The Yukon Liberals say they can cure the territory’s ailing procurement process, and offered around a dozen fixes to make it more transparent and more accessible to Yukon companies.

“When the largest projects underway are being headed by Outside companies, you are not building local capacity or long-term economic sustainability. This has to change, and it will, under a Yukon Liberal government,” Ranj Pillai said today.

The Liberal candidate for Porter Creek South was speaking at a press conference about the Liberals’ platform for procurement, held at party headquarters on Second Avenue.

Pillai began by noting recent major capital projects that saw contracts go to Outside companies: F.H. Collins Secondary School, the continuing care facility in Whistle Bend and the Faro mine reclamation project.

One of the party’s top priorities would be to implement all of the recommendations made by the Yukon Procurement Advisory Panel by 2018.

The Yukon Party also promises to implement all of the Procurement Advisory Panel recommendations.

The panel found that the Yukon government spends about $400 million annually on procurement, but that the procurement process is ad hoc and overly complex for both bidders and government staffers.

The panel made 11 detailed proposals that aim to make procurement consistent, simpler and strategic – so that the government gets bang for its buck while doing what it can to award contracts to local companies within the limits of Canada’s rules on internal trade.

A Yukon Liberal government would “level the playing field” so that local companies have the opportunities to bid on all government contracts, said Pillai.

The Liberals would also ensure that locally-manufactured products are given “automatic preference,” he said.

“We will collaborate with major industries, including mines and large infrastructure projects... so if we see larger projects from the private sector go forward, that they have the support and they understand what’s available to them in the Yukon,” said Pillai.

A Liberal government would double the exempt thresholds under Canada’s existing Agreement on Internal Trade, he said.

This means that only Yukon companies would be able to compete on projects that will spend up to $100,000 on goods, $250,000 on services and $500,000 on construction.

“We will collaborate with major industries, including mines and large infrastructure projects ... so if we see larger projects from the private sector go forward, that they have the support and they understand what’s available to them in the Yukon,” said Pillai.

It is unclear however, if such thresholds will be allowed when Canada’s new internal trade agreement comes into force in the near future.

In July, Canada’s premiers agreed in principal to a new Canadian Free Trade Agreement that will replace the current Agreement on Internal Trade and will ease restrictions on the movement of goods, people, investments and services among the provinces and territories.

The specifics of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement have yet to be ironed out. Premier Darrell Pasloski said at the time, however, that the Yukon will have the same protections under the new deal as it had with the old one.

(Right now, the territorial government offers rebates to contractors who hire Yukoners and use Yukon-made products on government projects through the Business Incentive Program.)

Pillai said that according to the “subject matter experts” the Liberals have consulted, the feasibility of higher exempt thresholds under the new internal trade deal is “a possibility.”

It might take “some negotiation to get us there,” he said.

As for whether the Liberals would scrap the Business Incentive Program in exchange for the new thresholds, Pillai couldn’t say, but noted that “whatever’s in place right now doesn’t seem to be working well.”

Pillai listed a number of ways a Liberal government would overhaul the procurement process to ensure that it supported the local economy.

It would require all tender submissions to show, in measurable terms, benefits to the Yukon.

It would also add “local servicing and warranty provisions” to all tenders so that infrastructure projects are maintained by Yukon companies and workers into the future.

“Certain pieces of infrastructure in this town, if they have been purchased from Outside, it is sure hard to get somebody to look after them,” said Pillai.

Yukoners should be maintaining those, and Yukoners should be trained and their capacity should be built to maintain that infrastructure.”

If elected Nov. 7, the Liberals would ensure that tenders for seasonal, Yukon government construction projects go out by March of each year.

They would also create a five-year capital plan that would include a list of projects ready to break ground.

As well, a Liberal government would adjust the timing and sizes of projects so that local businesses are not disadvantaged.