Senator Lucie Moncion Speaks in Favour of Bill C-344 on Community Benefits

On April 30, 2019 Senator Lucie Moncion rose in the Senate Chamber to support Bill C-344. One of the examples she cited was the Lower Mattagami Project, a redevelopment of hydro stations in Northern Ontario. The partnership agreement with the Moose Cree First Nation created over $400 million worth of subcontracts for its businesses, and created over 1800 employment opportunities along with dozens of training and apprenticeship opportunities.

Watch a clip from Senator Moncion’s speech or read the full text of her remarks below.

Hon. Lucie Moncion: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to you about Bill C-344, An Act to amend the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act with respect to community benefit.

I will begin by stating that I support this bill and that I am in favour of a federal contracting strategy that takes into consideration socio-economic factors and Canadian communities across the country.

My comments will be twofold. First, I will summarize the main points of the bill and highlight that it is straightforward and non-binding. Second, I will provide concrete examples that show that when a government spends money wisely, everyone wins, both communities and proponents.

Bill C-344 amends the process of awarding federal contracts from a socio-economic contract from sustainable development for communities. Specifically, the bill gives the discretion to the minister to require that submissions to federal government infrastructure projects contain information on the local benefits that their work will generate.

The bill defines community benefit as a social, economic or environmental benefit that a community derives from a construction, maintenance or repair project, including job creation and training opportunities, improvement of public space and any other specific benefit identified by the community.

The legal framework proposed in this bill is neither binding nor restrictive with respect to the powers of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services. The proposed amendment to section 20 of the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act is modest but is nevertheless likely to have a noticeable positive impact on the well-being of communities.

The bill provides an opportunity for the government to invest in local talent and counter the labour shortage announced upstream. It also ensures that the wealth of federal markets is distributed in a more equitable way.

To illustrate this, I will share with you some of the successes associated with the project to rebuild four electric dams on the Mattagami River in northern Ontario.

Bill C-344 would prioritize community benefit agreements in federal contracts. The department’s discretionary power under section 20 would make it a leader in implementing such agreements. Ultimately, community benefit agreements would enable communities to reap their fair share of the federal government’s infrastructure investments and help create a more egalitarian society. It’s clear that the federal government must consider the well-being of the people who will be most directly affected by infrastructure projects in their community.

This brings me to my second point. One of the unique attributes of community benefit agreements is that they provide tangible and measurable results. Moreover, the benefits of taking into account the socio-economic interests of communities and the considerations of sustainable development in the procurement strategies of a governance body have been repeatedly demonstrated.

It has been established that awarding contracts based on community benefits is linked to lower poverty, increased economic development, access to affordable housing, and the achievement of sustainable development objectives, which explains why several jurisdictions are already taking this direction. Five Canadian provinces, namely Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia, have already incorporated socio-economic objectives into their procurement procedures by either amending their legislation or changing their policies and practices. For example, the Government of Ontario adopted the Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, 2015, and the City of Toronto adopted a social procurement policy and program. At the federal government level, the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business or PSAB routinely reserves business opportunities to encourage Aboriginal businesses to participate in the federal procurement process. Since 1996, this federal program has awarded Aboriginal businesses more than 100,000 contracts worth more than $3.3 billion. I just want to take a moment to talk about existing initiatives that have produced the positive results that Bill C-344 is looking for.

In Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a community benefits agreement was entered into by the City of Vancouver and a private contractor to relocate and expand an urban resort and casino. The result? Over 20 per cent of the construction labour is hired locally, an estimated $75 million is spent in the local economy, and $1.5 million in wages is paid to over 500 local employees. Overall, the project is estimated to create a minimum of 180 jobs or $8.5 million in wages for the community residents.

In northern Ontario, $2.6 billion was invested in the Lower Mattagami Project, which consisted of the redeveloping of four existing hydro stations on the Mattagami River. For this project to be successful, there needed to be agreements reached between stakeholders to make this a win-win for all.

First, a partnership agreement with the Amisk-oo-Skow was reached where the Moose Cree First Nation has a 25 per cent equity stake in the project.

Second, the Moose Cree businesses were awarded over $300 million worth of subcontracts. At peak construction, 1,800 people worked on the project, including over 250 First Nations and Metis workers.

Third, there was a training program put in place where workers were able to receive classroom and on-the-job training. This joint undertaking involved contractors, the building trades unions, the federal government and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Directly linked to entry level and advanced level career opportunities for local employers, this program was provided to the members of Moose Cree, Taykwa Tagamou Nation, Moocreebec and Metis people of lower Moose River Basin.

Nearly 70 apprentices achieved registration in civil stages of the construction of the project, including carpenters, chefs, labourers, heavy equipment and crane operators, and iron workers, which will ensure there are skilled trades workers for the length of the project and for future infrastructure projects.

The Mattagami River project was not governed by Ontario’s Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, 2015. However, the project was designed to take into account local community needs in education, employment and long-term prosperity and to counter the labour shortage upstream.

The Vancouver casino and Mattagami River examples neatly illustrate the comments I made at the beginning of my speech, when I said that when a government spends money wisely, everyone wins, both communities and developers. Multiple sectors reap the community benefits generated by these agreements, especially with respect to job creation, apprenticeships, construction of affordable housing, and education. In addition, these agreements can benefit members of demographic groups who are under-represented in skilled trades, like women and Indigenous peoples.

As a result, local impact agreements in the allocation of federal projects create socio-economic openings for communities, as well as environmental impacts. These agreements lay the foundation for a partnership between communities and promoters. In this sense, Bill C-344 looks at the vitality and sustainability of our communities.

In conclusion, although we can try to measure the success of these initiatives from a strictly financial perspective, the overall return on investment for a federal infrastructure project that takes community benefits into account greatly surpasses what is financially quantifiable. Whether we are talking about giving a job opportunity to someone who would not otherwise have gotten it or promoting sustainable development for generations to come, a dollar invested in an infrastructure project that takes community benefits into account works much harder and goes much further than a dollar invested in an infrastructure project that does not take the community into account.

But again, the bill gives meaning to Canadian federalism by putting forward the relevance and importance of the federal government to consider the specificities and needs of the regions. This is a way to promote a more equal society and the upstream benefits of equitable distribution of business opportunities in Canada, rather than observing the widening of inequalities after the fact, with all the problems this entails for our society.

The federal government should act as a leader on this, and Bill C-344 is a first step in that direction. I urge my colleagues to study Bill C-344 in committee from a forward-thinking perspective and to listen to the needs of our communities.

Thank you for your attention.

Click here to read more resources on community benefits on my website.