City's Finance Committee approves comprehensive review and feasibility assessment of Fair Wage Policy

OTTAWA, March 3, 2026 / - The City's Finance Committee today approved a comprehensive review and feasibility assessment of Ottawa potentially adopting a Fair Wage Policy.

Included in the Motion, supported by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and all Committee members, was a commitment to pilot procurement processes at the Ottawa Paramedic Service West Deployment Facility, and the Riverside South Library project, to ensure the use of local and equity denied labour. The City will also ensure robust training and apprenticeship programs are built into these procurement processes.

The adoption of a Fair Wage Policy by Ottawa has recently been supported by the Mechanical Contractors Association of Ottawa, and the Ottawa Electrical Contractors Association, with both business organizations writing letters of support to City Council.

The Unionized Building and Construction Trades Council of Eastern Ontario & Outaouais Region has been working on this issue since October 2025, when we raised concerns about procurement decisions taken on Lansdowne 2.0.

Since that time, we have found Mayor Sutcliffe to be interested in the added-value the unionized building and construction trades bring to the city. The local footprint of our offices and skilled trades training centres are impressive and frequently expanding, as are our annual training investments in our qualified and highly-skilled workforce (training investments valued at more than $20 million/year).

The motion rises to City Council for consideration on March 10, 2026. We look forward to working with the City to continue to make progress on these important matters.

The Motion passed at Finance Committee on March 3rd is as follows:

Re: Procurement Practices Pilot Projects
Moved by: Councillor C. Kitts

WHEREAS Mayor Sutcliffe and his office have been engaging with members of the Ottawa and Eastern Ontario Building Trades Council (the Building Trades Council) over the last few months to strengthen the relationship and advance the interests of qualified, unionized labour at City Hall; and

WHEREAS the City of Ottawa invests approximately $1.9 billion every year to build new infrastructure or renew existing infrastructure, which are all projects that generate economic and employment opportunities; and

WHEREAS the City has implemented a number of procurement policies and practices to ensure the best use of tax dollars in awarding these infrastructure contracts, including but not limited to, Sustainable Procurement Guidelines, a Supplier Code of Conduct, a Vendor Performance Management Program and Health & Safety Certifications, just to name a few; and

WHEREAS the Building Trades Council is composed of 20 trade unions and approximately 35,000 local union members that live, work and pay taxes in the Ottawa area; and

WHEREAS the Building Trades Council has requested that the City of Ottawa consider implementing a Fair Wage Policy similar to the one in place in Toronto; and

WHEREAS these 20 trade unions invest heavily in training, skills upgrades, health and safety training, and apprenticeships, which produce the next generation of qualified tradespeople to supply Ottawa’s construction industry, thanks to properly indentured and registered apprentices who have signed an apprenticeship contract with their respective trade union or employer, as well as Skilled Trades Ontario; and

WHEREAS the trade unions operate 15 local training facilities assessed at over $50 million, with annual training investments of $20 million, made jointly by the unions and their contractor partners;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Council direct staff to conduct a comprehensive review and feasibility assessment, including operational, legal and financial implications of other procurement practices and approaches that are in place in other Canadian municipalities, which include but are not limited to, a Fair Wage Policy, a Living Wage Policy, and a Community Benefits Agreement; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that staff leverage the Ottawa Paramedic Service West Deployment Facility and the Riverside South Library project to pilot innovative approaches that would maximize the use of local and equity denied labour, and ensure robust training and apprenticeship programs are built into the procurement processes; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that staff report back to Council by Q1 2027 with the results of the comprehensive review of other procurement approaches in place in other Canadian municipalities, along with proposed changes to the Procurement Bylaw to ensure there is maximum community benefit being generated in Ottawa; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that as part of this review, staff explore the feasibility of potential options to mitigate development charge impacts on facilities that support the training of skilled trades professionals and are recognized as Training Delivery Agents by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, including consideration of existing or alternative policy mechanisms.