Wrongful Claims Under Alberta’s Public Works Act: Updates In Respect To Contractor’s Common Law Remedies

Challenges often arise for Alberta contractors performing work on construction projects constituting “public works” under the Public Works Act (the “Act”).¹ In particular, the Act creates a claims process, but does not provide a statutory timeline by which a claim must be filed with the court to enforce the claim, nor does the Act provide remedies for claims registered improperly or for amounts grossly in excess of what is actually owed. As such, where a claim is filed under the Public Works Act, payments on the public project – wherein the Province of Alberta is the owner – are typically frozen, or reduced, with very little recourse available to the contractor to remedy the situation. Of course, this is the intent of the legislation, but it becomes problematic when the claims are improper or for spurious amounts.