PCA Welcomes BC Conservatives’ Commitment to End the Restrictive Bidding Policy and Calls on Other Parties to Follow Suit

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The Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA) says a BC Conservative policy announcement will create significant job opportunities, deliver major savings for taxpayers, and attract investment.

In their recently released platform, the BC Conservatives commit to "Restore broad competitive bidding for provincial infrastructure." "This can't happen soon enough," stated Dan Baxter, PCA BC Regional Director. "There's time for other parties to make the same commitment."

PCA believes this will put an end to the monopoly control of government contracts by a handful of select Building Trades Unions who have a preferred arrangement with government to access work under the Community Benefits Agreement framework. That arrangement has driven up the cost of public infrastructure by an estimated 20 per cent and shut out 85 per cent of the province's qualified construction workforce from work on major public projects.

That 85 per cent includes unionized workers. PCA member companies employ more than 40,000 unionized construction workers, and they are locked out under the current rules. "Our workers are unionized, trained and certified, and most of them can't bid on the hospitals and bridges their own taxes pay for," said Baxter.

The Pattullo Bridge replacement was budgeted at $967 million with a 2023 completion date. It cost taxpayers $1.6 billion and was completed three years late.

Baxter noted that Bill M 233, a private member's bill introduced last session, called for labour-neutral procurement on all public-sector construction projects in British Columbia, and that a new government could introduce it in its first days.

BC faces a $13-billion deficit, high taxes and delayed infrastructure projects that run way over budget. The PCA says that whoever forms government must pull the emergency brake on spending. The best place to start is to allow fair and open tendering on all major public infrastructure projects.

What the next government must do:

The PCA is calling on the incoming government, within its first 100 days, to:

  • End the Community Benefits Agreement requirement on new public tenders;
  • Introduce labour-neutral procurement legislation modelled on Bill M 233; and
  • Tell investors that British Columbia is serious about getting things built, on time and on budget.