A Progressive Conservative MPP says he and his colleagues were told “explicitly” by senior party officials behind closed doors that pushing legislation to help a construction company would boost financial donations to the Tories.

In an email obtained by the Star, Randy Hillier warned his caucus mates last May that the party was “walking on thin ice” by sanctioning a Conservative private member’s bill that would release EllisDon from a closed-shop union agreement dating back to 1958.

“In caucus, it was stated quite explicitly that following a successful EllisDon fundraiser for (Tory leader) Tim (Hudak), our party would continue to benefit financially with the advancement of this legislation,” he said in the email.

There was no suggestion that EllisDon acted inappropriately and both the company and the Progressive Conservatives strongly deny there was any arrangement.

Hillier (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington) told the Star on Tuesday he stands by what he wrote last spring about the bill put forward by MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex), which passed first and second reading with the support of Liberal MPPs, including nine cabinet ministers.

However, Hillier declined to identify which senior Tories made the link between cash for party coffers and the legislation.

Two PC sources confided it was Hudak’s office that pushed the matter in a bid to curry favour with a company that has been a generous political donor for years, especially to the Liberals.

Ian Robertson, Hudak’s chief of staff, said in an email internal caucus deliberations were not for public consumption.

“You know I am not going to comment on what may or may not have been discussed in caucus,” wrote Robertson. “Bill 74 (the private member’s bill) levels the playing field by ending a discriminatory practice to create jobs and grow our economy, which is why it has received bipartisan support.”

PC Party spokesperson Alan Sakach said McNaughton’s bill is in line with the Tories’ policy that union agreements need to be modernized.

Tom Howell, EllisDon’s vice-president of labour relations, said the company is merely trying to right a historical wrong that has nothing to do with politics.

“I’m not aware of any discussions about donations to anybody,” Howell said in an interview.

“It’s a fix to a technical problem that should have been fixed legislatively years ago,” he said.

In his internal email to caucus members, Hillier expressed alarm at the perception of the party advancing legislation for financial gain.

“I am genuinely concerned that we may be . . . potentially violating Section 41 of the Legislative Assembly Act,” wrote Hillier, noting the act forbids MPPs from benefitting directly or indirectly from legislation.

McNaughton said it is “total hogwash” to say his initiative is designed to do anything but “help thousands of people keep their jobs.”

That’s why he introduced his private member’s bill, titled Fairness and Competitiveness in Ontario’s Construction Industry Act, 2013, on May 16.

“This is my backyard. EllisDon is from London and they have thousands of employees,” said McNaughton, stressing party fundraising was never a factor.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

According to Elections Ontario, on May 29, EllisDon gave three separate donations to the PC party totalling $14,815.

By comparison, as of July 8, the company had donated five different contributions to the governing Liberals this year for a tally of $26,200. Over that same period, the firm did not appear to give anything to the NDP.

While he raised the issue in writing with his fellow Tory MPPs, Hillier said he has never discussed his concerns directly with Hudak.

The maverick MPP would not discuss the schism in the PC caucus over McNaughton’s bill.

“All I would say is that the attendance and participation during the debate on that bill would be the best barometer . . . it was certainly far from full attendance.”

Hudak, McNaughton, and nine other members of the then 36-person caucus voted in favour of the bill — along with 22 Liberals — while Hillier broke ranks and joined with 15 New Democrats to oppose it.

Hillier emphasized in the email that “advancing legislation that explicitly abrogates a voluntary collective agreement at the behest of one employer provides our opposition with a proof-point to their allegations . . . that we are only fighting unions to make big business richer.”

Indeed, unions are concerned the legislature is considering a bill that specifically extricates one company from contractual obligations by giving it special dispensation to hire non-union staff as well as unionized workers.

“That’s what’s very troubling for us . . . because if this legislation goes through other contractors . . . are going to come forward and say ‘I want out of my bargaining arrangements.’ It is a very troubling situation for the building trade unions,” Pat Dillon, business manager and secretary-treasurer, Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, said Tuesday.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board, after months of hearings initiated by unionized electricians and sheet metal workers, ruled on Feb. 13, 2012 that the 55-year-old agreement to hire only unionized workers only stood. But the labour relations board gave EllisDon a two-year grace period to lobby Queen’s Park for legislative changes.

John Grimshaw, executive secretary-treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Construction Council of Ontario, said the labour relations board’s move “is unprecedented in my experience.”

“Now who else gets that kind of a deal?” he asked.