No News, Slow News for TILMA

No news, slow news for TILMA British Columbia and Alberta weigh in on ground-breaking agreement

These days, two TILMAs are kept in secure surroundings: one, a famous 16th-century Aztec men’s outer garment in Mexico on which appeared an image of the Virgin Mary according to tradition, and which attracts millions of pilgrims annually; and the other - TILMA, the Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement between Alberta and British Columbia. This agreement, which was signed on April 28, 2006 and came into effect on April 1, 2007, provides a virtual economic union between the two provinces.

While the Aztec TILMA continues to attract the reverence of millions, the Canadian TILMA is the subject of continued analysis, and is an object of caution. During the two-year warm-up period that followed its creation, virtually nothing occurred. Few press releases were issued, and even those from left-wing think tanks opposed to TILMA petered out two years ago.

TILMA was hailed as a ground-breaking accord, between the governments of British Columbia and Alberta, which created Canada's second-largest economy. Prior to the agreement, differences in the rules of each province had hindered the free movement of goods, services and accredited tradespeople, thereby increasing costs.

Under TILMA, British Columbia and Alberta have mutually recognized or reconciled the rules that hinder the free movement of goods, services and people. The agreement has created a more open, competitive economy where goods, services, workers and investments can move more freely between the two provinces.

In fact, the agreement has been viewed as so progressive that effective April 1, 2009, major portions have been imbedded into the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), explains Brian Bickley, chair of the Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training Board. If you have a trade qualification certificate from any legitimate jurisdiction, it will now be recognized across the country. “Anything that improves labour mobility is a good thing,” he says.

As positive as this new development is for workers and employers, Bickley also hopes that the integrity of the country’s long-standing and well-respected Red Seal program –which is supported by both TILMA and AIT, but is no longer the sole mobility instrument for workers – will not be compromised. The Red Seal program continues to mark a highlyrecognized national standard in the trade system, and may still provide a leg-up for a job seeker. “I like national standards,” says Bickley. “We (the Board) have always been a strong supporter of the Red Seal program and we always will be.”

BY JOHN HURST AND COLLEEN BIONDI

Mark Douglas, a director with Apprenticeship and Industry Training, Advanced Education and Technology, is also a fan of the Red Seal program. But at the same time – and in line with these new developments – he and his team have developed a tool (log onto http//www.tradesecrets.gov.ab.ca, click on Working in Alberta on the left-hand side, then click on the Recognized Trade Certificates hot link) to help employers navigate this new world of trade certificates beyond borders. This easy-to-use web mechanism will help Alberta employers determine what trades are called in other provinces, as well as what kinds of certificates workers have and who has issued them, says Douglas. In turn, this will help them make better hiring decisions for Alberta workplaces.

Over on the procurement side, Caroline Bogner, director with Alberta Infrastructure, notes huge ramifications from the springtime changes to TILMA. Architectural and engineering consulting services now fall under the agreement and the threshold for public procurement has been reduced significantly to contract values of $75,000. This is all good, says Bogner. It means more work for firms to bid on, and more competitive and value-added proposals for government. “I haven’t seen anything negative (from TILMA); there have been no negative ripple effects at all from our perspective,” she adds.

In fact, due to this latest development, a new process needed to be developed – which was efficient, cost-effective and practical – to accommodate the anticipated growth in proposal submissions. Bogner and her team worked with professional associations like the Consulting Engineers of Alberta and the Alberta Association of Architects to construct a short-list process via an online vendor registry called VRAES (Vendor Registry for Architectural and Engineering Services). Essentially, firms can easily register their interest in a particular project; three of them will then be asked for full-blown proposals.

“It has been an incredible experience to work with the associations to come up with this new process,” says Bogner. “It was great for us – developing something very new, very different and something that works well for industry as well as for government. I would suggest that anybody faced with the implementation of TILMA should work with industry because they have amazing ideas.”

In British Columbia, the response to TILMA has been slightly more muted.

Abigail Fulton, vice-president/government relations for the B.C. Construction Association (BCCA), says, “The truth is, we

“The issue of how we reconcile the differences between the provinces is of primary concern to us.”

really haven’t heard very much from anybody on possible impacts to the construction industry.”

Perhaps the most recent, detailed examination of TILMA was the association’s 2008 document, Report on the Impact of TILMA on the B.C. Construction Industry, which is 81 pages long (located at: www.bccassn.com/documents/ImpactofTILMA ontheBCConstructionIndustryFinalReportFeb08.pdf).

“We outlined a number of areas that we thought could impact the construction industry,” she says, “but as to whether it actually has impacted the industry or not, right now it’s pretty much business as usual.”

Industry observers had expected some heated discussion to arise over the Red Seal certification of workers, but apparently, little has been noticed. Manley McLachlan, president of the BCCA affirms that “To date, we have not encountered any issues with the agreement that we have been asked to react to.”

“The building trades and our affiliates are certainly all in favour of mobility; there’s no doubt about that,” comments Wayne Peppard, Executive Director of the B.C. and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization for construction unions in the province of B.C.

Peppard’s organization has been active in keeping its stakeholders up-to-date on TILMA and constantly refining its own records, recognizing that the schools it runs and the apprentices graduating from its system represent a large number of the people that are being put through the trades.

“I think in the trades, we already had fairly established mobility, primarily through the Red Seal program and, other than a few routine enquiries we’ve had, I haven’t seen that a lot has changed since TILMA was ratified,” says Jeff Nugent, executive lead, strategy and policy, at the Industry Training Authority in B.C. ITA is the provincial crown agency responsible for overseeing B.C.'s industry training and apprenticeship system.

“The concerns that we have regarding the application of the AIT and TILMA are actually not much different than some of the other concerns that have been expressed by engineers or nurses or other occupations,” says Peppard. “However, the issue of how we reconcile the differences between the provinces is of primary concern to us. In the other provinces, the people who have been affected by these changes have been rigorously involved with the issues around reconciliation.”

“Nevertheless, we hold fast that the Red Seal national standard is the vehicle by which we can ensure that there is mobility which is east-west and north-south; that goes for all of the National Occupational Listings. We believe that the changes should not be made individually in any jurisdiction, which in some instances is here in B.C. because we don’t have requirements in our legislation or in our policy for mandatory Red Seal standard or compulsory certification.”

Peppard says another of his organization’s concerns is that in Manitoba, there is a move to recognize tradespeople from Iceland to come to Manitoba to work.

“The terms of the agreement on international trade stipulate that anybody who’s recognized to have a credential or qualification for a trade or occupation in one province must be recognized in any other.” He feels this is a loophole through which a province could make a deal with another country to reciprocate on credential recognition.

And Fulton says that TILMA may, in fact, be tested if unions decide to use the challenge portion of the agreement.

Fulton recommends that persons active in the construction industry try to stay abreast of any developments affecting TILMA, “especially in the regulated trades like electrical, gas fitting and so forth, because things may change.”

“The regulations that people have been operating under aren’t necessarily going to stay the same, because they do have to get harmonized with Alberta. Chances are there are going to be some reasonably significant changes to the way the trades are regulated,” she says.

“I guess the only advice is, ‘Pay attention’,” says Fulton. ❏