BuildForce Magazine

Transcription

BuildForce Magazine

BUILDFORCE
MAGAZINE
Fa l l 2 0 1 6 , P R E M I E R E I S S U E
Net Zero Energy Homes
Build Opportunities
Canada’s residential
construction industry
is in the early stages of
a revolutionary change.
Boom...or Bust?
Many provincial economies
fluctuate due to the resource
super cycle. Is Canada nearing
the end of a cycle right now?
Changing the Productivity Culture
How is Alberta battling
low productivity and falling
capital effectiveness?
Canada Post Mail Publications Agreement Number: 40609661
BUILDFORCE
MAGAZINE
Greetings
7 A Message from the Chair of BuildForce Canada
9 A Message from the Executive Director of BuildForce Canada
Features
12 B
oom…then Bust! Where is Canada in the Resource Super Cycle?
Canada is currently in a bust cycle…how much longer will it last?
17 K
now What’s Next to Prepare for the Road Ahead
Understand supply and demand; annual industry report forecasts future.
22 N
et Zero Energy Homes Drive Opportunities for Residential Trades
NZE construction enables exciting options for the next generation of workers.
28 M
eeting Maintenance Workforce Challenges
Maintenance-related work continues to grow; creating job opportunities.
32 Th
e Nuts and Bolts of Infrastructure Spending
How will infrastructure spending impact the workforce, the economy and projects
Canada-wide?
34 H
ow is Alberta Changing the Productivity Culture?
Increasing productivity decreases safety incidents, enhances competitiveness.
36 B
uilding Trust: A Focus on Ethics in Construction
The CCA and BuildForce Canada are tackling ethics and the industry’s image.
38 A
fter the Smoke Cleared
Residents are returning to Fort McMurray. Now it’s time to rebuild.
MAKING HEADLINES
43 Safety Moment: Ontario Promotes Health and Safety Awareness at all Levels
45 Resource Council Created to Build Investment in Alberta
46 A Salute to Canada’s Tradespeople
49 Top Talent Awarded at 22nd Skills Canada National Competition
50 O
ttawa Scaffolders Jump into Action during Parliament Shooting Crisis
BUILDFORCE BASICS
51 E
ngaging Industry to Create a National
Workforce Strategy
53 BuildForce Canada’s Mandate
53 Board of Directors
53 Strategic Partners
54
Buyer’s Guide
Fall 2016 • PREMIERE ISSUE
Published For:
BuildForce Canada
220 Laurier Avenue West
Suite 1150
Ottawa, ON K1P 5Z9
Contact: Rosemary Sparks, Executive Director
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[email protected]
www.buildforce.ca
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BUILDFORCE Magazine // premiere issue
5
/ greetings //
A Message from the Chair
of BuildForce Canada
T
John Schubert
BA, MBA, P.GSC
Chair,
BuildForce Canada
President,
McCaine Electric Ltd.
hree years ago BuildForce
Canada was formed, and in
that short time, we have accomplished a lot. We have brought
groups to the table who don’t
often sit at the same table,
including owners, union and non-union contractors, and labour of various stripes. We have
built partnerships with people and organizations
across Canada, making it possible to provide
timely, much-needed labour-related information on a local, regional and national scale. We
have worked hard to ensure that everyone in
construction is represented; from building and
maintenance to fabrication and operations.
The construction industry inevitably has ups
and it has downs. I have seen this often during
my 38 years working in construction. Thirty-eight
years ago, companies did not have access to
timely labour market information (LMI) to make
decisions, but that’s no longer the case. Our
database is robust, includes both residential and
non-residential labour supply data, and includes
more trades and occupations than ever before.
When things are good there is a tendency
for industry to say “we need labour market
information now.” And then, when there’s a
downturn, it seems that this type of information
is thought to be less important. I completely
disagree with this attitude! In fact, I fully believe
that during a downturn, the LMI BuildForce provides becomes even more significant.
Right now in Canada, construction starts
have slowed, but it is important to not
become complacent. It is essential for organizations like BuildForce to continue to provide
timely and accurate data to industry and government so that decision makers know where
the shortfalls are and where the opportunities will be. The details in our data enable
industry to prepare in a smart, detailed and
methodical way forward when things turn
around again. There is no doubt in my mind
that the market will turn around and we do
not want there to be any soft spots or missed
opportunities when that happens. It is really
exciting to know that this type of information
exists for regions across Canada.
And we continue to grow and develop in
other areas as well.
For example, the number of courses offered
through our E-Learning Centre continues to
grow and we have recently developed a course
on Construction Industry Ethics in partnership
with the Canadian Construction Association.
You can learn more about this course and the
very important role ethics plays in all aspects of
construction, on page 36. We are constantly adding and updating courses to ensure that training
is relevant to the “boots on the ground” work
being done in Canada. For a full course list (we
have both management and safety options), visit
www.elearning.buildforce.ca.
This magazine is another example of how
BuildForce is reaching out to the entire construction community, including contractors and
engineers, as well as other related organizations. Our mandate is to provide accurate and
timely labour market information to the entire
construction and maintenance industry and this
new publication will enable us to do that. We
are very excited about this first issue and all of
the great stories found within it—everything
from up-to-date labour market assessments, to
the rebuilding of Fort McMurray, to news about
the Canadian Building Trades Monument that
will be revealed in 2017. And much more.
What’s next for BuildForce Canada? We
will continue to build our LMI and are paying
extra attention to data related to maintenance
work, which is increasingly important as
the government sets out to spend billions
on infrastructure upkeep. We are also working hard to ensure our forecasting tools are
flexible and agile so that they will accurately
reflect ever-changing economic conditions.
We are also planning to update and expand
our e-learning offerings to meet industry
training needs. All of these will contribute to
making well-informed decisions about workforce requirements going forward.
I’d like to take a quick moment to thank all
of the people who contributed their time as
expert interview subjects, and to those members of our industry who wrote articles. Thank
you too, to the advertisers who supported this
magazine. We could not have moved forward
with the project without your commitment to
support it. For this issue, and all issues moving
forward, thank you to everyone involved.
7
/ greetings //
A Message from the Executive
Director of BuildForce Canada
W
ROSEMARY SPARKS
Executive Director,
BuildForce Canada
elcome to the premiere
issue of our new publication, BuildForce
Magazine. BuildForce
represents a very
broad range of stakeholders—from residential to resource
development; from new construction to
maintenance; from labour providers to
contractors to owner clients; from governments to the organizations that train the
skilled tradespeople—and we represent all
of these industry participants, from coast
to coast to coast. We are very excited to
launch this magazine and hope that the
articles provided within will be of interest
to our broad range of constituencies.
And because BuildForce is all about
the labour market, the magazine’s articles will reflect what is going on in the
industry with a view to the impact on the
workforce. We are eager to hear what you
think. Please get in touch if you have feedback and/or article ideas.
We are living and working in an everchanging economic environment and
construction is a key player in Canada’s
marketplace. As such, we are impacted
by global and national trends and in turn,
construction impacts life in Canada at the
national, provincial and local levels. This is
why the labour market information forecasting we are providing is so important. We
strive to ensure that the information is current and comprehensive to help you plan
for your skilled workforce requirements.
Another way in which we support industry is through our online courses. Did you
know BuildForce Canada has an e-learning
centre that offers online courses geared specifically to the construction industry? We
offer management courses with topics on
communication, construction law and project management, and safety courses on
confined space awareness and pipeline construction safety. These are only a few of the
topics we can assist with and these courses
are available in English and French through
a network of distributors across Canada. We
are proud to help support your management
and safety training needs.
We are also working hard to engage the
next generation of skilled trades workers.
It’s no secret that career awareness is vital.
Who is going to replace the quarter of a
million skilled workers who will be retiring
over the next decade? We need to invest
in recruiting and training new workers now,
so that our industry is strong for the long
term. This includes showing off just how
amazing a career in construction can be
to those who are still working their way
through the school system. It also includes
mentoring the young men and women
who are already part of the industry so
that the knowledge and experience of the
older generation is passed down to those
who are just starting to build their careers.
We at BuildForce Canada are excited to
be working on both these fronts.
As a national industry-led organization we look forward to continuing to
support your needs through information
and resources developed by industry, for
industry. This new magazine is just one
more way in which we can communicate
with the industry. Whether it is through
o u r p ro d u c t s a n d s e r v i c e s , i n d u s t r y
forums, our websites, or social media, we
are trying to keep everyone informed and
engaged in discussions around workforce
challenges and opportunities.
We hope you enjoy this first issue of
BuildForce Magazine !
