government to make sure that everyone
can bid on these projects,” he said.
Heinen elaborated on the historical ap-
proach to work. “Traditionally, there have
been agreements between cities, govern-
ments and large public corporations that
all construction work would be done by a
group of people that were affiliated with
those traditional building trade unions,” he
explained, adding that not opening up the
bidding process has been costing clients
millions of dollars in extra costs. Heinen
says that there are a lot of people who are
capable of doing quality construction work
who are not affiliated with the mainline
building trades unions.
Other priorities for CLAC include help-
ing under-represented groups, like First
Nations and women in construction, get
access to training that can lead to em-
ployment. As a voice for labour, CLAC is
committed to removing barriers to em-
ployment for everyone who calls Canada
home.
MARCH 2017
H
business elite canada 21
