Construction of the new F.H. Collins Secondary School employs far too few Yukoners, according to Liberal Leader Sandy Silver.

In the legislature Wednesday, the Klondike MLA brought up the century-old issue of workers and companies from Outside filling local positions.

“There are very few jobs for Yukoners on this project,” Silver told the house.

“Instead, the Government of Yukon has spent $50 million toward this project and they are putting Albertans and British Columbians and others to work.

“The profits from the job are heading outside the territory to general contractors and their headquarters in Alberta,” he said.

Wade Istchenko, the minister of Highways and Public Works, acknowledged that only 29 jobs at the Lewes Boulevard construction site are filled by Yukon boots. But that’s 88 per cent of the 33 jobs, he said.

“We are working on providing supplier development services to local businesses,” Istchenko said.

“There was some stuff going on in the fall when it comes to this.”

Silver quoted a statement by Istchenko from earlier this year, when the F.H. Collins contract was awarded to an Alberta company: “‘The final objective here was to tender a project that would create local jobs and promote economic activity.’”

The Liberal leader then asked the minister, “How much of that $50-million price tag has gone outside of the territory?”

“You know, the Government of Yukon takes procurement very seriously,” Istchenko replied.

“We are modernizing how we pick our goods and services to make this government’s contracting procedures fair, consistent and accessible for all Yukon businesses.”

The government grilling was the latest flare-up in a steady stream of heat around handling of the budget and tendering process for the new school.

Exactly one year earlier, Silver, then the Liberals’ interim leader, asked Premier Darrell Pasloski about local companies “that wasted their time and money” preparing bids for the F.H. Collins reconstruction tender.

Two independent estimates for the original school construction pegged the cost at $36.8 million and $37.8 million in June 2012 — bumped up to $41.6 million after the government added a temporary gym and geothermal energy to the tender. No local company came within $10 million of the original tenders — the government did not disclose the later cost upgrade.

It scrapped the plan when no companies could come close to meeting the budget demanded, ultimately opting for a pre-designed school imported from Alberta.

When the new tender was sent out in October 2013, the NDP questioned why the government included a requirement that bidders have experience building three projects in the last five years that were “similar to the new F.H. Collins Secondary School.” The party suggested this excluded local contractors from bidding.

The premier said in November 2013 that the project required a $40-million bond, which local companies alone would not qualify for.

He insisted there were opportunities for local contractors to partner with companies from Outside and still benefit from the project, like Ketza Construction and EllisDon Corp. have done.

Larry Turner, the president of the Yukon Contractors Association, would not comment specifically on the government’s intentions last year.

But he was “surprised they didn’t increase the budget to deal with the supposed add-ons,” he told the Star a year ago.

“I can understand some of the choices made at certain times, but I find it kind of a pain in the neck. They were advised or at least had information that it was going to cost more than the budget they had and they didn’t really give that any consideration.

“Obviously, it’s problematic. Anytime you have a job tendered, and there’s been several this year that have come in significantly over-budget and are therefore cancelled, that’s painful for us,” Turner said.