Get in Touch
www.buildforce.ca
[email protected]
613-569-5552
9
/ FEATURE //
Boom…
then Bust! Where is Canada in
the Resource Super Cycle?
By Drew Kozub
F
or several years, Canada
enjoyed an economic boom
as global demand for timber,
heavy and precious metals,
and agriculture resources
swelled to extremely high
levels. Then, around the time of the
2008-2009 global recession, this boom
turned into a bust as the world economy
slowed down. Over the span of decades, commodity demand increases and
decreases, and by looking at this data, it
is possible to observe something called
commodity super cycles.
These cycles have major implications in Canada, since the economies
in many provinces are built around the
resources that are exported. As of the
2008 recession, the country has entered
the downward phase of the commodity
super cycle.
A big question remains—how much
longer will it last?
What is a commodity super cycle?
Commodity prices are very volatile and
fluctuate greatly, even over short periods
of time (year-to-year) or fluctuate modestly over the scope of a long time (a few
decades). The performance of commodity prices over time has been referred to
by many analysts as a commodity price
super cycle. Canada could be nearing
the end of one of these cycles right now.
12 www.buildforce.ca
Ernie Stokes is a Canadian economist, managing partner of C4SE, and
the Senior Forecaster for BuildForce
Canada. His company analyzes demographic and economic data to extract
meaning from the changing Canadian
landscape, breaking down this vital
information to draw conclusions about
the provinces and regions of the country.
“The world economy experienced
very rapid increases in commodity prices
starting in the late 1990s,” says Stokes.
“They peaked around the great recession of 2008-2009 and started to decline
thereafter. This performance of commodity prices has been referred to by
many analysts as another example of a
commodity price super cycle.”
Stokes points out that during
a commodity cycle countries around
the world perform differently based
on the dependencies of their economy on resources. For resource-based
provinces, they enjoy initial prosperity,
followed by weaker growth or declines
in their economies.
The 2008-2009 recession was caused
by financial factors and precipitated in
part the sharp decline in commodity
prices. Newfoundland and Labrador,
Alberta and Saskatchewan have seen
declines in GDP with the fall in prices
while others have continued to grow.
“The current cycle has had a significant impact on the performance
of economies across the world,” says
Stokes. “Countries, such as Canada,
which possess resource-based economies, have been positively impacted by
the upward phase of this cycle and have
started to be negatively impacted as the
cycle has entered its downward phase.”
It is likely Canada will rebound from
this once the world economy improves—
launching the next super cycle—but it’s
unclear exactly when this will happen.
gas, timber, iron, gold, etc.) to buy the
things they do not have. In most recent
years, development in BRIC countries
(Brazil, Russia, India, and especially
China) has stimulated the world economy with their demand for commodities.
This benefited Canada in recent years by
supplying these resources to the countries that needed them.
In order to supply these things faster,
with less cost and downtime, companies invested in infrastructure, building
specialized facilities to process these
resources, hiring workers from noncommodity-based industries to operate
equipment, transport goods and build
up these industry-specific labour forces.
Non-commodity-based fields experience prosperity through a trickledown
effect. When expanding companies build
new facilities, the workers they attract
need new communities to live in, so noncommodity businesses end up building
the homes for these workers, setting up
stores and banks, building parks and
paving roads in these neighbourhoods.
Eventually though, the world gets
enough of the resources it needs and
so demand decreases. When demand
decreases, prices for resources begin to
drop. These resource-based companies look at ways to cut expenditures, so
they may reduce their workforces, use
new technology to get resources with
less labour (as is the case with hydraulic
fracking in the mining industry), and find
other means of lowering operating costs.
These decisions affect non-commoditybased businesses because the laid-off
people are not spending their money the
same way they used to. Maybe they’re
moving back to provinces where they
can find work in new kinds of industries.
When the global development slows
down, economies based on supplying
resources begin to suffer.
What triggers a resource
super cycle?
Where is Canada in the current
resource super cycle?
Unfortunately, there’s not a clear pattern
for the lifecycle of a super cycle, how
long it lasts, or its frequency. However,
there are common events contributing
to a super cycle’s rise and fall.
In simple terms, countries with commodity-based economies make money
by exporting the things they have (oil,
At this point, it appears Canada is in the
declining phase of the current resource
super cycle.
By using data from the latest World
Bank Commodity Price Outlook alongside the latest financial, economic
and industry information in Canada,
Stokes is able to posit Canada’s current
position in the current commodity price
super cycle.
In his research paper, called Canada’s
Past and Possible Future Economic
Performance in the Current Commodity
Price Super Cycle, Stokes noted the historic
positions of key commodities in Canada and
compared them to today’s demand. From
this data, he has concluded that Canada is
in a downward phase of the current resource
cycle, which prospered in the late 1990s and
began its decline following the 2008-2009
global recession.
“Our current predictions show a slow
recovery in line with that for the world
economy as a whole,” says Stokes. “The
cycles do not follow a predictable lifespan
and pattern. Normal cycles are identical
to those in the economy as a whole, but
more volatile in size. Canada started the
downward phase of the cycle a couple of
years ago and will likely recover when the
world economy strengthens.”
Who is most affected by the
resource super cycle in Canada?
The province whose economy is strongly
based on producing, processing, and
exporting commodities will be impacted
strongest during the super cycle’s current downward trend. When considering
the effect of a commodity super cycle,
Stokes also factored in unemployment,
business investment, trade balance and
more to better understand the impact.
Newfoundland & Labrador, Alberta
and Saskatchewan are active in the oil
and gas industry, but because supply
is currently meeting demand for these
resources, these provinces will be negatively impacted until the global economy
rebounds. Manitoba, British Columbia,
PEI and New Brunswick have economies
that are less commodity-based, so they
will not be as severely impacted by the
current commodity super cycle.
Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario
are less GDP-dependent on commodity
development (often relying on importing
and trading with provinces that are), so
their diversified economies will not be
as negatively impacted as the earliermentioned provinces. It is worth noting,
however, that no province is insulated from
the effects of the global marketplace, so
declining demands for resources around
the world affect all regions of Canada.
13
What factors will impact
commodity supply?
Over the short term, a perceived or
anticipated need for certain commodities affect the price, as certain groups
may stock up or offload resources.
This commodity stockpiling can
be influenced by interest rates rising
with commodity prices. Higher interest
rates negatively impact the demand
for storable commodities because
of increases in costs of holding them
in inventories. Interest rates can also
reduce the price for commodities
(storable ones, at least) by encouraging companies to extract resources
now rather than in the future, when the
interest rate might be different.
Over the short to medium term,
extreme weather, wars and politics/
trade agreements can all be factors
affecting global commodity demand.
Also, when strong demand for a
product emerges, the price goes up
because now the industry has to rapidly
set itself up for long-term production
and processing by building facilities,
obtaining equipment, satisfying regulatory requirements, etc. These can
artificially affect commodity prices for
months or a few years, but do not affect
commodity pricing long term.
Over the long term, one of the
most important factors of commodity
supply and pricing is the availability
of a particular resource. For example,
less agriculture land because of urban
sprawl can increase agriculture prices.
The amount of oil and gas in local
reserves, or new technology that is able
to extract more crude in less time and
using fewer resources, can lead to an
oversupply, driving the price downward. The costs of resources needed
to manage these commodities can
also affect supply if there’s not a ready
stream of workers or places for them to
live, etc. The balancing of these factors
can lead to increases or decreases in
commodities that can last several years.
What does the future of the
resource cycle look like?
The volatility of commodity prices and
the exact length of time before global
economies move into an upswing make
it hard to know exactly what the years
ahead will look like. Based on the demographic and research data collected
from across Canada compared to information from the World Bank Commodity
Price Outlook, economists can make
some educated guesses of where vital
Canadian commodities will be over the
next few years.
Precious metals will continue to
decline over the course of the World
Bank Commodity Price Outlook (which
goes to 2024). These commodities will
likely be sitting at levels similar to right
before the economic downturn from
2008-2009.
Timber prices will possibly increase to
levels near the early 1990s, but will not
get quite as high as they were at their
peak around 1993-1994. This upward
trend will position this commodity at
levels similar to 1996 or so, which were
historically quite high.
Agriculture-based commodities are
expected to continue a downward trend
through 2024. The value of these commodities is expected to move toward
2007-2008 levels.
Base metals will have a very slight and
gradual decline leading up to the end of
the World Bank’s forecast. It should be
noted that this commodity group has
faced declines in recent years, but the
rate of decline is leveling off and by 2024,
it is expected to be in line with levels similar to 2008-2009.
