Grand River Transit

[frzn]

Could the number of bid takers be lower because of the fact that the contractors need to be unionized?

Being unionized is not the issue. Almost all local contractors are unionized. It was that it was only "carpenters union" companies could bid on the work.

So for example a local contractor who is affiliated with that union would bid the work then subcontract all the work out to other companies for less money and take in huge profits. The main reason this was fought so hard in the Region was that the union was trying to expand it's reach to all forms of construction (road reconstruction).