From June 17 to July 1, the building industry in Quebec was halted by its biggest strike in 25 years. It was short-lived, but is bound to happen soon again, as the provincial bill that stopped the strike will only be in effect for one year.

In order to avoid another such work stoppage, there needs to be a thorough revision of construction regulations, starting with Act R-20, which regulates 60% of all construction trades in Quebec.

Among other things, the act regulates the number of unions which can represent workers in the several construction trades. Anyone who wants to work in construction must be a member of one of five approved unions. There is no choice; the Quebec Labour Code imposes unionization of workers wherever a union is present, and dues are collected through direct salary deduction.

Such an imposition is a blatant violation of individual rights, since freedom of association implies one also has the right to not join an association. It is also a violation of individual choice, since every single new construction project must be done by unionized workers, whose compensation is subject to province-wide negotiations.

Along with unionization, R-20 imposes a compartmentalization of trades not seen anywhere north of Mexico. It strictly divides the various trades into 26 highly specialized jobs, compared to only six in Ontario.

For example, ceramic tiles must be installed by a ‘tile setter’ and not a ‘resilient flooring layer,’ who specializes in carpeting. Workers expose themselves to prosecution should they dare engage in work they aren’t unionized to do.

According to economist Pierre Fortin, this creates a 10.5% increase in costs, due to the artificial shortage of labour caused by high specialization – a city with very few tile setters will have to wait for one of them to be available before construction can continue. Another study, by consulting firm Samson Bélair, found that these laws cause a 17.5% longer construction time because building sites must deal with so many different trades to complete a project.

Adding insult to injury, compartmentalization also applies among the different regions of the province, making it hard for workers from Montreal to go to the north, and construction workers report working about 60% of the time the average Quebecer works. Of course, this number only includes reported hours; as with everything that’s over-regulated, there is a vast black market.

The solutions to construction problems are relatively simple: 1) merge trades in order to make workers more versatile, and 2) let workers decide whether or not they want to be part of a union.

However, these steps are unlikely to be adopted, considering the parties holding power in the National Assembly right now. Both the PQ and the Liberal Party walk hand-in-hand with unions, as can be shown by the oversized public sector. Meanwhile, the CAQ just can’t seem to have a discourse that will help the party be different and propose real change.