While it’s difficult to predict in concrete terms the exact lengths and
effects of a resource super cycle, looking at information like the World Bank’s
Commodity Price Outlook can provide
a better sense of what is statistically
probable. Using this information, businesses can make decisions about the
way they manage assets during these
downward points in a cycle. They can
also take steps today to prepare for
the future when the next rise in the
resource cycle begins.
y
FACT:
Commodity super cycles are defined
as decades-long price movements
in a wide range of commodities.
Super cycles differ from shorter term
fluctuations in three ways: 1) Super
cycles are demand driven because
they follow world GDP; 2) Super
cycles span a much longer period of
time with upswings of 10 to 35 years,
taking 20 to 70 years to generate
complete cycles; and 3) Super cycles
are observed over a broad range of
commodities. These commodities are
mostly inputs for industrial production
and for the urban development of an
emerging economy.
Source: www.mining.com
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/ FEATURE //
Know What’s Next
to Prepare for
the Road Ahead
By BuildForce Magazine Staff
T
here’s no way to predict
the future, but analyzing
the industry and forecasting what labour will likely
be required helps companies prepare for the
road ahead. In January 2016, BuildForce
Canada released its 2016 to 2025 labour
market forecast for this purpose.
The annual Construction and
Maintenance Looking Forward forecast
provides a 10-year scenario of workforce
supply and demand for 34 trades and
occupations by province and region,
allowing the industry, training providers and government decision makers to
manage workforce requirements.
The latest report offers insight across
residential and non-residential labour
markets and looks at Canada’s construction workforce over the period of 2016 to
2025, exploring how supply and demand
are affected by demographic and economic conditions.
Bob Collins is an economist with
over 25 years’ experience. He has been
involved in BuildForce’s economic and
labour market outlook since 2004. For
each round of analysis, Collins and the
Labour Market Information team review,
by province, macroeconomic conditions
and current and proposed major projects, and validate the outlook results
with industry stakeholders.
The 2016 forecast is still mostly on
track, he says, but slower growth is
expected over the near term as current
major projects peak and wind down and
new projects are delayed.
“Total industry employment almost
doubled, jumping from 710,000 workers
in 1996 to 1.4 million in 2014—aside from
a decline in 2009, the industry was on an
upward track. Conditions started slowing
in 2015,” he says. “But overall employment is relatively unchanged across the
2016 to 2025 forecast, with weaker conditions in residential and more moderate
growth in non-residential.”
Since the 2016 forecast was published, declining global demands and
weaker commodity prices continue to
impact the timing of proposed major
projects, especially for resource development and pipeline projects.
“Project delays can have a significant impact on regional labour market
conditions, which we’re seeing as we
start the 2017 to 2026 forecast. We
are seeing the potential for lower than
expected labour demand requirements
over the near term compared to last
year’s outlook.”
Forecast highlights
Most provinces should see some growth
from 2016 to 2019 in non-residential
markets, including resource-related
infrastructure projects, but these gains
depend on the timing of projects. Rises
in commercial and industrial construction
sectors should add non-residential jobs
in many provinces.
Alberta and Newfoundland &
Labrador will likely experience employment drops through 2019 due to lower
resource prices, as current major projects
wind down.
17
New housing cycles are expected
to take a flat or downward path
through 2019, except in Ontario and
Manitoba, which see housing starts
rise from 2016 to 2019.
Construction employment is likely
to rise modestly to 2019 in most provinces, with gains in non-residential
construction surpassing losses in residential. After 2019, major industrial
and engineering investment slows, as
do most new housing markets, due to
slower population growth.
Construction expansion over the
past 15 years added housing, industrial
and resource capacity that need renovation and maintenance work annually.
Employment gains in these markets create new jobs, partially offsetting weaker
conditions in new housing and resource
development projects.
It will be a competitive environment where other
industries are facing similar age demographics
and fewer youth are entering the workforce as
population slows.
Residential construction
“Residential losses are driven by
declines in ‘new housing’ from recent
peak levels of activity,” says Collins.
“These are partially offset by moderate
growth in renovation.”
This creates a misleading illusion of
market balance—but an aging workforce
and less available young people entering
the workforce as population growth
slows creates recruiting and training
challenges. Across the outlook period,
retirements create the largest demand
for the residential sector.
Non-residential construction
Preparing for challenges
Themes in most provinces include:
• Industrial building construction
recovering as investments and
exports rise. Construction employment grows, but gains are moderate.
• Commercial building construction is
on a steady but moderate rise, following slower economic growth.
• Modest or lower projected investment in institutional building
construction as government spending
slows down.
• Maintenance work rising, providing
new non-residential jobs.
• Irregular timing of engineering and
civil projects and these changes are
driving volatility in non-residential
employment:
»» Resource projects in Alberta
and Newfoundland & Labrador
are declining.
»» Sustaining capital and industrial maintenance, thus creating
construction jobs.
“We are seeing non-residential construction increases around six per cent,
driven by major industrial and engineering projects and steady, moderate
growth in commercial and institutional
investment, and employment,” says
Collins. “This is changing though, as
some major projects that were expected
to drive non-residential construction are
being delayed.”
The forecast estimates 11,000
new jobs related to moderate market
expansion by 2025. Collins says while
there is moderate new employment
change, the industry must still monitor the aging workforce as employers
will need to replace retirees (250,000
construction workers are expected to
retire by 2025).
“Employers will rely on getting an
estimated 221,000 first-time entrants
into construction,” Collins says, defining first-time entrants as those who are
transitioning from school into the workforce. “After allowing for interprovincial
mobility to partially fill local gaps, the
Canadian construction industry will still
require 27,000 new recruits (the net of
residential and non-residential combined) from outside the industry and
likely outside Canada.”
“This is a priority and requires
steady recruiting, training and longterm planning to offset the loss of
skilled workers,” Collins says, adding
that the need is more acute in Atlantic
Canada, where over 25 per cent of the
workforce is expected to retire.
“The key is finding balance
between slower growth and tracking the aging workforce. It will be a
competitive environment where other
industries are facing similar age demographics and fewer youth are entering
the workforce as population growth
slows,” he says.
There are other challenges that are
impacting current and planned activity,
including keeping current with changing
economic conditions related to global
demands, commodity prices, interest
and exchange rates, and major projects.
Workforce mobility
In order to meet provincial skilled trades
requirements, labour mobility across
sectors or provinces will be needed
during peak periods. Because project
timelines change, it can be difficult to
know where and when skilled trades
will be required. Interprovincial
mobility may be needed for pipeline and marine terminal work in New
Brunswick, utilities work in Manitoba
and proposed liquefied natural gas
(LNG) projects in British Columbia.
“There are divergent paths for residential employment (declining) and
non-residential commercial building
activity (rising modestly), resulting in
the potential for mobility across sectors
depending on the portability of skills,”
says Collins.
The industry may also be
affected by competition for trades by
FACT:
Investment in non-residential building construction increased 0.2 per
cent to $12.6 billion in the second quarter of 2016, following five
consecutive quarterly declines.
Nationally, the growth was a result
of higher spending on the construction of commercial buildings and, to
a lesser extent, industrial buildings.
Overall, investment was up in four
provinces, with Ontario registering
the largest gain, followed by British
Columbia and Manitoba.
Source: Statistics Canada, The
Daily, July 15, 2016.
19
non-construction industries as they also
replace an aging workforce.
“Demands for skilled trades in the
manufacturing industry...expanding industries, such as shipbuilding in
Nova Scotia and British Columbia, also
create emerging demands for construction trades,” the forecast says. “These
national trends...indicate a key workforce
management challenge—the available
national workforce and new entrants to
be recruited and trained may not meet
combined replacement (retirement) and
market expansion requirements.”
Dealing with the unexpected
The Fort McMurray wildfire that destroyed
commercial buildings, homes and infrastructure in May 2016 will impact the
residential and non-residential sectors
and workforces too.
“They need to replace lost or damaged homes and other buildings, rebuild
essential services (water, gas, utilities,
etc.) and do environmental clean-up
related to the disaster,” says Collins.
The long-term outlook for residential and non-residential sectors hasn’t
changed much from last year. However,
the uncertainty is changing conditions over
the near term. Delays in major projects
will slow construction and lower demand,
with the biggest impact on resource
development and pipeline projects.
Big projects may still need workforce
mobility to meet peak demand requirements. The planned federal infrastructure
program will add employment opportunities over the near term.
