Where is Toronto’s common sense?

It is a bit of a well-worn adage, but the phrase “common sense is not that common” comes to mind when thinking back on Toronto City Council’s recent decision to reject Bill 66, and all of its benefits for local workers, contractors and taxpayers.

What happened? Well, Toronto chose the unenviable path of becoming the outlier in the province. It slammed the door shut on Bill 66, a door that would have opened up public project tendering to a much larger pool of qualified contractors, and workers. Instead, council chose to stick with an outdated, non-competitive, and costly model of restrictive tendering. It means the City of Toronto will keep awarding contracts to the same companies, all because they’re affiliated with certain labour groups. If you’re wondering how that’s going, look no further than the Union Station revitalization fiasco, now three years behind schedule with costs that have escalated 30 percent beyond original estimates.

Research has demonstrated time and again, that an open construction market could have saved Toronto taxpayers between 8% and 15% at minimum on public projects. That’s a savings of anywhere from $48 million to $90 million dollars, funds that could have been better directed at priority projects such as public transit.

But wait, there is more: to make things even more patently unfair, Toronto Council supported a shady backroom deal, led by the Mayor, that added LIUNA to the original group of protected craft unions.  Making a cartel bigger does not make it any less a crass monopoly.

It is a sad day indeed when a city that is supposed to be modern and progressive and inclusive, chooses instead to be insular and close-minded and regressive. In making the choice to remain a close-tendering jurisdiction, Toronto snubbed scores of highly respected constructors, thousands of highly skilled workers and taxpayers, all of whom deserve far better from their elected officials.

Fortunately, elsewhere in the great province of Ontario, common sense has prevailed. The cities of Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie along with the Region of Waterloo all opted to take advantage of the opportunities for greater competition, choice and savings that came along with Bill 66.

 It’s taken PCA ten years of hard work to reach this point. Now, we can finally celebrate our success in restoring an open construction market to the vast majority of Ontario municipalities. As for Toronto, the next time it whines about a funding shortfall, it will be hard-pressed to get anyone to listen.