LATEST NEWS
November 16, 2009
Training
British Columbia watching how College of Trades unfolds in Ontario
The building trades in B.C. have been closely following the road taken by Ontario’s College of Trades legislation.
“One issue we have been dealing with is trades training issues. The work done in Ontario getting from (Premier Mike) Harris to now was an incredible challenge and impressive to the rest of us across this nation,” said Wayne Peppard, executive director of the British Columbia and Yukon Building Trades Council.
“The College of Trades is an issue we’ve been watching closely and will be bringing it forward to the NDP opposition.”
Peppard provided an update on his council’s building trades activity at the recent Ontario building trades convention in Ottawa.
The impact of the economy on the west and the building trades has been noticeable but they managed to mitigate how heavy the hit was, he said.
“We managed to extend ourselves beyond the simple large projects and were a little more effective in the subcontracting side of things with most of our affiliates,” Peppard said. “We were able to pick up some of that (work).”
Another highlight for the BC and Yukon building trades was a coalition and lobbying effort it rolled out in a recent municipal election in the Lower Mainland of B.C. Peppard said the election results proved successful in six municipal ridings.
“So we are ramping up our procurement policy issues (municipally), it is not just about fair wage or living wage,” Peppard said.
“We are talking about safety and apprenticeship and the commitment to those issues that help make our contractors a quality production.”
Dave Martin, business manager of the Manitoba Building Trades Council, also reported at the Ottawa convention that the building trades in his province had to ramp up their political efforts on the provincial front.
When former Manitoba NDP premier Gary Doer resigned to become ambassador to the United States a leadership race was held between two final candidates this past October.
The Manitoba building trades decided to back Greg Selinger, the then provincial finance minister. Selinger eventually won the leadership race with 66 per cent of the ballots. He was elected party leader and became Premier-designate.
“It was a tough decision, when someone is holding out all the promises of the world on labour legislation, it is hard to ignore that promise,” explained Martin.
“We felt what was best in our interest was having a premier that was re-electable for awhile and would be working with us over long term goals over the long haul.”
| MOST POPULAR STORIES |
- Olympic construction goes down to the wire
- Two more Fort McMurray projects moving forward
- Nexen, OPTI Canada get approval for cogeneration power plant near Fort McMurray
- 5,000-room modular lodging project taking shape near Fort McMurray, Alberta
- Public-private partnerships working as intended, new report finds
- 20 Most Popular Stories
| TODAY’S TOP CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS |
These projects have been selected from 350 projects with a total value of $6,260,468,758 that Reed Construction Data Building Reports reported on yesterday.
$1,000,000,000 Peace River RD BC Prebid
$500,000,000 Saanich BC Prebid
$500,000,000 Victoria BC Prebid
| CURRENT STORIES |
- New deal allows Canadian construction firms to bid on U.S. stimulus projects
- Construction continues on Canadian Natural Resource office in St. Albert, Alberta
- Canadian Construction Association summit zeroes in on industry concerns
- Art Gallery of Alberta addition showcases steel
- 5,000-room modular lodging project taking shape near Fort McMurray, Alberta
- Five-year forecast looking up for British Columbia construction industry
- Saskatchewan gets new natural gas trades training centre
- B.C. permit numbers rise while Alberta’s fall
- Trades lack LEED understanding
- Nexen, OPTI Canada get approval for cogeneration power plant near Fort McMurray
- Aecon wins $22 million in contracts for steam generators
- SNC-Lavalin partners with Russian bank to form engineering company
- Work continues on Pearl Condos in Toronto
- ‘A good first step forward,’ Canadian construction industry says of U.S. stimulus agreement
- Government should be more flexible with stimulus project deadline, outgoing ORBA president says
- Steel provides structure for historic hotel revival in Port Hope, Ontario
- Ontario businesses scramble to ready for arrival of HST
- Construction continues on Atira Women’s Resource Society housing project in Vancouver
- Five still unaccounted for after Connecticut power plant explosion
- U.S. manufacturing employment up, but construction losses continue
- Peterborough Utilities unveils plan for 10-megawatt wind farm
- China orders local governments to pay workers on private sites
| ALEX’S ECONOMICS BLOG |

Reed Construction Data Chief Economist Alex Carrick discusses current developments in the North American economic environment with emphasis on the construction industry.
- A review of some global economic and policy expectations for 2010 (February 3, 2010)
- Synopsis of RCD’s webinar on the economic and construction outlooks (January 28, 2010)
- Increasing signs of world and U.S. economies getting back on track (January 28, 2010)
- More

| PROJECT NEWS BRIEFS |
Updates on Canadian construction projects from Reed Construction Data’s research team. More 
- Rounthwaite Dick & Hadley Architects begin work on arena plans for Flamborough, Ontario (Aug 17, 2009)
- Orillia Market Square aims for LEED Silver certification (Jun 25, 2009)
- Designs for new York Region District School Board building features energy efficiency (Jun 23, 2009)
- IPC Energy considers Milford location for future wind farm (May 22, 2009)
- Waterloo partnership seeks LEED Silver for West Side Family YMCA and District Library (May 22, 2009)