Forecasting labour market requirements helps companies, training
providers and government decision
makers plan for the future.
y
/ FEATURE //
Net Zero Energy Homes
Drive Opportunities for
Residential Trades
By Sonja Winkelmann, Director,
Net Zero Energy Housing, CHBA
C
anada’s residential construction industry is in the
early stages of a revolutionary change in how
homes are built—one that
presents new and exciting
opportunities for the next generation of
skilled tradespeople.
A Net Zero Energy (NZE) home is
one that produces the same amount
of energy as it uses, on an annualized basis. These homes combine
extremely high levels of energy
efficiency in their design and construction with built-in renewable energy
generation and, in some cases, energy
storage systems. The result is a home
that delivers unrivaled levels of occupant comfort, minimum environmental
impacts and astonishingly low utility
bills month after month.
The Canadian Home Builders’
Association (CHBA) is leading efforts to
bring Net Zero Energy homes to market. A recently completed pilot program
backed by Owens Corning Canada
and the federal government saw the
construction of 26 such homes across
Canada by five leading residential builders. Based on this success, CHBA has
launched an NZE labelling program to
ensure that each one is independently
certified to meet proper NZE standards.
The program also includes training
requirements for builder members.
One of the findings from this pilot
was that NZE construction
demands a greater level
of precision by
key trades,
combined with a willingness to adopt
new building practices and the capacity
to identify worksite innovations that
deliver construction efficiencies.
For many tradespeople, this is new
and exciting territory. It shows that the
traditional role of trades in home building is evolving as the industry goes to a
Net Zero Energy future.
CHBA’s Net Zero Energy Housing
Council Promotes NZE Homes
The move to bring NZE homes to the
marketplace is being spearheaded by
the residential construction industry
itself, through the work of CHBA’s Net
Zero Energy Housing Council.
A broad collaboration involving
home builders, manufacturers,
utilities, design experts, government agencies and service
providers, the council’s primary focus is on how to
support innovation in the
This NZE home, developed by
Habitat Studios, is located in
Edmonton, Alberta.
industry with the goal of creating a
market advantage for CHBA builder
and renovator members pursuing Net
Zero Energy.
To this end, the council has focused
much of its attention on defining the
NZE Technical Standard and developing a third-party verification and
labelling process that will confirm that
a home achieves the standard. The program’s training requirements are also
critical, both to ensure those involved
in the design and construction are up to
speed, as well as to ensure the lessons
learned through innovation are shared
across the country to accelerate the
diffusion of this know-how among participating builders and renovators.
What is a Net Zero Energy home?
While most often quite conventional in
appearance, NZE homes incorporate a
wide range of technical innovations in
three areas:
1) They are incredibly energy efficient,
with high levels of insulation in all
exterior surfaces including below
grade, high-performance windows and “right-sized” mechanical
systems, including fresh air ventilation. With these energy efficiency
improvements, the typical NZE home
will require 50 to 70 per cent less
energy for its operations than a new
home built to current building codes.
2) For the remaining energy that is
required, NZE homes incorporate
renewable energy generation, most
often solar-generated electricity, to
offset this load. In so doing, over
the course of the whole year, they
generate as much energy as they
consume (hence the “net zero” in
their name).
3) Increasingly, NZE homes also
incorporate in-home energy storage systems (much like an electric
car) that allow them to function
more autonomously from the electrical grid (a big advantage when
the power goes out!).
In order to meet the demanding NZE
technical standard, a wide range of
innovative construction practices are
used by NZE builders. This can involve
significant changes to traditional woodframe construction techniques and the
For many
tradespeople,
this is new and
exciting territory.
It shows that the
traditional role of
trades in home building
is evolving as the
industry goes to a Net
Zero Energy future.
need for a higher level of precision as
the home is built. In order to achieve
this, tradespeople need to understand
what is required and collaborate with the
builder to make it happen. NZE homes
mean innovative times for the skilled
workers in residential construction.
Addressing the marketplace
CHBA has identified that energy efficiency is near the top of the “must have”
list for today’s new home buyer. The
association’s annual survey of new home
buyers, conducted with Avid Ratings
Canada, gathered opinions from more
than 3,000 recent homebuyers in 2016.
The findings were clear—nearly 90 per
cent wanted an energy-efficient home,
and for two thirds of respondents, this
meant energy performance beyond
basic levels.
Landmark Homes developed these NZE
townhomes in Edmonton, Alberta.
It’s important to note that today’s
homes are already very energy efficient compared to the past. A
code-built home today is a very good
home—37 per cent more efficient than
a home that was built in 1990. But as
Canadians seek higher levels of performance and comfort, and are willing
to pay for it, the industry continues to
innovate to meet those desires in the
most cost-effective fashion.
These higher levels of performance also require assurance for the
purchaser, hence CHBA’s new label.
This matches CHBA’s finding where
for eight out of 10 new home buyers,
higher energy performance needs to
come with a recognized, independently verified label that certifies the
home meets higher standards.
Skilled worker opportunities
As more and more home builders
adopt Net Zero Energy building practices, this will expand opportunities for a
number of trades and skilled workers.
“Energy advisors” will be required.
These experts guide builders through
the design process and then conduct the required on-site testing of a
home to verify it meets the standards
required to bear the Net Zero Energy
label. Architectural technologists will
need to know these systems and practices as well.
Renewable energy technicians will
be in greater demand as more homes
23
Reid’s Heritage Homes built
this NZE Discovery Home
(far right) in Guelph, Ontario.
incorporate on-site electricity generation, most often using roof-mounted
photovoltaic solar panels. These
systems will need to be designed,
installed and maintained.
The more traditional trades will
also see their roles shift in a Net
Zero Energy world, as they address
the need for performance-based
outcomes in every aspect of their
work. From electricians to plumbers,
framers to roofers, and insulators to
HVAC contractors, the innovations for
NZE homes mean evolving skill sets
and expertise for almost every trade
involved in home construction.
The Net Zero Energy Pilot Project
The Owens Corning pilot project completed this past year was an exciting
one, aimed at moving NZE homes well
beyond the research and development
stage, and focusing on the unique
challenges that production builders
face when constructing these homes.
This has provided insight into the
changing role of trades working with
this level of housing technology.
To achieve wide acceptance and
industry adoption, it is clear that a
larger scale demonstration by production builders is critically important.
This is the key to reducing the cost
premium that comes with an NZE
home, which will help make these
homes affordable for a larger portion
of consumers.
To this end, the Net Zero Energy
Housing demonstration project was
initiated with major support from
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
and Owens Corning Canada, and the
involvement of a host of other businesses and service providers.
Five production-scale builders across
Canada took part in the initiative and
constructed a total of 26 NZE homes
during the pilot:
1. Provident Developments, Bedford,
Nova Scotia.
2. Construction Voyer, Laval, Québec.
3. Minto Group, Ottawa, Ontario.
4. Reid’s Heritage Homes, Guelph,
Ontario.
5. Mattamy Homes, Calgary, Alberta.
The five builders were supported by
a strong technical team that guided
them through the initial design process and helped them address the
particular challenges of applying Net
Zero Energy construction in a production building environment.
The lead consulting firm was
buildABILITY, and was assisted by
energy advisors from across the country. The process began with a design
charrette that brought builders and
consultants together to focus on how
best to achieve NZE by adapting
the traditional building techniques
and trades roles typical to a subdivision-scale production building site.
While a number of NZE homes had
been built in Canada prior to the pilot
project, most involved custom construction approaches on “one-off” houses,
where a single team of trades and site
managers work together as a team,
through the entire build process.
Production building relies on a more
sequential process where trades cycle
through a site, each carrying out a
specific part of the overall process using
standardized techniques. This results in
a high degree of efficiency, but makes
the introduction of innovative techniques
and a more integrative building process
more challenging.
advance and implement productionfriendly applications. Because of
these engagement sessions we were
able to evaluate how best to achieve
economies of scale in a production
environment. The success of the pilot
program is a direct result of innovation, creative strategizing, and trade
and manufacturer collaboration. It’s
exciting to now see the results of this
exercise being so widely adopted in
the industry by builders and partners.”
In terms of specific differences
between these building projects and
conventional home construction,
Weatherston pointed to a number of
significant elements.
“We certainly had to work through
exercises together with our trades
team. We invited those who would be
impacted the greatest into multiple
planning sessions before construction
actually started,” she noted.
“One example would be the work
with our framers,” she continued. “With
them, we worked through various possible wall assemblies to find a solution
that worked for everyone.”
The pilot experience
So, what was the builders’ and trades’
experience during this pilot program?
