July 30, 2010
Economic update
VIDEO: Canada’s economy is slowing down
As fall approaches, the Canadian economy is slowing down, but this lower growth is due to factors beyond the nation’s control, says CanaData Chief Economist Alex Carrick.
“It’s things like the fact that the U.S. is mired in a situation where job creation is weak and residential real estate markets continue to be very depressed,” he says.
In addition, “Europe is hunkered down in austerity to try and deal with its debt problems. And there’s even talk of growth in China slowing down on account of credit tightening,” says Carrick.
Canada depends on two forces to drive its economy, he notes: trade with the U.S. and demand for the commodities we provide.
“In neither of these cases is there a busting out of the gates,” Carrick says.
“So Canada is going to suffer along with the rest of the world in terms of a moderation in growth into the fall.”
VIDEO: B.C. Construction Association welcomes standardized contract forms
Standardized construction documents are long overdue, says the president of the B.C. Construction Association.
Port Mann Bridge under construction
Time-lapse footage shows the progress of construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Metro Vancouver.
VIDEO: How effective has stimulus spending been?
If you want a good indication of how effective government stimulus spending has been in Canada, look at the “remarkable” institutional starts statistics for the first half of 2010, CanaData chief economist Alex Carrick says.
VIDEO: Owners must lead charge toward BIM adoption
The greatest challenge in getting the architecture, engineering and construction industries to embrace building information modeling is convincing individual players they’d be better off working collaboratively, says the chair of the Canada BIM Council.
VIDEO: Canada should embrace rainscreen cladding systems
Canada has been too slow to embrace rainscreen cladding systems, despite the advantages they offer in terms of better performance, low-cost maintenance and longer-lasting structures, says a distributor of architectural building products.
VIDEO: Ontario General Contractors Association shows support for Gold Seal
All the directors on the board of the Ontario General Contractors Association have become Gold Seal Champions, part of an effort to help promote the national construction certification program.
VIDEO: Green building critical in triple bottom line accounting
Building design and construction standards will undergo significant changes as “triple bottom line” accounting becomes more commonplace in the industry, says a Saskatchewan-based economist.
VIDEO: Boom truck tips over at Vancouver condo project
A boom truck tipped over while delivering lumber to a low-rise condominium construction project in Vancouver’s trendy Kitsilano neighbourhood, near Vine Street and First Avenue.
Ontario General Contractors Association launching project management course
The Ontario General Contractors Association in September will launch a new project management course that will cover all aspects of the role from the conception stage of a project through to occupancy and commissioning.
