Provincial Demands on North End Water Pollution Control Centre Risk Loss of Local Jobs and Training.  

November 19, 2021

Provincial Demands on North End Water Pollution Control Centre Risk Loss of Local Jobs and Training.  

Winnipeg – Manitoba Building Trades is concerned that workers in Manitoba will receive no benefits if the PC’s plan for a construction model on the North End Water Pollution Control Centre (NEWPCC) goes forward. Premier Heather Stefanson has pledged to ‘fix the labour shortage’. Yet, the province is pushing a design-build-maintain model (P3) which would take control away from the City of Winnipeg to determine how to maximize employment and skills training during the project.  

“The city already missed their opportunity to create local employment and skills development on phase one of this project, if they follow the model the province is proposing, they will miss it again,” said Sudhir Sandhu, CEO of Manitoba Building Trades. “The city is right to refuse the construction model proposed by the Province if they have any hope of providing training and employment opportunities from such a massive investment.” 

Phase 1 of the North End Water Pollution Control Centre was tendered in May 2021 to a conglomerate of Alberta and Texas based companies operating under the title of ‘Red River Solutions’. Labour for the project is being supplied by the Christian Labour Alliance of Canada, an employer led “union” out of Alberta.  

“We’ve seen this story before at the South End Water Treatment Plant, where the City used out of province labour through the Christian Labour Alliance,” said Victor DaSilva, Labourer’s Local 1258. “Manitobans lost out on hundreds of jobs, our tax dollars left the province, and we saw cost overruns of over $17 million that City is now on the hook for. We need to train more skilled trade workers with on the job experience, and we can’t do that if project owners keep hiring out of province labour.” 

The development of a social procurement policy is well underway at the City of Winnipeg with the intent to provide local employment opportunities and skills training at major infrastructure projects. The recommended framework implementation of this plan is expected to go to the EPC meeting on Dec.8. A multi-stakeholder working group, comprised of labour, industry, chambers of commerce, and social enterprises, has been advising on this policy development throughout 2021.  

“The intent of the City’s forthcoming social procurement policy is to provide community benefits like local employment and training opportunities,” said Sean Hogan, Executive Director at BUILD Inc. and a member of the We Want to Work coalition who has been advocating for this policy, “The City passed its first-ever Poverty Reduction Strategy this week which included Social Procurement – a policy which should be allowed to be applied to the North End Plant, the impact would be enormous.” 

“We simply cannot afford to not invest in jobs and training opportunities. We think the city finally gets it and they are working to change the way that procurement has been done to achieve better outcomes,” said Sandhu. “The province should not be imposing their ideology that will take away critical employment and training opportunities for Manitobans.” 

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Media Contact

Tanya Palson

204-619-2068

tpalson@mbtrades.ca