Jennifer Weatherston, Director of
Innovation & Estimating with Reid’s
Heritage Homes in Guelph noted
that, “right from the beginning stage,
we reached out to our trade partners
and explained the purpose of the
program, listed our goals as a builder
and described possible methods to
achieve these goals.”
She continues, “the foundation crew, framing crews, insulators,
window installers and many others
were all challenged to find ways to
25
“We had discussions around single
stud walls, double stud walls, how much
foam—a single layer or double layer—one
crew or two crews, weight of the walls,
health and safety, working at heights. All
these were considerations in ensuring
the efficiency of the building process,
while trying to accommodate both the
framers and the other trades impacted
by how the frame was constructed.
The trade crews do this work, day
in and day out, and have the best
understanding of how specific building techniques will impact the work
flow. In terms of results from this team
approach, the first NZE home took
three weeks to frame, but with the
experience gained and some changes to how we did things, the second
house took only one week to frame!”
“With the framers’ input, we were
able to continually improve the wall
design to make construction more efficient, but also simplify things for other
trades like the siding crew, electricians
and plumbers.”
“Mechanical was another highly
impacted trade group,” Weatherston
noted. With high-performance homes
and their significantly reduced air
changes, there is a need to rethink the
HVAC installation, using ‘right-sized’
equipment for the reduced heating
and cooling loads.
“These homes required equipment
that was not widely available in the
marketplace. Working with our mechanical contractor, we were able to source
equipment through Dettson that provided the optimal solution.”
“The next challenge was ensuring
air quality and proper distribution
of air. The mechanical crew had to
learn how best to install a low- to
medium-velocity system with high wall
supplies/flex duct rather than traditional tin work. This resulted in quicker
install times, less waste and much better home comfort for the homebuyer.”
“An extra benefit was the reduction
of bulkheads and corner blocking in the
rooms, increasing the useable space to
the homeowner, as they have no floor
vents to contend with.”
As a long-standing market leader
in energy-efficient construction, Reid’s
Heritage Homes came to the NZE pilot
program with a solid understanding
of how to work with their trades when
introducing new building techniques.
Weatherston mentioned specific
examples of how this has worked.
“In the past, we had brought our
framers in and provided training on
the Codeboard air barrier system by
Owens Corning, which involves both
new building techniques and the need
for a high level of precision. Ensuring
the detailing, sealing and taping on the
exterior of the home meets the manufacturer’s specifications is essential to
get optimal house performance.”
Future directions
This Net Zero Energy home pilot
project has attracted the attention of
many mainstream production home
builders. The five industry-leading
firms that participated broke new
ground in terms of taking NZE construction from the custom realm into
a production building environment.
Along the way, they also showed
that, as high-performance housing
becomes more and more mainstream,
the traditional role of the trades will
also change and evolve. Tomorrow’s
residential trades will be tapped for
their ability to problem solve, develop
site construction innovations, and collaborate with other trades to define
the most efficient way for the entire
trades team to bring a home from
plans to completion.
y
Sonja Winkelmann is Director, Net
Zero Energy Housing, for the Canadian
Home Builders’ Association, which
represents more than 8,500 member
companies across Canada.
The Canadian Home Builders’
Association (CHBA) is the “voice of
the residential construction industry.”
CHBA members include home builders, renovators, land developers, trade
contractors, product and material
manufacturers, building product suppliers, lending institutions, insurance
providers, service professionals, municipalities and more.
For more information about CHBA,
and the CHBA Net Zero Energy
Housing Council, visit www.chba.ca/
nze.
/ FEATURE //
Meeting Maintenance
Workforce Challenges
By BuildForce Magazine Staff
B
oth residential and
non-residential construction investment
have seen significant
growth over the last
15-plus years. This has
generated a steady increase in the
demand for maintenance-related work
that spans residential renovations and
repair, commercial and institutional
maintenance, and heavy industrial
ongoing maintenance and shutdown/
turnaround/outage work. Steady
employment gains in these markets
are among the largest contributors
to new jobs and, in many markets,
employment added here helps partially offset job losses in new housing
and the slowing of new non-residential
major construction projects.
Industrial maintenance can include
equipment maintenance for ongoing
work that typically can be done without
shutting down operations or production,
and turnaround, shutdowns and outages
requiring the unit to be offline or shutdown. The latter can create significant
skilled labour demand requirements and
often relies on workforce mobility to meet
peak demands in order to complete the
maintenance work and get the system
back in production as quickly as possible.
Maintenance expansion calls for
skilled workers
Bob Collins, an Economist with
BuildForce Canada, says new construction has slowed down considerably, but
Collins foresees continued growth in
renovation and maintenance work over
the next decade.
“It will continue to grow steadily,
but at a moderate rate across the 2016
to 2025 period. In some markets, such
as the oil sands, the demand can be
large for a select group of trades and
for brief periods within a year, but
overall, the demand will continue to
rise,” he says. “Moving forward, the
industry will need to better identify maintenance work as potential
growth markets with employment
opportunities for both residential and
non-residential sectors.”
Investment in residential maintenance will increase to $17 billion
by 2025, a rise of 20 per cent since
2015, while non-residential investment
is forecast to rise to $20 billion, an
increase of 23 per cent.
“Oil and gas, mining, electric
utilities, transportation systems and
commercial and institutional building
projects have reported tremendous
growth over the last decade and these
facilities need to be maintained, which
Photo credit: Michael Sharp
has translated into steady maintenance
growth,” says Collins.
“The sharp, short-term volatility in
requirements for some shutdown and
ongoing maintenance work can be concealed in the big picture, as demands
for maintenance workers with specialized skills grow steadily. For oil sands,
projected employment gains between
2019 and 2025 are more concentrated in
the sustaining capital and maintenance
market segments than in new construction, with an increase in demand
for some trades, such as boilermakers, pipefitters, carpenters/scaffolders
and specialty welders,” he says.
For residential construction, there is
a projected decrease in housing starts
and new housing investment between
2019 and 2025, while renovation work is
expected to continue rising. More than
half of the investment in residential construction is earmarked for renovation and
maintenance work. Investment in renovation work will rise as housing stock ages.
“As new housing slows, there will be
a change in the mix of trades needed
for renovation work,” explains Collins.
“It can vary by region, but in most provinces, an older housing stock translates
into growing demand for the renovation
and repair workforce.”
Strategies and training
Finding the workforce needed for new
construction, sustaining capital projects,
maintenance/shutdowns and outages
creates potential challenges as they
compete for labour. The industry fills its
need by drawing from the same pool
of skilled labour used for new construction—as new construction work slows,
more workers may be available for
maintenance work but mobility may be
limited by workers’ unique requirements
and work experience.
Shabbir Hakim is Executive Director
of the Alberta Council of Turnaround
Industry Maintenance Stakeholders
(ACTIMS), a tripartite organization
comprised of oil sands owners, heavy
industrial maintenance contractors and
labour providers. ACTIMS represents
the groups with the largest industrial
shutdown and turnaround workforce
demands in Canada. He says the biggest challenge that heavy industrial
Oil and gas, mining, electric utilities,
transportation systems and commercial and
institutional building projects have reported
tremendous growth over the last decade and
these facilities need to be maintained, which has
translated into steady maintenance growth.
maintenance contractors face is finding
workers on short notice with the right
skills, qualifications and experience for
work in the oil sands.
“The organization’s goal is to work
with labour providers to employ skilled,
qualified, experienced Albertans first,
then extend employment opportunities to skilled, qualified, experienced
tradespeople from other provinces,
and if vacancies can’t be filled from
within Canada’s available workforce,
ACTIMS contractor stakeholders would
recruit skilled, qualified, experienced
tradespeople from other countries.
Unfortunately, delays in acquiring tradespeople results in shutdown schedules
being extended and, in turn, a significant
cost burden to the oil sands owners,”
says Hakim.
“Right now, tradespeople are available for the jobs we currently have;
however the availability of workers
fluctuates based on the level of construction/maintenance activity occurring in
Alberta and elsewhere. This past spring,
turnaround projects based out of Fort
McMurray were significantly affected by
the devastating fires in the Wood Buffalo
region; however, the majority of the shutdown work, with the exception of some
post shutdown activities, is now complete,” Hakim explains.
He continues, “typically, we need a
large number of tradespeople during
the spring turnaround activities. On the
other hand, there is less of a demand in
the fall as there is less turnaround work
scheduled. The availability of tradespeople for the oil sands depends so
much on the construction maintenance
activities scheduled elsewhere in Alberta
and Canada.” He adds, “these days, a
growing number of tradespeople have
Red Seal tickets, which, in turn, ensures
that the right qualifications and skills are
sent to the job.”
