Liberals, Tories push ahead with bill to help Ellisdon
‘Court ruling affirms the need for my bill,’ Mcnaughton says
The minority Liberal government and opposition Tories are plowing ahead with legislation to aid construction firm EllisDon even though the courts have rendered it redundant.
London, Ont.-based EllisDon, a generous donor to both political parties, is looking for a law giving it relief from a resurrected1958 union agreement — upheld by a 2012 Ontario Labour Relations Board decision — committing it to hiring only unionized workers.
On Friday, an Ontario Divisional Court ruling overturned the OLRB decision and rejected the so-called Sarnia working agreement. The OLRB’s decision included giving the company a two-year reprieve in order to lobby the legislature into passing legislation releasing it from the 55-year-old deal.
“The court’s decision is a vindication of EllisDon’s position regarding the unfairness of the situation we’re facing. The case for passing Bill 74 in order to maintain the status quo and a fair competitive market in the construction industry is stronger than ever,” Tom Howell, vice-president, labour relations, EllisDon Corporation, said Monday. Tory MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex) said given that the court decision can be appealed, it is necessary to proceed with his private member’s bill.
Unions, including those representing electricians and sheet metal workers, have indicated they intend to appeal the court decision.
“The reason I want to go forward with it is the fact that we all know that court decisions are appealable,” said McNaughton, who acknowledged that he worked closely with Howell at EllisDon before drafting his private member’s bill.
“The court ruling affirms the need for my bill.”
Horwath said she suspects the reason why the Tories and Liberals are “ramming through” the EllisDon bill “is because EllisDon is a company that is very generous . . . it’s quite disturbing when the priorities of one single company (are) taking over the legislature at the expense of other bills that have been set aside.” Maverick Tory MPP Randy Hillier stated in an email obtained by the Star that caucus was “explicitly” told earlier this year by senior party officials behind closed doors that pushing legislation to help the wellknown construction company would boost financial donations to the Tories. “In caucus, it was stated quite explicitly that following a successful EllisDon fundraiser for (Tory leader) Tim (Hudak), our party would continue to benefit financially with the advancement of this legislation, “stated Hillier, who told the Star he stood by his comments. There has been no suggestion that EllisDon acted inappropriately. The New Democrats committed all its questions in the legislature Monday to the EllisDon bill, which has been included among several other pieces of proposed legislation in a programming motion. That motion is designed to fast-track outstanding government bills and Tory private member’s bills.