September 29, 2008

Canadian Construction Association Board Meeting

CCA plans break with coalition lobby on apprenticeships

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

WINNIPEG

The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) says it will look beyond unified lobbying efforts to strengthen Canada’s college apprenticeship system once the federal election ends.

“The (cross-sector) coalition will remain as is during the election, but after the election you can expect breakouts and discussions to get more pointed,” said Andrew Shepherd, CCA’s program manager of Gold Seal and acting director of industry human resources.

The CCA, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the Association of Canadian Engineering Companies (ACEC) and Association of Canadian Community Colleges are among the industries represented in a coalition pushing for increased federal investment in Canada’s community colleges.

However, sometimes bigger is not always better or as effective noted various CCA members at the association’s recent director’s meeting.

“As the coalition has become bigger, you end up getting bigger and loftier statements,” said John Schubert, human resource committee member at CCA.

The coalition held a press conference on Sept. 23 in Ottawa to push its message forward during the election and to all federal parties.

The coalition estimates that a $6 billion investment is needed in colleges to help expand capacity and replace antiquated equipment.

“We want to try to make this an election discussion,” said Paul Charette, chairman of CCA and coalition chairman.

“After the election, we can go back (to lobby Ottawa) as CCA.”

This year’s Construction Sector Council labour forecast for Canada indicates that construction will need 94,000 new workers in order to keep pace with new projects and an additional 162,000 workers to replace retiring workers by 2016.

Ontario faces a projected labour shortage of over 360,000 people by 2025, according to another coalition, the Ontario’s Workforce Shortage Coalition.

These dire labour numbers leave numerous Ontario industries competing with construction over the same labour pools, industry officials stated.

It is because of this competition you will see more coalition members lobbying in smaller groups or individually after the election, said Jeff Morrison, president of ACEC.

“There will be more splintering, we are all facing a labour supply problem,” said Morrison.

Adrian Morrison, chair of the human resources committee at CCA, said for the association a break from the coalition would ensure its “message does not get diluted or watered down.”

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