To identify potential skilled trades
shortages and ensure that the workforce needs for the turnarounds and
ongoing projects can be met with qualified personnel, ACTIMS has created the
Workforce Analysis Committee, which
is comprised of representatives from
various stakeholder groups within the
organization. The committee determines
the workforce gap between demand and
supply—oil sands owner stakeholders
outline their forecasted requirements,
and labour providers review the demand
and provide feedback on the availability of skilled, qualified tradespeople for
the required timeframe. Then, information provided by BuildForce Canada and
other similar groups provides a national
and North American overview, which
is then factored in with the local information to determine potential shortfalls
within each of the skilled trades.
“With a growing number of retirees,
Alberta doesn’t have a sufficient number of tradespeople to fill the short-term
requirements,” says Hakim. “Mobility of
skilled, qualified, experienced tradespeople is critical, not only to staff
maintenance turnarounds, but to ensure
that new projects can be successfully
undertaken in the energy sector in the
years ahead.”
As the industry plans to meet workforce requirements over the next
decade, strategic priorities need to be
considered and should take into account
the growing needs related to increasing maintenance work. Recruiting for
long-term needs must remain focused
29
on attracting the best and brightest
available; ensuring the industry has
the needed apprenticeship and training capacity; focusing on retention with
safe, equitable and respectful worksites;
supporting workforce mobility to fulfill
peak demands across Canada; sharing
a common vision with industry stakeholders so they can work collaboratively;
and defining, measuring and improving productivity in the construction and
maintenance sector.
Apprenticeship programs offered
through partnerships with government,
employers and training providers will
be crucial to provide on-the-job and
classroom training. Just as important
is ensuring employers hire and train
apprentices. Contractors and governments must commit to support
apprentices during economic upswings
and downturns.
The resource development sector is
mostly comprised of large, multi-national
companies—especially in the oil sands
and refining areas—with large workforces. Work is often project-based, with
trades contracted for the length of the
project. With the cyclical nature of the
industry, it can be tough to ensure the
continuous employment of apprentices.
It is also important for educational
institutions to promote the skilled trades
as a viable career option, says Hakim,
and all employers, regardless of size,
need to focus on creating employment
opportunities for apprentices in the
skilled trades.
“As a whole, the construction/
maintenance industry needs to find
ways to retain apprentices until they
achieve their journeyperson certification. If we look to the future, it appears
that we may once again be faced with
an acute shortage of skilled tradespeople; therefore, it is imperative
that we nurture apprentices today in
order to ensure a skilled workforce for
tomorrow. If we recruit apprentices,
whether they’re on a three- or fouryear term, we have to ensure that we
have jobs for them,” Hakim says. “It’s
easy to find apprentices; the challenge
is keeping them employed. They can
be utilized in fab shops, mod yards,
field construction, etc.”
Those apprentices who complete
their apprenticeships and receive their
journeyperson tickets will be available
to the industry at some point in the
future, he adds. The problem arises, if
we can’t find employment for apprentices, they will drop out of the system
and follow other career paths.
“Recruiting apprentices is not the
issue,” he stresses. “Keeping them
employed is the most critical issue. We
have got to find ways to keep these
apprentices employed.”
“The industry, as a whole, can keep
this in mind. All employers, no matter
where they are located, or the sector
of the industry that they service—they
can create opportunities and make this
happen. Not all jobs require journeyperson certification, so these become
opportunities for keeping apprentices
employed,” Hakim explains.
Aging demographics and the
inevitable retirement of a large
portion of the workforce creates challenges for meeting maintenance and
renovation workforce requirements.
With slower growth in new construction forecast, it is time to collaborate
and share our expertise and resources
to put forth an action plan that allows
the industry to better track upcoming
needs and ensure long-term sustainability for the future construction and
maintenance workforce.
y
FACT:
In Canada, construction and
maintenance workers built,
installed, maintained, repaired
a n d re n o v a t e d i n f r a s t r u c t u re
estimated at $250 billion annually over the last decade. This
infrastructure ranges from large
industrial facilities, bridges
and roadwork, commercial and
institutional buildings to singledetached homes.
Source: Meeting Construction
a n d M a i n t e n a n c e Wo r k f o rc e
Challenges, National Industry
Strategy, September 2015.
/ FEATURE //
The Nuts and Bolts of
Infrastructure Spending
D
By Paul Adair
uring the lead-up to
the last federal election,
the current government
ran on a platform of
national infrastructure
investment, insisting
that a concentrated effort was needed
in order to help pull the Canadian
economy out of the doldrums. As part
of this platform, the Liberals proposed
a $120 billion commitment over 10
years and this was confirmed in the
March 2016 budget.
Stimulus packages are not new
to this country. An infusion of infrastructure funding was a key component
to counter the worldwide recession set
off, in part, by the sudden crash of the
U.S. housing market back in 2008/2009.
The government at that time introduced $47 billion over the 2009-2011
period to help keep the Canadian
economy rolling and to mitigate the
impact of the global recession. One of
the requirements of the package was
that municipalities needed to advance
projects that could be completed
within 18 months, but that were not
already on the books. This ensured the
money would be spent right away.
There were positives to this infrastructure stimulus. Schools in remote
locations were fixed up, Canadian
hockey rinks across the country were
updated, roads were resurfaced, and,
most importantly, Canada was able
to buffer itself against unemployment
in the construction sector; particularly
when compared to its G8 partners.
“It’s true that it helped to keep
the industry employed,” says Andy
Manahan, Executive Director at the
Residential and Civil Construction
Alliance. “But while there were some
employment benefits coming from the
previous stimulus program, it didn’t
really address the serious longer-term
infrastructure needs of the country.”
The latest approach to infrastructure stimulus seems to be taking a
different approach in how projects will
be chosen for funding.
Canadian municipalities are currently responsible for close to 60 per
cent of the nation’s core infrastructure,
including the roads, bridges, transit
systems, schools,
water and wastewater
systems, and recreational
facilities that make up the
heart of any community. A
recent Federation of Canadian
Municipalities (FCM) Infrastructure
Report Card found that one third of
that infrastructure is currently rated in
“fair” or “worse” condition and indicated that, if extensive repair and
maintenance work is not carried out
shortly, the price tag will only go higher
as infrastructure continues to crumble.
“Every dollar spent now to repair
and maintain that infrastructure saves
10 dollars in the long term by avoiding
those expensive repairs down the road
and also builds better neighbourhoods
for our residents,” says FCM President,
Clark Somerville.
“To put it simply, making smart
investments now will create quality sustainable jobs and improve our
neighbourhoods while also giving us
the freedom to prepare for the future.”
Recognizing this, the 2016 budget
has signified an unprecedented
investment in a number of priority items that aims to bolster the
economy now and into the future,
including investments in housing,
transit and green infrastructure across
the country.
The government has committed to strengthen Canada’s core
infrastructure by rolling out more than
$11 billion this year alone as part of
its $60 billion Phase 1 investment into
new nation-building infrastructure.
The budget has also introduced a
new cost-sharing funding model, with
the federal government increasing its
share up to 50 per cent, recognizing
the limited funding capacity that faces
cash-strapped municipalities.
In early June, the mayors and
representatives of Canada’s largest
cities met in Winnipeg, Manitoba to
further consult with the federal government on the infrastructure deficit.
Hon. Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of
Infrastructure and Communities, was
on hand to comment on the Liberal
plan for the remaining $48.1 billion
of Phase 2 that will be announced in
the 2017 budget. Minister Sohi also
indicated that the intent of the government was to allow municipalities
to determine their own infrastructure
priorities, illustrating a more measured
and cooperative approach to infrastructure investment.
“Strong municipal-federal partnership will now be crucial to ensuring the
plans outlined in the budget result in
real results for our communities and
our residents,” says Somerville. “In
the long term, municipalities will be
working hard with Ottawa to design an
infrastructure program that provides
our communities with funding certainty
to move forward with strategic projects
while delivering measurable benefits
towards shared goals such as addressing climate change and strengthening
the economy.”
Smart and measured investment in
local infrastructure projects will have
a direct and positive effect on the
lives of Canadians. It is estimated that
for every $1 billion spent on public
infrastructure projects, approximately
18,000 quality jobs for skilled trades
will be created.
“The more we invest in building
strong and vibrant communities, the
higher the quality of life we can provide for Canadians and their families,
and the stronger the foundation we
build for the Canadian economy now
and for many years to come,” says
Somerville. “Each and every dollar
spent on infrastructure investment is
projected to generate $1.64 in economic growth.”
