OGCA cannot support current version of Bill 69

dcnonl.com
March 6, 2014
By KELLY LAPOINTE

The Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA) says it can no longer support Bill 69, the Prompt Payment Act, as the push to get it heard at committee has left the industry unable to address its deficiencies.

“We still support the vision of prompt payment, there’s no question that we do,” said OGCA president Clive Thurston.

“In the end, the efforts being made to simply drive this through without addressing the major issues that exist with it was unacceptable to our members and unacceptable to the OGCA.”

OGCA had been working with the National Trade Contractors Coalition of Canada (NTCCC) on the issue and will now work on its own with other industry stakeholders to address the deficiencies in the proposed legislation.

“It’s time to figure out what we can do to strengthen the bill so that it does meet people’s concerns, that we do address these concerns properly and that we have a worthwhile bill going forward that simply isn’t going to be a waste of paper.”

He said a lot of misinformation currently exists, such as the belief that owners cannot hold back money if there are deficiencies.

“There are mistaken interpretations out there. We need to get people into the talks and frankly you just can’t do it between now and March 19 and you’re certainly not going to do it through a series of 90-minute meetings,” he said.

The bill, which passed second reading in May 2013 with all-party support, will have committee hearings on March 19 and 26 at Queen’s Park.

Vaughan, Ont. MPP Steven Del Duca introduced the private members bill and said the hearings will give industry a chance to work together to come up with a variety of amendments to strengthen the bill.

“We have a good amount of work that has already taken place. There is more to be done...that is a commitment I’ve made repeatedly to the industry... (The legislative process) is designed by nature to try and give enough time for these things to be dealt with,” he said.

The current act does not address complex contracts like alternate financing and procurement, public-private partnerships, engineering procurement and construction, design-build and integrated project delivery, said the OGCA.

The Ontario Home Builders Association has expressed concern that the legislation would mandate payment terms for any construction contract and that it would require the contractor to disclose internal financial information.

“We want to make sure there are no unintended consequences or ramifications where, in order to solve one particular issue, as important as that issue or challenge might be, we’re not inadvertently setting off a series of other consequences that weren’t foreseen. That’s why having everybody at the table involved in these conversations is important for me,” said Del Duca.

Through the introduction of the bill, there has been a greater understanding surrounding the issue of prompt payment, said Del Duca.

“The really good thing is that no one that has participated in this process has an issue with the fundamental philosophy that underpins the bill. Work that is completed and certified should be paid on time, so no one disagrees with that whole philosophical foundation, which is good,” he said.

“It becomes a question of mechanically how do you get from where we are today in the industry where late payment is a problem, to a workable solution for all aspects of the industry. That’s what we’re working on.”

The OGCA, through its strong contacts in the residential and architectural sectors, as well as with Infrastructure Ontario, school boards and municipalities, hopes to work with these stakeholders to address their concerns with the bill.

“It’s unfortunate this was rushed through so fast that we weren’t able to exercise those connections,” said Thurston.

“Hopefully we can be of some help to bring them answers to their concerns. Within the short time period we have, we do not see where there is any appreciable, logical way that we can answer all these questions, resolve all these problems within this time period.”

There could be a limited time frame as the minority Liberal government will release its budget this spring, which could cause an election.

“I don’t think there will be any problem getting it re-introduced and it would be much better to have it re-introduced on a united front,” said Thurston.

To Thurston, proper consultations would take the form of a series of facilitated roundtable discussion. He says the industry should meet first to ensure everyone is on the same page and then meet with buyers of construction and the government.

In many of the industry’s efforts to move the bill forward “OGCA was not involved in (those efforts) and in many cases we had no idea what was happening,” said Thurston.

The OGCA was advised at the last minute about January’s Ontario Prompt Payment Petition and was not part of the NTCCC television advertising campaign pushing for the bill, said Thurston.

Personally, Thurston said he is disappointed that the issue has come to this point.

“I’m just very sorry I didn’t react quick enough to say we’re going down the wrong path,” he said.

“To see it come to this state is very disappointing considering all of the hard work that went into this by many people, including our personal efforts, let alone our association efforts, to try and reach something that would improve life for everybody in this industry.”

If passed, Bill 69 would be the first prompt payment legislation in Canada.