CFN – Today, local contractors and the Greater Ottawa Truckers’ Association welcomed MPP Jim McDonell and MPP Jack MacLaren to Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry to discuss MPP MacLaren’s Bill 80, Fairness Is a Two-Way Street Act, 2013, during a demonstration at the Ontario-Quebec border on Highway 2. Originally introduced by the Harris Government in 1999, the Fairness is a Two-Way Street Act addressed the barriers Ontario workers faced when wishing to work in Quebec by placing an equal burden on Quebeccontractors wishing to carry out work in Ontario. The original Act was repealed by the Liberal Government in 2006 due to the ratification of the Labour Mobility Agreement, which Quebec has yet to implement fully.
MPP McDonell commented: “Real labour mobility ensures the Canadian workforce can prosper across provincial boundaries. However,Quebec places unfair restrictions on out-of-province workers and contractors which are not reflected in Ontario law, placing Ontarians at a disadvantage. This impacts my constituents particularly strongly due to our proximity to the border. Ontario’s truck drivers, carpenters, electricians, and plumbers are just some of skilled trades people who are prevented from working in Quebec, while they watch Quebec workers prosper on Ontario job sites. Fair is fair, and it is time for Quebec to open up their borders to out-of-province workers, so that Ontarians and Canadians as a whole will benefit.”
MPP Jack MacLaren added: “Unquestionably, Canadians should be free to work in any part of our country. However the Quebec Government has created a never ending tangled web of requirements and regulations for the sole purpose of keeping Ontario workers out of the Quebec market. Ontario construction workers are being shut out. Fairness must be a two-way street.”
Bill 80 will restrict Quebec-based contractors and workers from bidding on and signing private and public contracts for work unless they register with the Director of the Jobs Protection Office, provide financial statements, and pay set fees and security bonds.
Standing at the border marker, Ron Barr, General Manager of the Greater Ottawa Truckers’ Association, summed up the challenges faced by Ontario workers:
“We go over there. We’re compliant. We get stopped. They go over here, they’re not even checked.”
Bill 80 is scheduled for Second Reading on September 12, 2013.
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I am on side with this, and still can not see why McGuinty would repeal an Act that directly affected jobs in his riding. It certainly was not good for Ontario workers.
Ron Barr has noted the bidding for Ottawa snow removal is a good example of what is going on. Quebec companies get the same rate, however they take the money out of province at quitting time. I think it is reasonable that if you work for a city or province, the majority of staffing should be from that city or province.
Did someone say Canada was a democratic country where people live free?
@RC yep someone said that. When compared to other countries we can proudly say we do live in a free democratic country.
No one gets killed, beaten or stoned to death for speaking out.
Yes, finally politicians with their heads out of the sand!!!!
Thanks for putting your foot down & saying NO to the bullies.
You’ve got my vote Jim!!!
Hey, anyone going to Jim’s summer party this Saturday in Chesterville? Good way to get a free lunch & tell Jim you support him!!!
A glimmer of hope to bring fairness back to the equation!
I agree but since Québec is almost a country some Quebecers do not wish workers who just speak English, since some Anglophones do not want to learn French, they do not wish to have to speak English to their workers and to have to hire bilingual workers so they can speak with the Anglophones. I do not agree but understand. Québec should accept Ontarians 🙂
Mainstream media won’t touch this with a ten foot pole. Oops Can’t step on Quebec’s toes now can we…they might get mad. lol
Um Elisabeth, we’re mainstream media 🙂
stellabystarlight August 22, 2013 at 7:38 pM
@RC yep someone said that. When compared to other countries we can proudly say we do live in a free democratic country.
No one gets killed, beaten or stoned to death for speaking out.
So this is what you define as terms of a democracy?
What of a lone child on a bus with a knife not only shot 8 times but then tasered so we should judge this as democracy.
People get beaten and killed in Canada too.
Democracy comes down to RIGHTS and all being treated equally and CANADA FAILS AT THAT.
BILL 80 is a step in the right direction .
It is fair approach to a situation that has gone on far too long .
Harris had originally introduced and passed the legislation in the interest of Ontarians,but McGuinty removed it because of political affiliations and it was not in the the interest of Ontario citizens.
Fairness should go both ways ,but that is not the reality and it appears to be a pattern,but as usuall one province gets preferential treatment.
Elisabeth, the Ottawa Sun had the story a day later than CFN. The Sun also had the blockade/slowdown in Ottawa a few months back.
Only government creates barriers to trade. When trade don’t cross borders, armies do. Let’s escalate these trade barriers even more. Let’s put border guards and passport requirements including material transfer documentation requirements. And don’t forget to grant the border guards on both sides authority to use lethal force against border crossing criminals. The freedom to trade belongs to people but people want governments to control other people’s abilities to trade. Who wins in government controlled trade wars?
Fatness is never a 2 way street when dealing with the french…wake up!!!
Enjoy the latest video exposing this (french) bilingual scam…and if care please pass it on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZz61S3sTA8
So while Quebec bans the English language (bill 22, bill 178, bill 101…), wipes out its real BNA, UEL history, while ethnic language cleansing is going on in Quebec, the rest of the country is forced to fund whatever the French (metis) demand. This is going on in every province. Go check.
“First Quebec, then we take over the rest of the country, one step at a time…through bilingualism…” PT, “How to take over a country through bilingualism…” SD. How ? First comes the right to communicate with gov’t in a minority language (ie French),then comes bilingualism, then comes the right to work in the language of choice(ie French), then comes a bilingual boss,(ie French) then comes a exclusively French department and on it goes until its all French. Its happening all over the country, Ontario, New Brunswick…That’s what’s really going on.
“My roll as Secretary of State of Canada is first and foremost to ensure that my French compatriots in Canada feel with deep conviction, as I do, that this is their country and that it reflects their image”. “I too had some difficult years as a politician; I’m still having them, in fact, because everything we undertake and everything we are doing to make Canada a French state is part of a venture I have shared for many years with a number of people”. “You know the idea, the challenge, the ambition of making Canada a French country both inside and outside Quebec — an idea some people consider a bit crazy, is something a little beyond the ordinary imagination”. – Serge Joyal, Secretary of State – Page 2 ‘ENOUGH’ by J.V. Andrew. – Serge Joyal – Now in the Senate.
@James Wolfe…..The article is about Quebec construction workers being able to work in Ontario. While Ontario workers can not work in Quebec.
NOWHERE IN THE ARTICLE DOES IT MENTION LANGUAGE.
LANGUAGE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT……SO WHY BRING LANGUAGE INTO IT?