“We are pleased that infrastructure
is at the forefront of the federal government’s list of priorities,” says Geoff
Wilkinson, Executive Director of the
Ontario Road Builders’ Association
(ORBA). “But given that, by nature,
stimulus is not a continuous, longterm funding system, once stimulus
funding concludes, many businesses
can be faced with an oversupply of
labour, equipment and/or materials. This is one of the reasons why
ORBA advocates for sustainable,
long-term predictable government
funding, which allows the industry
to effectively manage its long-term
business projections.”
y
33
/ FEATURE //
How is Alberta Changing
By Paul Adair
F
or more than a decade,
The Construction Owners
Association of Alberta
(COAA) has been digging
into the root causes of low
productivity and falling
capital effectiveness within Alberta’s
construction sector.
The Twice as Safe, Twice as
Productive by 2020 initiative has come
about as a result of COAA’s ongoing
work and has been developed to help
educate the construction industry
on specific ways to counter Alberta’s
ongoing challenges with productivity,
with the ultimate goal of doubling the
2015 provincial productivity rate by 2020.
“These are ambitious goals that can
be achieved and even exceeded at
some point,” says Leigh Myers, Director
Project Management Oil & Gas Canada
at AMEC Foster Wheeler. “While the
current downturn will make a short-term
contribution toward these goals, the
real prize for the province is to return
to productivity levels of the early 2000s
and to execute projects with among the
best safety performances in the world.”
Workers survey a portion of the Quest
unit at the Scotford Upgrader, near Fort
Saskatchewan, Alberta. Photo credit: Shell
It should be stated that productivity in Alberta’s construction sector
is currently not that far out of step
with other sectors across Canada and
North America. That being said, there
will always be areas for improvement,
and getting a handle on declining
productivity levels is vital to improving the attractiveness of Alberta to
investors, who are always looking
for higher capital discipline and
assurances that expenses are being
reined in to address the rising cost
of large projects.
“At the end of the day, Canadian
companies are now finding themselves
competing on a much larger, global
scale,” says Gil Brulotte, who is the 2016
Chair for the Canadian Construction
Association. “International investors will
invest where they get the best return.
If we chose to do nothing to improve
our overall productivity, we will be seen
as less competitive to other markets
around the world. And we have enough
challenges facing our industry as it is to
allow this to continue.”
Paul de Jong, President of the
Progressive Contractors Association of
Canada, agrees that everyone benefits
when productivity increases.
“More investment dollars are going
to flow because of increased confidence
in the efficiency of dollars spent and this
results in more work. GDP overall will
also benefit as a result, as workers find
gainful employment, purchase goods
and services, and grow their families
within their communities.”
Alberta, as an example
Looking at Alberta, there are several
reasons for the slide in productivity.
The oil boom in the province intensified an increased push for projects to
start without complete design or engineering before bidding; in some cases
projects were bid at 30 per cent design
completion. In many cases, this created
changes and rework down the line, having a negative effect on the project’s
overall productivity. Contractors were
also asked to take on more responsibility for a variety of project factors, rather
than simply “building,” which can also
slow down productivity.
Complicating matters, larger, more
complex jobs have become increasingly
prevalent for Alberta’s construction sector. Generally speaking, the larger the
project the more complex it becomes,
and the greater opportunity there is for
the Productivity Culture?
inefficiencies and errors to creep into the
project, creating productivity logjams.
“The challenge, then, is how to
bring the whole chain together to work
through each component of the project so that resources can be aligned
and risks can be identified as soon as
possible,” says Lori Schmidt, CEO at
GO Productivity. “But we are finding
now that there is a great willingness,
industry-wide, to work together and collaborate—even among competitors—to
find solutions to improve productivity.”
If low productivity is a symptom of
Alberta’s success, it might be said that
this current slump in oil could be part of
the cure; a silver lining to these tough
economic times.
“It might have all started as a case
of the industry suffering from the ‘too
busy to get organized’ syndrome,”
says Larry Staples, Executive Director at
COAA. “But now every company in the
province is feeling the pinch of reduced
prices and reduced capital spending.
Now people do have the time and the
financial incentive to get organized and
adopt some practices that will help to
improve productivity.”
A jurisdiction’s productivity and prosperity is typically weighed against its
GDP, based on the question, for each
unit of labour input, what’s the output?
Today, this is seen as a quaint and potentially misleading measure of modern
productivity that does not take into
account the many variables where the
rubber meets the road on a project;
ranging from the traditional “time-ontools” metric, to workface planning,
structure of commercial contracts, and
engineering specifications.
“There are quite a number of factors that have changed over the last 20
years,” adds Paul de Jong. “Productivity
needs to not only be considered in the
context of the labour force output but,
rather, also be assessed across all phases
and components of a project life cycle.”
One of the major issues facing the
construction industry is that, while there
is information available to satisfy unit
rate placement productivity variables,
there is no objective standard to measure productivity at the overall project
level. Because of this, COAA determined that a new metric was needed
to accurately measure the somewhat
ambiguous concept of productivity;
the industry needed a made-in-Alberta
solution to better reflect the complexity
of current construction projects.
Safety and productivity, hand in hand
Recognizing a link between being safe
and being productive—that the safest
worksites are typically the most productive—COAA examined the metrics
responsible for governing safety in
order to fashion new metrics that could
be applied to productivity.
“We found that projects with strong
management teams, that had good
vision and could communicate the
value of safety to their workforce, were
using those very same techniques to
promote productive behaviours,” says
Staples. “This was the big aha moment
for us. Here were two very strong values for the construction industry and
rather than being opposed, these values were aligned. This was where the
Twice As Safe, Twice As Productive By
2020 mantra was born.”
Alongside its partners, COAA
developed the Alberta High Level
Productivity Metric, a cornerstone
to the Twice As Safe, Twice As
Productive By 2020 initiative. In using
this metric, companies are able to
better determine their level of productivity, determine specific causes of
low productivity, and quickly establish
improvement goals for their projects.
There are currently a number of
pilot projects underway in Alberta
u s i n g Tw i c e A s S a f e , Tw i c e A s
Productive by 2020 processes and by
the end of the summer, COAA will
be able to report on the outcomes
of these projects and assess the
effectiveness of the initiative. Early
anecdotal evidence, as can be seen
in the success stories posted on
the COAA website, seems to indicate positive results. The initiative
is even beginning to attract interest
from other jurisdictions and institutes
around the world.
“COAA is a very good lead organization on this matter,” says Bob
Blakely, Canadian Operating Officer
at Canada’s Building Trades Unions.
“They have been thinking about this
issue for a long time and have been
diligent in leading the discussion
on the topic. The people at COAA
know what success can look like and
they would like to get the construction industry as a whole to that point.
There is really no other organization
in Canada that is doing what COAA is
doing and hoping to accomplish.”
y
Success Story:
On COAA’s website you can find a number of success stories outlining how real
companies have improved both productivity and safety. Here is one example, from
Imperial Oil. Others can be found at www.coaa.ab.ca/2S2PBy2020.aspx.
“We implemented the concept of construction-driven engineering and
advanced work packaging into the front-end planning of one of our major earthworks projects. We also deliberately held off starting field works until engineering
deliverables were complete. This allowed us to incorporate sound engineering work
packages into the contracting process, facilitating the contractors’ ability to provide
firm and competitive bids. We realized significant cost savings in the range of 20 per
cent and streamlined construction execution in the field with clear work direction.”
35
/ FEATURE //
Building Trust:
By Shannon Savory
L
ast November, Justice
Franc e C h a r b o n n e a u
delivered a report on
corruption in Quebec’s
c o n s t r u c t i o n i n d u s t r y.
Sixty recommendations
were made, including protection for
whistleblowers and stiffer penalties for
companies who break the law, after it
was found that organized crime had
infiltrated the awarding of government
contracts related to construction.
“The allegations, the commission,
the recommendations—they were
incredibly eye-opening for
the entire construction industry,” Kees
Cusveller says. He
is Vice President of
Business Development
and Pre-Construction
Services for Graham Group
Ltd. and member of the Canadian
Construction Association (CCA) Board.
“We stopped and asked ourselves
what we, as an industry and as an association, had for our members on this
topic and the answer was startling; we
really had nothing.”
Aside from a Code of Ethics that
workers were expected to sign, which
varied across sectors and across the
country, Cusveller says that there was no
agreed-upon standard of ethics for the
industry to follow.
