Yukon Contractors Assoc. says 'local hire' rules needed for big projects

The Yukon Government's reliance on outside contractors for its large projects has forced Yukon companies to lay off workers this season because it's so slow, according to Larry Turner, President of the Yukon Contractors Association.

Turner points to the extended care facility being planned for Whistle Bend, and says Yukon companies are left out in the cold.

"We're not in boom times right now," Turner says. "There's a lot of [Yukon] contractors looking for work, and they're not able to participate in these larger contracts." 

When Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski tabled the spring budget, he wore work boots because he said the record spending — 312 million — on capital projects would put Yukoners to work.

But the Yukon Contractors Association says that boom cycle hasn't come to pass, at least not yet — and it wants the government to assure local hire of Yukon subcontractors in large construction projects.

"These design-build contracts force everybody to form teams ahead of time to bid on the work, and if you're not fortunate enough to hitch your wagon to the winning horse you don't get in on the work, even if you had a good price on it."

Turner says large companies from the South usually win the contracts, and those large southern companies tend to bring their own subcontractors with them. 

"There's certainly lots of (Yukon) sub-contractors that could do the work on any of these, and they're missing out on the work, just by the way the work is let out to these larger outside companies." 

Turner says mechanical and electrical sub-contracts count for up to 40 percent of these values and "all of that money is leaving the territory."  

Turner says he's made the case to cabinet ministers in government and they've agreed to look into it.