021).

Employment Equity: In accordance with the Government of Canada’s employment equity

standards, the company should “encourage the establishment of working conditions” that are
barrier free, aim to “correct conditions of disadvantage in employment, and promotes the principle
that it requires special measures to accommodate differences for the four designated groups”
(Government of Canada, 2021). These four groups include: Women, Indigenous Peoples, persons
with disabilities, and members of visibility minorities.

Green Jobs: Jobs that work towards preserving, protecting, or restoring the environment. These
jobs tend to be in “traditional sectors such as manufacturing, construction” or in newer sectors such
as those in “renewable energy and energy efficiency” (International Labour Organization, 2021).

Life Cycle Assessment: A life cycle assessment (LCA) is the “systematic analysis” of the potential
environmental impacts that a product or service can have during its ‘life cycle’ (Sphera, 2021).

Living Wage: A living wage is referred to as the hourly rate which is required for “two working
parents to meet the basic needs of a family of four” (Vancity, 2021). The family of four is used as a
measurement as it is the “most common family size and the Living Wage is a fair proxy for other
family sizes and single adults” (Vancity, 2021).

Triple Bottom Line: The triple bottom line (TBL) is an economic concept that believes companies
should focus as much on social and environmental concerns as is focused on profits. This theory
suggests that there should be three bottom lines: profit, people, and the planet (Investopedia, 2021).
TBL is a good measurement of corporate social responsibility.

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 2.0 Research Methods
2.1 Background Research
Broad topics for initial search included topics like forestry/pulp, education, professional
services, construction services, hotels/tourism/catering, food/drink, and
alcohol/tobacco.
Understanding local procurement within Atlantic Canada using Google searches,
newspapers, articles, studies, Government websites, and client provided documents.
Investigated what kinds of goods were being imported into the province using the
Government of Canada's Department of Innovation Science and Economic
Development (ISED). Introduced how large a supply chain can be.
Conducted interviews with people in the field of local procurement to help narrow
down how sustainability fits within the local procurement sector (Appendix 3.0). This
helped shift our project focus once again.

2.2 Scoping of Project

First plan for the project was to create a working database to be used by the CLP to
connect local producers and consumers to help promote local procurement, thus
making it more feasible for small businesses.
Second plan for the project was to focus solely on the food and beverage industry
because it was one of the higher imports into the province that was feasible with the
work we could do. We were planning that the database would connect local producers
with businesses trying to procure locally.
This second plan we had in place was already being done by other databases that had
far more resources than our team had. The final plan for the project was too create
something that would provide sustainable guidelines for businesses that does not
already exist for the CLP.
The Toolkit is our final result and it will be used by producers to gauge how sustainable
their business practices are and highlight it for potential procurers in the market.

2.3 Toolkit Outline

Based on the three pillars of sustainability.
Sustainability indicators highlighting social, economic, and environmental practices.
Determined to guide businesses into sustainable operating practices and educate the
importance of sustainable business models.

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 3.0 Interview Questions and Answers
3.1 Public sector employee
1. How do you define sustainability as it pertains to the province’s procurement policy?
Follow-up: we are working more on ‘local’ procurement policy. To what extent does
localization affect the province’s procurement policy?

2. What obstacles is the province still facing in regard to local procurement and
sustainability?

3. Through Debra, we understand that you have done extensive work in sustainable
procurement - throughout this time, what has changed?

4. Could you provide us with an example or two of provincial projects that you have worked
on in the field of sustainable procurement? What has been successful and unsuccessful
within these? Which sector do you find yourself working in most in terms of procurement?

5. We have reviewed the 2014 NSERDT capstone project that you were involved with, and
were wondering if the framework/tool created was successful in practice? Did NSERDT
continue to use this framework/tool currently? What part of the tool is the most helpful? And
would you recommend this tool as a potential solution/deliverable to the local procurement
problem we are addressing?

6. Which method used in the 2014 capstone project was most effective in collecting the
information about the environmental certifications on products? (I.e., the focus-group
interviews or the survey-questionnaire)?

7. What barriers has your department faced when trying to prioritize local procurement and
what solutions have emerged?

8. What would make your job easier? To what extent to do think shifts in procurement
policy can affect environmental change? To what extent does Atlantic Canada have
capacity for re-localization?

