The new majority Progressive Conservative government, led by premier-designate Doug Ford, will transition into power at the end of the month. As part of our post-election coverage, the Daily Commercial News reached out to various construction industry leaders for input on what they think are issues that should be at the forefront for the new government. In the final article of this two-part series, stakeholders discuss how Ford should focus on labour issues and construction contracts.
Patrick Dillon, business manager for the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, recalls a conversation he had with PC Leader Doug Ford at a Building Trades conference in Quebec recently.
He shared with him a suggestion should his party be elected into power: “When people come to his party with something that is broken in the labour relations field in Ontario, that he should not react to that individual organization or group, that he should bring the construction industry to the table, let that organization make their pitch to the whole industry as to what they think is broken. Then we all have input as to whether it’s broken or it isn’t. He agreed to that and said that’s exactly how he wants to operate.”
Ford was elected into power on June 7, defeating former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne. Voters also secured the NDP as the Official Opposition.
When it comes to labour issues and the new government, the priority for the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA) and the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) is labour monopolies, something both associations hope Ford will tackle.
“We hope in Mr. Ford we will find someone from whom we can secure a commitment to focus on some worker issues that we feel have been overlooked for the past few years,” said Ian DeWaard, provincial director at CLAC.
“In particular, CLAC has been advocating for fair and open tendering in municipalities that are caught up in tendering restrictions or labour monopolies.
“We believe that a government committed to fiscal responsibility and fairness will see that by making municipally tendered construction work available to more than just a select few privileged contractors, that both the taxpayers and workers would benefit.”
Sean Reid, vice-president of development and member relations at the PCA, added, “We’re looking forward to this as a fresh start. There are so many issues affecting our industry right now that you need new thinking and new eyes on the problem. Our priorities will be fairness for workers and for taxpayers when it comes to open tendering on municipal projects.
“The second major area for us is reform to our training and apprenticeship system so we can once and for all address the skills shortage that is affecting our industry.”
The Ontario election provides a clean slate, said Giovanni Cautillo, executive director of the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association, enabling some fulsome discussion on the topic of community benefits and what should and shouldn’t be included in contracts.
“The election allows the government in power now to audit or analyze where we’re actually at,” said Cautillo, adding the PCs need to be given a chance to roll out their platform.
“From our perspective, on the heavy civil side, we do hope that infrastructure spending is not sacrificed at the cost of programs that keep people happy. There are a lot of initiatives in the cue right now, things like community benefits and social procurement, that is the flavour of the day or at least of the previous government. We’re open and willing to work with anybody who wants attract people to construction but not when its prescriptive.”
Reducing red tape is also top of mind for Cautillo’s members.
“We’re hoping that this government eases some of the previous government’s demands on construction when it comes down to social procurement and community benefits to allow for the proper development of that program,” he explained. “We as an industry offer up our experience and expertise in helping the government reduce red tape, reduce backlog, reduce unnecessary spending. We can help with the process.”
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