Provincial workers should come first: tradespeople
REGINA When it comes to striking a balance between interprovincial free trade deals and maintaining local procurement practices, Saskatchewan Minister of Export and Trade Development Jeremy Harrison advocates for more liberal trade deals.
He told reporters Wednesday there is a “balance to be had here” but there is a “trade-off,” and that when he speaks to Saskatchewan companies, they are “not afraid to compete” with other jurisdictions for projects here or elsewhere.
“You have opportunities to compete in jurisdictions with whom you have an open trading relationship, and I think that’s a direction we’re going to work with our companies on,” he said, adding the province introduced Priority Saskatchewan in 2014.
Priority Saskatchewan is, according to its website, “responsible for ensuring procurement across ministries and the Crown sector is fair, open, transparent, and based on international best practice.”
His comments came after a group of out-of-work tradespeople attended the Legislative Building, calling for a “Saskatchewan First” procurement policy.
“We should get first consideration because we built it, and we’ve earned it,” said Troy Knipple, a journeyman pipefitter from Regina.
Knipple has spent his entire life in Saskatchewan and says “now we’re kind of sitting on the sideline” as workers from other provinces are paid by Saskatchewan taxpayers to build public infrastructure projects.
NDP Leader Ryan Meili joined the tradespeople, saying local contractors “aren’t getting a fair-shake chance to be part of the application process” in Saskatchewan because of the provincial government’s current procurement policies.
“We’re seeing a lot of out-ofprovince companies, out-of-country companies, and out-of-province workers building projects right here in the province,” he said, citing Saskpower’s Chinook power station near Swift Current and the Regina bypass as examples.
Meili said some other Western provinces put a priority on the overall value of a project to the people living there, as opposed to going with the lowest bid. Priority Saskatchewan released a “procurement transformation action plan” after consulting with the province’s business community.
Supported by a number of organizations, such as the Saskatchewan Construction Association, the plan implemented “best value” into procurement laws.
According to the province, procurement looks beyond the lowest price to factors like “quality, supplier experience and knowledge of local conditions.”
The province deems a company “local” if it keeps an office in the province, hires Saskatchewan workers and pays taxes locally.
Harrison said he has “empathy for the folks who are impacted” by a slowing Saskatchewan economy, admitting there are “significant headwinds.” There were 33,300 people unemployed in Saskatchewan in September.