SPEECH: Senator Omidvar on Bill C-344 and Community Benefits at the Buy Social Canada 2019 Summit

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On February 6, Senator Omidvar spoke to attendees at the Buy Social Canada 2019 Summit about her efforts as the sponsor of Bill C-344 in the Senate. Below you will find an excerpt  her speech along with some of the engagement she received from social entrepreneurs and philanthropic leaders on Twitter:

I don’t come new to community benefits. When I worked at the Maytree Foundation we invested along with the United Way and the Atkinson Foundation  in building the capacity of the local community benefit champions and leaders. It makes perfect sense to me that public spending must and should generate benefits to the local community beyond the physical infra structure. I my common sense mind, it is a bit like getting two for the price of one. Without government grants and contributions being increasingly constrained on the one hand, but infrastructure spending ramping up on the other, it is a perfect opportunity to bring a number of threads together and weave a stronger benefit.

The bill that I have before the Senate is a small slice of the pie and I must thank MP Ramesh Sangha who shepherded this private bill through the House where it passed. When I looked at the bill, I decided to champion it.

In my speech to Senators, I described community benefits to them. For many it was new language. I used economic, social, environmental arguments. I referred to the growing needs of the labour market, which if unmet will get in the way of our infra structure ambitions, leave alone our nation building ambitions. I referred in particular to the knock on impacts through hiring, apprenticeship, training and small business start-ups that emanate from the construction.  I pointed out that it is often people with latent potential, in particular young people who could have a pathway to inclusion and prosperity. I referred to small businesses which could find their feet during the build, but flourish long after.  I stressed and stretched the point that the new relationships that accrue to business will provide a fertile ground for recruitment downstream into the future. In particular into communities that were previously hard to tap into.

To add authenticity to my arguments, I painted a picture of the impact of community benefit arrangements from my own backyard: the $8.4 billion infrastructure investment that is building the Eglington Crosstown LRT and the legacy this will leave in my city, particularly in the  York Weston corridor of our city, which is a dominantly working class and disadvantaged neighbourhood. I cited the positive words of the the construction consortium, consisting of EllisDon, SNC-Lavalin, Aecon and ACS – Dragados which has said:  “We are committed to our work in the community. We have a solid plan to build infrastructure, as well as people…”

I cited examples across from Vancouver during the Olympics and around the world.

I used labour market projections to underline the seriousness of the matter. According to BuildForce Canada, more than 250,000 construction workers are expected to retire by 2028. That is almost a quarter of their workforce. In all disciplines as well. Heavy equipment operators, electricians, masons, welders etc will see massive shortages. I cited Robert Blakely of Canada’s Building Trades Union who told us that in order to plug this gap in the labour market, the trades sector will need to recruit 500,000 individuals in order to fill the gap of 250,000.  Because it will take two apprentices to graduate one.

CBA’s are one way out – because they will connect new and under-represented demographics into the skilled trades.  They can a go long way by being the connective tissue that brings jobs and people together.

I used the arguments that a CBA can speed up approval processes and reduce red tape because it creates and sustains allies across the community before any shovels hit the ground. Concerns are addressed early in the process which prevents project delays and potential lawsuits. It also helps builds the company’s corporate brand as community champions.

I anticipated questions and concerns about costs by citing the experience of the City of Toronto, which has hired just one extra person to lead their social procurement practices. Essentially CBAs are a change management exercise for government and business, similar to when health and safety practices were introduce in the 1980s.

In short I did my best to convince my colleagues that in the short term, community benefits are an innovative and cost effective way of achieving multiple benefits through public expenditure without increasing procurement costs. In the long term, they can go a long way to mitigating the festering problems of globalization and global supply chains and will ensure that the needs of our labour market are met by workers right here in Canada.

But there are potential roadblocks. Some senators and some stakeholders have expressed concerns about the bill. Most often these revolve around the idea of increasing cost for business and increasing red tape.  There is a prevailing theory that if you let business just go about doing business, then a rising tide will lift all boats.

As I said earlier I believe these concerns can be overcome.  To ensure that this bill passes, I need you. I need you to raise your collective voices. Call, write and email senators expressing your support for the bill and community benefits. You can use a lot of same arguments that I have made today.

I would also urge you to have meetings with senators and their staff. We need to make senators more aware about community benefits and the positive impact they can have. They need to know that this is an important issue for Canadians. That Canadians care about their communities and the importance of building the future workforce. I know there are people organizing meetings with senators and I urge you to participate. Sit with them. Talk to them. Tell your stories. Senators will respond.

Friends, together we can make history. It is within our grasp. With your help and with your voices it can happen.

Thank you.