9. What would make your life easier for local procurement in the province?

10. Where does the province generally procure from?

11. Are there any last comments you wish to make, or any questions you want to ask us?

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 Our first interview was with an employee who works for the Government of Nova Scotia
who has knowledge on sustainable procurement within the province and who has
previously worked with Capstone groups from the College of Sustainability. We
interviewed this employee to discuss procurement policy in government and the limits
that are applied. This interview started with what sustainability means in relation to the
three pillars of sustainability and how the Nova Scotia government’s definition was
primarily about the environmental pillar until 2009. We transitioned the interview into
discussing how the Nova Scotia government cannot preferentially choose to procure
locally from businesses within Atlantic Canada because it is detrimental to provincial
relations.

If Nova Scotia will not import products from other provinces, it can stop Nova Scotia
businesses from exporting out of Atlantic Canada. Another obstacle that the Nova Scotia
government sees with procuring solely from Atlantic Canada is that the geographic area
does not have the volumes to support Nova Scotia products and so it would require the
province to procure from many different smaller contracts rather than one larger
contract which would supply everything in one go. However, these contracts do require
there to be 10% of local products – examples of this being in CISCO contracts with
hospitals or Dalhousie and Acadia University’s food contracts. This requirement of 10%
local has increased over the years and has the potential to keep growing. Overall, the
opinion of this government worker was that the Nova Scotia government is losing their
environmental sustainability goals (i.e., losing progress in that sector) and putting more
resources into social sustainability projects. The province needs to find a way to work
towards a goal with all three pillars of sustainability in consideration rather than
separating it and moving forward. In the words of our interviewee, the Nova Scotia
government needs to “keep the pedal on for both environmental and social sectors”
(Public Sector Employee, personal communication, 2020).

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 3.2 David Burch
1. How do you define sustainability as it pertains to procurement policy? We are working
more on ‘local’ procurement policy - to what extent does localization affect procurement
policy?

2. Can you tell us about some local procurement projects with municipalities that you’ve
worked on? What are some of the social/economic effects have noticed in your work?
What was successful? What wasn’t successful?

3. In your opinion, what some obstacles that institutions/municipalities face when trying
to procure locally?

4. We took a look at the CLES website, could you tell us more about community wealth
building and local procurement?

David Burch is a senior researcher from The Centre for Local Economic Strategies
(CLES) which is a national organization for local economies. Burch works to deliver
policy, research, membership, and consultancy work at CLES and so we thought his
input and perspective would be invaluable to our Capstone project. Burch touched on a
few points which we found influential to our research, the first being the influence that
institutions have on a market. This suggests that if an institution or business is already
producing a product at a competitive price then it may always have a higher success
rate than a business that produces its product locally. Burch also touched on the point
that if a product that an institution is looking to procure but that product is not produced
locally, there really is not much you can do about it. These points made our team
reassess what local means to us and whether local meant Nova Scotia or Atlantic
Canada or the entire country of Canada as a whole.

Another valuable takeaway from our interview with Burch included the criticisms that
companies face when they put themselves first. Although some view companies who
only hire local, procure local and distribute locally as a negative thing – Burch noted that
this is a method of embedding social value into an economy. He went on to note that
this is because everyone is ‘obsessed’ with outsourcing yet by doing this, takes wealth
out of the economy.

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 3.3 Gregory Heming
1. Could you give us a brief personal introduction?

2. We read that you were a founding member of the Centre for Local Prosperity, so we
were wondering why it was started/why was it created?

3. How do you define sustainability? What does sustainability mean to you?

4. We were looking at your website and noted that you are focused on “steady-state
economics and more enlightened and restorative approach to business” – could you
speak more on this?

5. What is the biggest obstacle facing local procurement?

7. Do you have any examples of times when projects the Centre for Local Prosperity did
make major changes in a municipality or institution?

8. Do you have any comments or questions for us?

Our final interview was with Gregory Heming, the founder of the CLP who has dedicated
a lot of his professional life to “promoting a dialogue on the interconnectedness of
environment, economics, rural community development and politics'' (G. Heming,
personal communication, 2020). We started the interview with a discussion of what the
term 'sustainability' means to Heming, which he defined as a spiritual state of being and
a heartfelt connection. Heming gave us insight into the beginning of the CLP, which was
helpful to learn the beginnings of the organization we are working for. Our interview
transitioned into sustainability measures and how current attitudes about climate
change need to shift. Heming suggested that one of these attitudes was ‘parochial
paranoia’ which is also an obstacle that local procurement faces. Parochial paranoia is
the mindset which does not let new ideas be shaped, rather it focuses on broader
ideas/solutions rather than the small-scale ones that could be solved at the local level.
Heming suggested that as a whole, we need to focus on time scales that are nearer in
the future rather than those far away (i.e., focus on goals set for 2030, not 2050).

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