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City of Calgary To Implement Ethical Policy, Attend to Living Wage Issues

January 22, 2007Estelle Kuzyk,Executive Member, Calgary and District Labour Council

Today, Calgary City Council approved implementation of the Sustainable Environmental andEthical Procurement Policy (SEEPP), and will include Living Wage issues in the furtherdevelopment of this Policy. Pilot implementation on apparel, food products and chemicals willbegin in 2007, however the Policy is intended to eventually apply to all goods and servicespurchased by the City of Calgary. The SEEPP fulfills several commitments to the Triple BottomLine principles adopted by the City of Calgary.

This is a gratifying day for all of the community organizations that have worked in coalition forseveral years to help bring this Policy to fruition. The Calgary No Sweat Coalition membersinclude the Calgary and District Labour Council (CDLC), Women's Centre (Calgary), CUSO,Oxfam, Vibrant Communities Calgary (VCC) and RESULTS Calgary, and we have the support ofnumerous other organizations in Calgary.

The SEEPP has taken over 2 years to develop and our Coalition Members have been diligentlyinvolved throughout this process. With the inclusion of "Green" products, we believe a newstandard of ethical procurement has been set which will hopefully encourage other Canadianmunicipalities to begin the process of implementing ethical policies of their own. Attention toLiving Wage issues in this Policy will address the positive social impacts of workers being able tolive on that which they are paid.

Although Living Wage issues were promoted and acknowledged throughout the Policydevelopment process, it was determined by City Administration that they could not be researchedin relation to this Policy, because "Living Wage has not been adopted as a City standard"providing any direction from City Council on this issue.

In response to this position, the Labour Council and our Coalition Partners made presentations tothe Standing Policy Committee (S.P.C.) on Finance and Corporate Services on January 10, 2007,in order to support implementation of the SEEPP and garner Council direction to address LivingWage issues. Representatives from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business madepresentations slamming the plan.

After all presentations, the 10 Council Members on the Committee voted to adopt the SEEPP to"specifically facilitate the commodity evaluations on a pilot implementation basis for apparel, foodand chemicals in 2007". Amendments were made which directed Administration to report back toCommittee in November, 2007 regarding a cost evaluation of the pilot implementation and riskanalysis to estimate the future impact on City budgets. The S.P.C. on Finance and CorporateServices additionally directed Administration to report back to Committee on "the implicationsfrom a Triple Bottom Line context of including Living Wage in Sustainable Environmentaland Ethical Procurement/Supplier Code of Conduct." Administration was specifically directedby the Committee to continue to work with the Calgary and District Labour Council and our

Coalition Partners on the implementation and further development of this Policy.

The favourable decision of the S.P.C. was addressed by Calgary City Council today and wasoverwhelmingly supported, with only one Alderman opposed.

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Aldermen Joe Ceci and Druh Farrell spoke in favour of the Committee decision, and AldermanFarrell also acknowledged the numerous letters received from a plethora of communityorganizations supporting both Policy implementation and inclusion of Living Wage in theSEEPP. In fact, many organizations and businesses have already implemented and promotedthe payment of a Living Wage here in Calgary.

Aldermen Madelaine King and Barry Erskine also made speeches extolling the virtues of theSEEPP, and these are notable.

Alderman King commented:"Prior to the Committee meeting I must say I was concerned about the effect on smallbusinesses in Calgary. But I think that it became clear through the presentations made tous at the Committee that small businesses were unlikely to be negatively impacted andthat this was a process that needed to start.

"Many of the people who have phoned and emailed have actually been small businesspeople. They have been more concerned with equality in Calgary and in the leadershiprole of City Council than they have been about the possibility of some minor extrapaperwork, and that's been very interesting to see.

"I think it was clear by the end of the Committee hearing that this was definitelysomething that we should be moving ahead with, and I will certainly support it today."

Alderman Erskine expressed:"I will be supporting this, and the reason I'll support it is because I really think it'simportant that as a government, as a level of government, that we provide an ethicalcompass for the people we work with and for ourselves especially, and also for ourcitizens. I think what we're doing here is we're agreeing on a direction. How we get tothat direction has a lot to things to be worked out and we have to be very, very careful. Idon't think there's a blanket solution or a black and white solution. I think there's a lot ofgray in this, but I think the direction that we're looking for is one of being ethical and

improving the ethical behavior of our procurement and what impact we may have onothers.

"There will be many groups that will utilize that type of decision politically, unfortunately,in the sense that, well, these group of companies don't fall into our area so thereforewe're not going to support them, all that kind of stuff. So we're going to have to siftthrough this stuff and make the right decisions, but most of all set the direction andhopefully the targets will be met as we move through this.

"I think it's about time that we're doing it and I would like to see this at the Provincial andthe Federal level, and I think it's extremely important."

In response to a query about the necessity of a policy when the City seemed to already be trying

to act ethically, Owen Tobert, City Manager, replied:"I believe it has to do with a concern that the City of Calgary be seen as a leader - a leader onthis issue with respect to sending a signal that we are desirous of becoming a compass to showothers on what is a better way to be seen to act. It's not enough just to act. It's important to beseen to be acting."

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