Why We Advocate

For the past 25 years, PCA has taken on the mantle of advocating for increased competition and fairness in Canada's construction labour, apprenticeship, and procurement laws. 

We have developed sophisticated lines of argument and persuasion to support our claims for legislative change, and political leaders across the spectrum have come to see PCA and its members as a key stakeholder in the construction sector. 

When thinking back to the roots of PCA and tracking our ongoing efforts, it is worthwhile to reflect on why we advocate in the first place. After all, legislative change is often a long and slow grind, fraught with complexity, opposing voices, and political instability.  

So, why does PCA advocate, and how?

The laws of a society rely upon the Rule of Law. All individuals, governments, and organizations are accountable to fair, public, and equally applied legal standards. 

However, legislators don't always get it right. The citizens for whom the laws are made may not uniformly support their provisions. Political parties have their own tribal take on legislative advancement. Laws enacted are later updated, modified, or even removed. Laws are also subject to interpretation by the courts. 

Advocacy is the process by which individuals and groups of individuals express their perspectives on why and how a given law should be applied, enforced, modified, or withdrawn. 

Lawmakers must attend to often contrasting perspectives, assessing the viability of these ideas and demands through complex decision-making lenses. What is recommended for their own political party in advance of the next election cycle? How will their political opponents react? How will major stakeholder groups respond and mobilize? What laws are better for a local community versus the broader region? What regulations are appropriate for one sector but not for another? How will investors interpret these laws?  How will the courts determine the soundness and legitimacy of the legislation?

Given this complex decision-making frame, it is clear that advocates must have a clear mind and clear objectives when representing the interests of their constituents. 

The Greek philosopher Aristotle spoke of three pillars of advocacy: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. Sound advocacy must adhere to logic, credibility, and emotion. An appeal must have correct reasoning, it must be trustworthy and believable, and address an injustice. 

Many advocates rely upon the fear factor in bringing forward their concerns. Such appeal to base emotion can lead to ad hominem (personal) attacks, and can become overly muscular and distastefully aggressive. One might assume that logic alone should prevail, but the market square is a grey area, where ivory tower reasoning is insufficient. Relying upon credible arguments alone is rarely sufficient, as the levers of power and political change are awash with competing interests, however plausible. 

A platform of advocacy which fails to emphasize all three pillars runs the risk of divisiveness, manipulation, and failure. At PCA, we advocate with intent, based on all three pillars. 

In Canada's construction sector, we encounter numerous examples of laws which are deserving of improvement or outright removal. PCA and its community of contractors tend to agree with Charles Dicken's character Mr. Bumble, who, famously in Oliver Twist, popularized the phrase "the law is an ass (donkey).” The meaning here is that laws can be rigid, producing nonsensical or unfair results. 

Since the founding of PCA, we have identified a long list of legislative barriers to fairness and accountability:

• Ontario's "construction employer" provision, exempting contractors not affiliated with craft unions from public work in multiple municipalities 
• In Alberta, all-employee bargaining units forced to mimic craft-based certifications 
• Labour laws in multiple provinces allowing for single trade carve-outs from all-employee bargaining units
• Saskatchewan’s exclusion of all-employee bargaining units
• BC and Manitoba government crown corporations’ labour pacts which restrict procurement to contractors signatory to craft unions
• BC and Saskatchewan annual open periods
• Unproductive journeyperson-apprenticeship ratios in various provinces 
• Government-led schemes to restrict public project procurement to contractors signatory to craft unions in various provinces (PLAs and CBAs)
• Regulations which stifle innovation in apprenticeship systems in various provinces 
• Refusal in provinces such as Nova Scotia to recognize collective bargaining arrangements with all-employee construction unions

Since the founding of PCA in the year 2000, all of the above legislative issues have been the objective of our advocacy. We have had notable successes on many fronts – see our 25 year timeline here.

Our advocacy, sometimes as a joint effort with like-minded organizations, but often alone, has increased construction competition, recognized the need for worker choice, defended the right for employers to innovate in the design of work, and promoted fairness. 

We know that our work is never done. A nation's laws are at once inherently dynamic and subject to change, while also at times being stubbornly resistant to modernization. The response to this endless tension is, like a sports team, a combination of defense and offense. PCA tirelessly defends its members interests, while constantly promoting constructive change.  

This is the reason that we advocate, a term drawn from the Latin advocare - "to come to one's aid." This is the work and mission of PCA and its staff, across a national landscape where fairness and true competition ever lay at arm's reach.