LETTER

LETTRE

Charbonneau Commission 10 years later (Translated)

 

Ten years ago to the day, the Charbonneau Commission began its work, and yet, according to the Syndicat de la fonction publique du Québec SFPQ, the MTQ has still not recovered the personnel necessary to protect itself from the threat of collusion by private companies. The hiring of staff, which is essential to rebuild the expertise lost over the years, is stagnating or even declining in some MTQ job categories.  For the past 10 years, the number of employees represented by the SFPQ in the Laurentides, Lanaudière and Outaouais regions has not increased at the MTQ, and has even decreased slightly. Meanwhile, under the Legault government, subcontracting has exploded. Thus, service contracts awarded by the MTQ have increased by 70% since the CAQ came to power, from $570 to $971 million in 3 years.
    Not only is the Minister of Transport, Francois Bonnardel, still not doing enough to comply with the recommendations of the Charbonneau Commission on collusion and corruption in the construction industry, but he is accelerating subcontracting with private companies. This inaction on the part of the Minister means that the MTQ is still unable to strengthen its expertise in contract management, including the supervision of construction sites, and to adequately supervise work entrusted to external firms. We believe that the department should demonstrate greater independence with respect to its suppliers, since it is systematically more expensive to subcontract activities that recur every year on our roads.
    For example, in 2011, the MTQ committed to adding 564 public works technicians (PWTs), in order to take over an increasing share of the supervision of construction sites. However, according to the Auditor General, there had only been an increase of 276 PTW positions as of March 31, 2019, while the supervision of worksites by firms had increased significantly.  In addition to providing MTQ with greater control over its projects, these hires and the reduction in subcontracting were expected to save MTQ $33.7 million.  
    By preferring to entrust third parties with the execution of its mandates rather than ensuring their execution, the MTQ is making itself captive to its suppliers.  Private companies can then demand large sums of money to do what the government is no longer able to do.
    The SFPQ recommends attacking the problem at its source, by limiting the use of subcontractors for recurring activities on our roads.  The Ministère des Transports must once and for all free itself from its suppliers. Both to evaluate the service offers, the work done, but also to take back the control of the worksites and to save money on subcontracting. The CAQ government must abandon its business vision and demonstrate a real desire to establish competitive salaries to attract and retain public service employees.
Michel Girard, SFPQ Regional President
Ste-Jerome, Qc