BURNABY – The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) today joined eight other business and labour organizations in signing a letter to John Horgan, calling on the NDP Premier to abandon his plan to create a restrictive and regressive union-only monopoly on taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects.
ICBA joined the BC Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Federation of Independent Business, CLAC, Canada West Construction Union, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Progressive Contractors Association, Surrey Board of Trade and Vancouver Regional Construction Association in a call for Horgan to stop his attempt to end fair, open and transparent procurement in public projects.
Under Horgan’s plan, anyone working on a provincial government construction project will be forced to join one of his NDP-approved Building Trades Unions, the same unions have donated millions of dollars to the NDP over the past few elections.
“John Horgan is sole-sourcing more than $25 billion in taxpayer-funded construction to his buddies in the Building Trades unions,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA President. “It’s simply not fair to discriminate against the 85 per cent of construction workers who have specifically rejected old-fashioned, heavy-handed unions. B.C. construction workers deserve better from this government – they deserve choice, fairness and a level playing field.”
The open letter notes that the additional bureaucracy it takes to tilt the playing field to Horgan’s union donors could cost taxpayers as much as $4.8 billion more in construction costs – nearly $4,000 for every family in the province.
“Competition is the best way to keep construction costs down, and to ensure the government can carry out its entire building plan without raising more taxes or incurring billions of dollars of unnecessary debt,” said Gardner. “It also reassures the public that government is making good decisions with taxpayers’ money, not simply lining the pockets of friends and insiders.”
To read the full letter, click HERE.
