What will happen to the winter maintenance of Muskoka’s provincial highways with the parent company of Carillion Canada, which currently holds the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) contract for the work, being forced into bankruptcy today?
Carillion, an international company that provides integrated services including facilities management, construction and road maintenance, employs 43,000 people in the UK, Canada and the Middle East. About 6,000 of those are in Canada. Carillion Canada is responsible for, among other services, maintaining more than 40,000 kilometres of highways in Ontario and Alberta.
UK professional services firm PwC, who were appointed as special managers in Carillion’s insolvency, issued a statement on its website which included instruction that, “Unless told otherwise, all employees, agents and subcontractors are being asked to continue to work as normal and they will be paid for the work they do during the liquidations.”
On its Twitter account @Carillionplc, the company posted, “Carillion Plc and other companies in the group continue to operate as normal visit http://pwc.co.uk/carillion for more information.”
But what long-term effect the company’s troubles will have on its Canadian operations is unclear.
The Ministry of Transportation met with Carillion Canada today, said Lara Cantin, MTO Media and Issues Advisor. “They have advised us that winter maintenance services are continuing uninterrupted at this time. Regardless, MTO is continuing to look at all of its options should this situation change.”
Cantin added that the MTO will continue meeting with Carillion Canada throughout the week and will continue to provide updates as they become available.
The MTO announced last year that it would be ending its contract with Carillion Canada for road maintenance in Muskoka-Parry Sound. Fowler Construction was awarded the new contract to begin in September 2018.
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wendy brown says
I just read in the guardian uk version this https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/15/the-four-contracts-that-finished-carillion-public-private-partnership. It says that the 3 largest jobs they have in england at least two of them have been locked down and the workers are only allowed in to get there small tools they can prove are theirs.
Stephen Varga says
Happy Fowler got the contract: Canadian and local to my second home Muskoka. See you this weekend.