Naqvi eases concerns over labour mobility
Trades, truckers applaud meeting to discuss Quebec border issues
Members of Ottawa’s construction and skilled trades say Wednesday’s roundtable discussion with Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi was a better way of addressing concerns over interprovincial labour mobility than passing a law that would have prevented Quebecers from working in Ontario.
“This is a much better approach,” said Richard Hayter of the Building and Construction Trades Council.
“Putting up a barrier isn’t the solution. Having these types of conversations as we did today is the solution.”
Hayter was one of about three dozen industry representatives who met with Naqvi and ministry officials at the Taggart Family YMCA for the discussion, which comes after the defeat of a private member’s bill introduced by Progressive Conservative MPP Jack MacLaren.
The bill would have barred Quebec construction companies from crossing the border into Ontario and taking jobs away from workers here.
It died on second reading at Queen’s Park by a vote of 43 to 25 in September.
Naqvi didn’t support the bill, but he organized Wednesday’s meeting to give Ontario companies an opportunity to discuss the issue.
Ron Barr of the Greater Ottawa Truckers Association has complained bitterly in the past that the playing field isn’t level for Ontario and Quebec truckers.
Although Barr was a huge proponent of MacLaren’s bill, he said he’s pleased the meeting allowed the various construction trades to come together and develop a unified front.
“I like his approach. It’s a softer approach, it’s a more welcoming approach and I think it’s going to get some results,” he said.
Naqvi said after the meeting that there was a general consensus that
‘What we need to continue to do is enhance this agreement and make it even more open for Ontario businesses and skilled trades to do work in Quebec.’
YASR NAQVI
Ontario Minister of Labour
workers move freely between the two provinces, with many skilled tradesmen and businesses telling Naqvi they do not feel discrimination on the Quebec side.
But, he added, specific sectors, such as trucking and heavy equipment operators, do face some challenges that need still need to be resolved.
“We do not need to build, as somebody put it, a Berlin Wall between Ontario and Quebec. What we need to continue to do is enhance this agreement and make it even more open for Ontario businesses and skilled trades to do work in Quebec,” Naqvi said.
Ontario and Quebec signed a labour market agreement in 2006, ending years of trade disputes.
A five-year report on the effectiveness of the agreement was due in 2011, but it has yet to be completed, Naqvi said.