“There is something seriously wrong when thousands of Ottawa-area construction workers and local companies have no chance to build one of the largest infrastructure projects in the city’s history"
A group that represents construction companies has asked the Competition Bureau to investigate an agreement between The Ottawa Hospital and a labour organization to build the new $2.8 billion Civic campus.
Karen Renkema, vice president of the Ontario region with the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada, said an exclusive labour agreement between the Unionized Building and Construction Trades of Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec and The Ottawa Hospital is both unprecedented and not in the public’s best interests.
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The agreement prohibits contractors and workers who are not affiliated with the unions that are part of the agreement from bidding on and doing work on the hospital’s new campus, said Renkema. No other health-care facilities in Ontario have been built using the kind of restrictive labour agreement that is part of the new Civic build, according to Progressive Contractors’ association.
“There is something seriously wrong when thousands of Ottawa-area construction workers and local companies have no chance to build one of the largest infrastructure projects in the city’s history,” Renkema said. “This is a deal that shuts out local talent and does not provide good public value. That warrants an investigation.”
In a statement Monday, the hospital said the labour agreement was reviewed by the Ontario Labour Relations Board and allowed to move ahead.
The hospital announced the agreement in January, saying it would help ensure construction of the 2.5 million-square-foot facility moves ahead on schedule. The new Civic campus, located on a 50-acre site at the eastern edge of the Central Experimental Farm, bordered by Carling Avenue, Preston Street and Prince of Wales Drive, is scheduled to open in 2028.
In a statement released earlier this year, the hospital called the deal a “first in Ontario” and said the agreement would “eliminate risk for work delays and disruptions caused by strikes or lockouts during construction of The Ottawa Hospital’s new campus — the largest and most important health-care infrastructure project in Ottawa’s history.”
The hospital also said the agreement sets consistent safety standards ensuring all workers on site are properly trained and creates apprenticeship opportunities for populations underrepresented in the construction trades.
The hospital statement from January stated that the agreement follows Ontario’s requirements for an open and competitive procurement process.
Renkema called her organization’s concerns “a real fairness issue.
“The largest concern, at the end of the day, is that this is anti-competitive and it is costing taxpayers more and it is cutting out thousands of workers in the Ottawa area.”
She also raised concerns about an article in the agreement stipulating that every December, each bargaining agent that is a member of the unions will make a charitable gift to The Ottawa Hospital “that is roughly proportionate to work opportunities provided to members of the bargaining agent working or in connection with the project that year. The amount of the charitable gift will be determined by each member bargaining agent.”
Renkema characterized it as being that “in exchange for a monopoly of work on the project, the unions provide charitable donations back to the hospital.
“We think the Competition Bureau should look at that portion of the agreement very carefully. In any type of procurement, if someone promises a kickback in order to get a contract, that is not above board.”
The agreement also contains commitments to apprentices and training the next generation of skilled workers, to health and safety on the job and to providing a safe work environment. It also stipulates that workers should use the parking garage and not park on surrounding streets during construction.
Prior to the labour agreement, the hospital signed a New Civic Development Project Charter with the Unionized Building and Construction Trades of Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec that committed to a “no work stoppage” arrangement with its 35,000 members of the unionized building and construction trades in more than 60 construction fields for the duration of the project.
The Progressive Contractors Association of Canada represents 15 contractors in the Ottawa area, Renkema said.
The Competition Bureau did not respond to requests for comment by deadline Monday.