As previewed in Abpolecon.ca last July and this April, Alberta continues to poach unionized jobs from Ontario. Protracted negotiations between disgraced Unifor former president Gerry Diaz and De Havilland failed to protect thousands of jobs at the company’s Downsview facility.
In October 2021, Unifor bowing to the inevitable reduction in jobs acceded to a three-year deal which would preserve 112 member jobs in production and 673 member jobs working in office, technical and professional positions at the plant. However it did achieve a payment to employees from the phase out of the Dash-8 commitment.
Negotiations centered on the company’s plans to leave its current production location at the Downsview plant, ending production of the Dash 8 aircraft. In the absence of a commitment to resume production, the agreements provide union members with financial compensation, including retirement incentives, restructuring packages, and enhanced severance packages that double the Employment Standards Act minimum.
Unifor News Release
In March 2022, De Havilland announced the DHC-515 water bomber manufacturing program creating up to 500 jobs. At the time Premier Kenney was quoted as saying:
“De Havilland Canada’s investment in Alberta represents a new era of diversification and economic growth in Alberta. With the hundreds of jobs being created by the DHC-515 being manufactured here, the sky is the limit for job creation in our aerospace industry.”
On 21 September Alberta’s Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation Tanya Fir announced De Havilland Aircraft would set up shop in Alberta adding 1,500 jobs in the Calgary area. The announcement highlighted the investment as indicating that “Alberta’s economy is not just recovering and growing, it is diversifying.”
Construction and Long-term Jobs
It will be interesting if the Ford government has anything to say. There is no indication that Alberta or municipal government subsidies are involved but the release did mention “the announcement was the result of “many groups collaborating and coordinating” implying the provincial government played a coordinating role.
According to the company’s news release a new greenfield aircraft manufacturing facility will be built in Wheatland County 30 minutes east of Calgary. The plant, located on 600 hectares, is to be the site of final assembly for the DHC-515 Firefighter aircraft, DHC Twin Otter and the Dash 8-400 aircraft. The company credited a large, young and diverse labour pool in Alberta, family-friendly cost of living, and a world-class international airport that would enable an efficient parts distribution to our global customer base. The reference to a new engineering and customer support centre of excellence in Toronto, Ontario suggests that production at Downsview will close although engineering and customer support centre (“engineering and customer support centre of excellence”) will continue.
In press interviews, De Havilland principals stressed that the build-out of its De Havilland Field midway between Strathmore and Lake Chestermere would be up to 15 years. There was no mention what the capital costs of this build-out would be but it is likely in the tens of, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.
Company co-owner Sherry Brydson, scion of the wealthy Thomson family, was quoted as saying said the full project will take a long time to complete comparing Rome to De Havilland Field. Co-owner Rob McDonald said De Havilland doesn’t need government handouts and aims to be self-sufficient confirming that no government funds had been offered to lure the company.
If the 15-year commitment is kept, this investment will have an very significant effect on the neighbouring communities and potential for Alberta metal fabricators and other suppliers to the aerospace industry. Job posting are already online with positions such as business analyst. customer account manager and management jobs for Canadair and De Havilland customer service.
Alberta has attracted investment interest in part because Alberta has the lower corporate income tax rate among the provinces at eight per cent. Further the August proclamation Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act took effect in August 2022. As its names implies this brought together a number of pro-business policies including rules for calculating general holiday pay, simpler rules for group terminations, payroll rules, temporary layoff rules, expanding the number of jobs for 13 and 14-year old’s, and more flexibility for hours of work averaging. As a province generally seen by Canadian business as anti-labour this move makes sense. Of course there should be no ruling out that next May’s general election might return an NDP government closely aligned with organized labour.