Monday, December 18, 2017

Fair Tendering Lobby Gets Boost from CLAC National Convention

Fair and open tendering means that all qualified contractors and workers are given the chance to bid and work on publically funded projects—regardless of union affiliation. Currently in Ontario, a legal loophole means that in some municipalities, only workers affiliated with a certain union can work on publically funded projects such as arenas, libraries, etc.

Three years ago, we had brought a resolution to the CLAC National Convention to fight for fair tendering. At the 2017 convention, held in Kitchener on October 26 and 27, the Ontario reps reported on the actions we’ve taken.

Since 2014, we have held about 100 meetings to advance knowledge of the cause, have commissioned academic studies to prove that closed tendering costs taxpayers millions of dollars, and have worked with MPPs to bring a bill for fair tendering to the Ontario legislature. We have spoken to the minister of labour a half dozen times on this matter, and have lobbied politicians in municipal, provincial, and federal office.

This fall, we hosted a roundtable in Cambridge for contractors, an MPP, CLAC reps, and contractor association reps moderated by fair and open tendering guru, Brian Djikema of the think tank Cardus. The well-attended event, which was covered by the Daily Commercial News, focussed on closed tendering in the Waterloo region and led to new strategies within the contractor community.

We attended a procurement event with the mayors of Ontario’s two fastest-growing cities and the federal infrastructure minister. CLAC hopes to meet with Mayor Bonnie Crombie of Mississauga soon, and has events scheduled with City of Toronto staff to advise the city on how to improve the return they receive on transit infrastructure spending.

With a provincial election coming up in June 2018, we want to hear from the party leaders on this issue, so we helped sponsor a speaker series with the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, allowing us to ask each leader about tendering. Unfortunately, Premier Wynne ducked the issue by misunderstanding the question and talking about arbitration for essential services such as police and firefighters. We will hear from PC leader Patrick Brown in November but expect a similar reply, since we know the opposition is reluctant to comment on divisive issues.

We plan to meet with candidates and members in the coming months to discuss the issue. Further, CLAC will survey the party leaders on key labour issues leading up to the election and publish the results for you to consider when you go to the polls.

Fair Tendering Lobby Gets Boost from CLAC National Convention

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