Fears over highway safety after Carillion placed into liquidation

The Canadian arm of a British construction company that has gone belly up is a major provider of highway snow clearing services to the Ontario government.

According to the Ontario Public Accounts 2016-17, the Ministry of Transportation paid just over $128.7 million to Carillion Canada Inc. for its services that year.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said his officials met with Canadian representatives of the company and services will continue for now, but that all options are being considered.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on Premier Kathleen Wynne to explain how roads will be plowed and hospitals kept safe for patients now that the parent company has been put into liquidation.

“Conservative and Liberal governments privatized critical public assets by signing us on to decadeslong contracts with Carillion, shelling out billions of dollars,” Horwath said in a statement. “With Carillion folding, 6,000 jobs, billions of dollars and critical public services are all at risk.”

The NDP says that Carillion has contracts with Brampton Civic Hospital, Sault Area Hospital, Oakville Trafalgar Memorial, Etobicoke General, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre for services that include maintenance, security, laundry and general management.

“Carillion also has highways contracts including Hwy. 407 and highways near Bancroft, Chatham, Huntsville, Kingston, London, Peel, Simcoe and Thunder Bay that include construction and snowplowing,” the NDP statement says. “The privatized contracts are public-private partnerships (P3s), also called alternative financing and procurement (AFP).”

In 2015, Carillion was fined $900,000 by the government for its slow response to two storms on the QEW in the Burlington-Oakville-Mississauga area.

NOTE: More coverage, Page C6.