The NDP is either rewarding friends by creating a Crown corporation that will act as a hiring hall for infrastructure projects or making a stand in the effort to include more apprentices, women and Indigenous people in the construction of bridges and roads.
We suggest the aim is good, but creating a whole level of bureaucracy to do this work seems like overkill and will probably add to the costs of projects.
Called the Community Benefits Agreement, the new workforce model was announced last week by Premier John Horgan at BCIT in Burnaby.
By the fall, a new Crown corporation (B.C. Infrastructure Benefits Inc.) will be in place to act as the employer entity for select projects under the agreement.
The Pattullo Bridge replacement and the four-laning of the Trans-Canada Highway between Kamloops and Alberta will be among the first such projects.
BCIB will hire the projects’ construction workers and will work with unions and contractors to dispatch labour, as well as manage payroll and benefits.
While non-union contractors can bid on government projects, if they win a contract, they would be required to hire only unionized workers under the new agreement.
That means non-union tradespeople and labourers will be forced to join unions, at least temporarily, and be forced to pay union dues and into pension funds from which they may never benefit, according to the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association.
We need assurances that this won’t be the case, as well as an explanation as to why these requirements aren’t just part of the requests for qualifications, with the winning bid the one with the best job managing costs and engaging in progressive hiring practices.
What will this new Crown corp actually cost taxpayers, and will it be worth it?
All the same, we applaud the fact that a request for qualifications is finally being issued for the rebuilding of the 81-year-old Pattullo Bridge.
The new bridge will be safer, with wider lanes and a centre median, and could be open by 2023. More than four lanes would have made sense, but that’s a topic for another day.
– With files from the Tri-City News
