The snowfalls that have blanketed Ottawa’s streets so far this winter are not just stalling drivers. Several of the 300 local companies that specialize in removing and hauling snow are also spinning their wheels.
The businesses that plow Ottawa’s streets are not just based in Ontario. Quebec companies also help to clear the capital’s roads. Thirty-four companies – roughly 10 per cent of municipal snow haulers – come from outside Ontario.
This external help is only acceptable if Ottawa’s trucks are given the same courtesy just across the river. However, they are not.
When Ottawa plows head to Quebec, the local police are strict with out-of-towners, says Ron Barr, general manager of the Greater Ottawa Truckers Association. Barr’s organization represents nearly 1,000 Eastern Ontario truck drivers.
In Quebec, police often pull over these Ontario drivers and force them to leave if the truckers don’t have the paperwork declaring that they can work in the province. Some have even been thrown in jail.
Barr calls this “harassment,” although he says he doesn’t blame Quebec authorities for protecting their workers. He says he regrets that Ontario cannot do the same.
It is the city’s duty to put forward regulations that protect local companies. By opening the border leniently to these competitors, Ottawa’s snow hauling businesses lose revenue.
In 2013, more than 300 local companies send shift workers to plow Ottawa’s streets. This number is already high without additions from Quebec.
Furthermore, the Ottawa area’s streets are not cleared faster with more available firms. On the contrary, workers could clear out of their jobs if they are not getting enough shifts. Many wait weeks without a turn at the wheel during times of minimal snowfall.
When double-digit-centimetres-worth of white dusts the town, the 330 or so companies that haul snow around Ottawa begin sending their trucks out. The first business notified to send out a truck, however, will then have to wait for the other 329 companies to send out workers of their own before getting another ring from the City.
It would make more sense for the city to give an advantage to local workers. These external companies should only come in handy when Ottawa needs backup workers to help plow roads after a massive storm.
To ensure that there is an equitable system that treats workers in both provinces fairly, the City of Ottawa may have to negotiate with the province.
Ontario’s Discriminatory Business Practices Act, which forbids discriminating based on geographic location, has defended Quebec workers from working outside of their province. There is no equivalent to the Discriminatory Business Practices Act in Quebec, Barr says.
However, if one province has allowed regulations to ease work for others, then there should be discussion for a similar development for Ontario businesses in Quebec. Although recent labour agreements between the provinces have made it easier for some workers to work in Ontario and Quebec, not all trades have this advantage.
Finding work in Quebec remains tough for some residents of Ottawa, who must obtain a union membership and pay a fee to work in Quebec. Meanwhile, Quebec firms can operate in Ottawa at the same rate as local companies.
The City of Ottawa needs to push this issue forward immediately to ensure that there is a level playing field between the provinces. Until then, Ontario companies sit increasingly idle as their competition drives in to shovel up business.