Fair and Open Ontario

On April 2, 2019, the Ontario government passed Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act. This bill contains a section that, after 30 years, finally opens bidding on publicly funded construction contracts to all qualified companies. This is something CLAC has been championing for many years.

For too long, competent contractors have been shut out of publicly funded projects in their communities due to a loophole in the Ontario Labour Relations Act that allowed municipalities to be certified as construction employers by unions. Those that became certified, including Toronto, Hamilton, and the Region of Waterloo, have been bound by these unions’ collective agreements and required to tender all of their construction work to a particular union (or small group of unions) and select contractors.

This is not only unfair to the thousands of workers and contractors who have been shut out of publicly funded projects, but it reduces competitiveness. Twenty-six percent of Ontario taxpayers have been paying an 8 to 30 percent premium on municipal construction work, according to think tank Cardus. The impact is greater when other public entities are included, such as Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One, and the Toronto District School Board, which are also subject to restricted tendering.

The bill’s passing will bring a much greater degree of fairness to procurement across the province. Fair and open tendering should be required for all publicly funded construction projects. All qualified local workers—regardless of union affiliation—deserve the opportunity to work on projects in their own communities. CLAC members are safe, well-trained, and highly qualified to do publicly funded construction work.

The bill still gives certain municipalities and public agencies the ability to choose closed tendering. Therefore, CLAC is calling on municipalities and publicly funded agencies that are currently subject to closed tendering to support this new act. Competition on public projects will ensure good value for the dollar, accountability to local taxpayers, and work opportunities for everyone within the community.