The Ontario Glass and Metal Association (OGMA) is calling on the Ford government to re-evaluate its bidder list for façade and glazing work at the New Campus Development (NCD) at the Ottawa Hospital.
The group is upset that bid documents have been issued to five prequalified contractors, two of which are deemed to be U.S.-based companies. The OGMA is requesting that the government take immediate action to disqualify non-Canadian bidders, in alignment with the protectionist policies that often exclude Canadian contractors from public projects in the U.S.
Additionally, the OGMA wants the government to establish a procurement policy that prioritizes Canadian – specifically Ontario-based contractors – for provincially funded infrastructure projects.
OGMA president Blake Sanders recently sent a letter to Premier Doug Ford, noting the situation is particularly troubling in light of an earlier $140-million contract for supply and installation of a glass and aluminum façade at the new Trillium Health Partners Hospital Project in Mississauga being awarded to a U.S.-owned firm.
The OGMA had sent Ford a letter on the Mississauga bid but did not receive a response. His office also did not respond to the most recent letter nor provide a comment on the matter to ConstructConnect.
“To have one project awarded to a foreign firm may be attributed to oversight; to allow it to happen again is indefensible,” Sanders wrote in the recent letter. “It reflects a clear disregard for the skilled, experienced, and well-resourced Ontario companies that our associations represent – companies that contribute directly to Ontario’s economy, employ local workers, and pay taxes that fund the very institutions for which these projects are being built.
“This is not just a question of fair competition- it is a matter of economic responsibility. The exclusion of Ontario companies from these major public infrastructure projects has real and immediate consequences.”
In the letter, Sanders notes that, as a direct result of being shut out of the earlier Trillium M project, Harmon Canada has announced the closure of its 330,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Brampton, resulting in the loss of hundreds of skilled, long-standing, and well-paying Ontario jobs.
“This is a devastating blow to a proud Canadian community,” he states, “and one that could have been avoided with a more locally focused procurement approach.”
That there are U.S. contractors on the list for the Ottawa Hospital project is troubling on its own, Sanders writes, but especially so considering the highly controversial awarding of the façade contract for the Mississauga hospital project to Permasteelisa/Benson, a U.S.-owned company.
In its earlier letter, dated June 13, the OGMA had called for government intervention to ensure that the Ottawa Hospital project be limited to Canadian companies.
“Despite repeated attempts to engage with Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma, our concerns about foreign contractors being allowed to bid on the Ottawa Hospital New Campus Development project have gone unanswered,” Sanders says in an email to Daily Commercial news. “This procurement process – funded with Ontario tax dollars – risks repeating the mistakes of the Trillium M project, the timing of the awarding of which was immediately followed by the closure of Harmon Canada’s Brampton facility and the loss of hundreds of skilled Ontario jobs.
“We clearly requested that non-Canadian bidders be excluded from participation in the bidding process for this publicly funded project,” Sanders notes in his letter. “To date, we have received no response.”
This lack of engagement is both “disappointing and deeply concerning,” he states, and suggests that the association and by extension, the many skilled Ontario-based contractors it represents, are being disregarded in matters that directly affect their ability to operate, compete and survive.
To prevent a repeat, the OGMA is recommending that the government review the bidder list for the Ottawa Hospital project and weed out the two non-Canadian bidders.
To hammer home its point and underscore the real-world impact of such decisions, the association is inviting Ford’s office to attend a public auction on Sept. 15-17 at Harmon Canada’s Brampton facility where equipment is being auctioned off.
“It will offer a sobering view of what is at stake when Ontario-based companies are overlooked in favour of foreign firms,” Sanders notes.
The OGMA says time is of the essence, as bid submissions for the NCD project were due by Sept. 5, 2025.
“We noted with interest the recent press conference by ministers Vic Fedeli and Peter Bethlenfalvy, reaffirming your government’s support for Ontario industries impacted by unfair U.S. aluminum tariffs,” Sanders wrote in the letter. “As industry associations representing contractors that rely heavily on aluminum extrusions in building façade systems, we commend this initiative. Our members have experienced significant and ongoing material cost increases – many of which cannot be passed on to clients – so this support is both timely and appreciated.
“That said, we are extremely concerned by developments surrounding the procurement process for the NCD project.”
Prequalified contractors invited to bid on the Ottawa Hospital work include Ontario firms Flynn Group of Companies and CGI Constructors, Epsylon Concept Inc. of Quebec, and New Hudson Facades and Permasteelisa/Benson, both of the U.S. Permasteelisa/Benson won the earlier bid for façade work on the Mississauga project.
