Company contracted to clear QEW snow fighting $900,000 in fines

Carillion Canada fined after it was accused of doing poor job clearing highway during storms last winter.

Thestar.com
Oct. 6, 2015
By Rob Ferugson

A snow-clearing company accused of doing a poor job on the QEW during two storms last winter that resulted in multiple collisions is questioning $900,000 in fines from the Ontario government.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca defended the contract that allows Carillion Canada to challenge penalties intended to enforce compliance with highway maintenance standards.

“There’s an understanding that something went wrong. We’re trying to land on exactly what it was ... the dialogue continues,” he said Tuesday, noting the contract allows for negotiations on fines.

Carillion Canada did not reply to the Star’s requests by telephone and email for comment.

“It’s an opportunity for a back-and-forth before a final decision is rendered,” said Del Duca, whose ministry was the subject of a scathing report from auditor general Bonnie Lysyk last April for putting lives in jeopardy by contracting out winter road maintenance to save money.

In addition, Lysyk found about 37 per cent of $13.3 million in fines assessed for the winter of 2013-14 were waived while a similar percentage was being reassessed.

“The fine system is a farce,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Michael Harris (Kitchener-Conestoga).

The storms involving Carillion were last November, when an early snowfall and ice storm created hazardous driving conditions on the Queen Elizabeth Way between Burlington and Mississauga, and similar bad weather a month later.

“Perhaps they had deployed their equipment a little bit later than, ideally, they should have,” Del Duca told reporters.

“We’ll see where that ends up,” he added, promising final word on the fines “soon.”

The minister faced criticism from opposition parties for spending $5 million on more snow removal and road de-icing equipment for highways at taxpayer expense in the wake of Lysyk’s 43-page report.

She found it was taking twice as long to clear highways to bare pavement after storms than in 2009 under a new system of “performance-based” contracts with specified service levels and no more on-the-road supervision by Ministry of Transportation inspectors.

“It doesn’t make sense ... they put motorists’ lives at risk,” said Harris (Kitchener-Conestoga), his party’s transportation critic.

“If I was the government, I would have checked to make sure they have the equipment to perform the job,” New Democrat MPP Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls) said of private contractors hired by government around the province. “They obviously didn’t.”

Del Duca said the main thing is to make sure snow-clearing efforts are up to par this winter because “what drivers want to see across the province is that the roads and highways are plowed appropriately.”

There have been meetings with all private companies awarded area maintenance contracts for highways.

“There is a very clear understanding for the upcoming winter season that we need to be ready, that we need to get the job done right,” said Del Duca, adding that measures like plow-tracking apps and more de-icing liquids are in place to put down in advance of bad weather.

“We have new equipment. We have more materials. I’m confident.”