Michael Atkinson, President of CCA,
felt that it was time to do a better job
training new and existing members of
the industry on ethical behaviour. He
also knew it wouldn’t be easy. “Ethics
is a bit of a moving target,” he says.
“Depending on your life experiences
and where you come from, your idea of
ethics is going to be different from the
person who is standing next to you on
a job site.”
In order to tackle such an abstract
concept, CCA created a steering
A Focus on Ethics
in Construction
committee, which was headed by
C u s v e l l e r, a n d p a r t n e re d w i t h
BuildForce Canada to develop a training program. The Construction Industry
Ethics course, which consists of an
online course, as well as in-classroom
discussion, has since been created. It’s
an industry-specific course, created by
people from coast to coast, from various
construction-related disciplines, from
small and large companies.
“It is no secret that the construction
industry does not have the best image
when it comes to acting ethically, especially when it comes to the general
public—think of the professions that get
a bad wrap, it’s usually lawyers, used car
salesmen, politicians and construction
companies,” admits Atkinson.
Atkinson doesn’t believe that the construction industry deserves this negative
reputation, but that a few bad apples
and a few widely publicized stories about
bad contractors have blanketed the
entire industry.
Cusveller agrees, noting that a lot has
changed in the past 30 years.
“What was ok in the 80s is not ok
now,” citing the example of how workers
used to smoke in site trailers, which is not
accepted anymore. “Those behaviours
are behind us and it’s time that the general public knows.”
This course will help that happen.
“The benefits are many,” Atkinson
explains. “Contractors will come out with
a solid understanding of what is acceptable behaviour and what is not, and
construction companies will be able to
promote the fact that their employees
have received this training. This is good
for both a company’s bottom line and for
the industry as a whole.”
And, effective 2017, the online ethics
course PLUS a full-day classroom ethics
course will be mandatory to receive Gold
Seal Certification. Gold Seal has allocated
a total of three credits to this course (two
for the online portion and one for the
classroom portion).
The course consists of seven lessons of
approximately 35 minutes each, for a total
of about four hours of self-paced instruction. Starting this fall, a classroom portion
will be added in which real discussions
will take place, led by a facilitator who
is a veteran in the industry. The classes
will be comprised of industry novices
and more experienced workers, all of
whom will bring their unique opinions
and experiences to the table, allowing for
meaningful and engaging dialogue with
the rest of the group.
The goal, explains Atkinson, is to discover for themselves what they may or
may not consider ethical behaviour. “The
situations they may find themselves in are
not usually black or white.”
For example, is it ok to accept a free
golf game from a supplier? How about a
game with dinner and drinks afterward?
What about a golf getaway weekend to
a resort destination? Where do you draw
the line?
“Ethics is more than just acting
legally,” adds Atkinson. “There are
non-ethical ways to conduct business,
that are completely legal. The facilitators
in the classroom will help participants
explore this.”
The course is intended for owners/clients, contractors, supervisors
and project managers who must deal
effectively and professionally with
employees, sub-trades, owners, clients,
engineers, employers and the public.
Upon completion, participants will be
able to understand ethical behaviour,
will know the reasons why ethics is so
important to business, will recognize
ethics in the context of law, and will
understand the direct link between ethics and a company’s success.
“This new course is so timely,”
says Cusveller, adding that the influx
of infrastructure spending from the
Liberal government will mean that the
construction industry will be under tremendous scrutiny from media and the
public. “We’re really excited to get this
rolled out.”
y
For more information on this new
course, go to http://elearning.buildforce.ca.
FACT:
The 1,741-page Charbonneau report
contains 60 recommendations for
the Quebec government, including the creation of an independent
authority to oversee public contracts;
better protection for whistleblowers;
the requirement that construction
companies report acts of intimidation or violence; increased penalties
for construction companies that break
the law, up to and including cancelling their licence; and increased
penalties for people who make use of
so-called “strawman” schemes.
Source: CBC.ca
37
/ FEATURE //
Smoke rises from the
distant Fort McMurray
wildfire on May 3, 2016,
as some 80,000 people
leave the area over safety
concerns. Photo credit:
THE CANADIAN PRESS
After the
Smoke Cleared
By Paul Adair
F
or Fort McMurray, Alberta,
May 3, 2016, will always
be known as the day the
Beast came to town; the
impact of which is now
forever burned into the
city’s collective memory.
When the flames were first discovered in early May, the massive wildfire
that would come to surround Fort Mac
was only a fraction of the 520,000 hectare monster it would grow into. The
speed and ferocity of its growth forced
the hasty withdrawal of almost 90,000
people from their homes and businesses
within the city in what would become
one of the largest and most dramatic
evacuations in Canadian history.
Jay Bueckert, Regional Director at
CLAC, was part of that evacuation. He
had to drive his wife and three young
children through the choking wall of
smoke with the sight of spreading
flames in his rear-view mirror.
“It was once we were driving south
and saw the flames that panic seemed
to set in among the drivers around us,”
says Bueckert. “Cars were getting stuck
in the ditches and others were abandoning vehicles that couldn’t go any
further. At some points out of the city,
the smoke was so thick that we were
driving blind and you could just feel
the heat from the fire pressing into the
vehicle. It probably only took about 10
minutes to get through the worst of it,
but it felt like a lifetime.”
Less than one month later, on
June 1, some residents were able to
return to areas of the city that were not
heavily damaged. Shortly before that,
crews took stock of the damage; it was
revealed that close to 2,400 structures
were ruined and 10 per cent of Fort
McMurray was destroyed, including 70
per cent of the homes in the neighbourhood of Beacon Hill. The Insurance
Bureau of Canada announced that
insurance losses are estimated to be
more than $3.5 billion, making the decimation of Fort Mac the single most
expensive disaster for insurers in this
country’s history.
Fort McMurray, however, is a pragmatic city and its people know that a
silver lining can always be found; even
in the face of such a daunting loss.
“It was tough to worry about your
house and not knowing if it was gone,
damaged, or if it was even still there
at all,” says Mike Nolan, Operations
Manager at Westward Electric Services,
which is a member of the Progressive
Contractors Association of Canada.
“But as bad as it was, the situation
could have been much worse. The wildfire attacked the city at every angle and,
while there was a great deal of destruction, in the bigger picture, there was
still so much that was saved.”
Now, many months later, the citizens
who were able to return are turning
Firefighters and police welcomed people back
to Fort McMurray on June 1, 2016.
Photo Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
their thoughts to bringing the city back
to the point where it was before the disaster. That being said, there are many
things that had to be done before construction could commence.
Fort McMurray first needed to be
secured to ensure the safety of the community and workers, and the integrity of
municipal infrastructure, such as electric
grids and natural gas systems, needed to
be checked over. Parts of the city needed
to be cleaned from the chemicals and
fire retardant products used to fight
the fire. In addition, some of the older
buildings in Fort McMurray that were
built decades ago with asbestos may
have also contaminated the land, forcing
tough decisions to be made whether
or not it was even feasible to rebuild in
certain neighbourhoods. Insurers have to
approve settlements, existing structures
need to be demolished, owners have to
decide how they want to rebuild, and
the city has to grant a large number of
building permits. And all of these steps
will take time.
“And you are still looking at six to
nine months from the time construction
starts to when owners can take possession,” says Jim Rivait, CEO at the
Canadian Home Builders’ Association,
Alberta. “I don’t think anyone can provide accurate timelines right now but it
39
All efforts need to be conducted in
accordance with what the available
resources and infrastructure will
permit, allowing for momentum to
build as construction ramps up.
Team Rubicon managed teams of
contractors hired by the city to perform
sifting operations and expedite the recovery
effort. Photo credit: Kevin Leeser,
Team Rubicon
will likely take several years for everything to be completed.”
Any rebuild must be advanced in a
planned and measured way to ensure
it doesn’t spin out of control from those
that have project oversight. Certainly,
all those invested in Fort McMurray
would like to see things move along at
a quicker pace, but the process is what
it is and it can only go so fast. All efforts
need to be conducted in accordance
with what the available resources and
infrastructure will permit, allowing for
momentum to build as construction
ramps up.
“I think this will be a very wellcoordinated endeavour once it gets
rolling and we are hopeful that things
will go well,” says Warren Fraleigh,
Executive Director at Building Trades
of Alberta.
“There are a lot of people who want
to see it go well and they will work
hard to ensure things get done in an
efficient and professional manner.”
Once the rebuild commences
in earnest, there will be an increased
demand for many of the trades, including carpenters, electricians and the
mechanical trades, such as plumbers
and HVAC. Fortunately, Fort Mac is a
working town and there will be sufficient resources—in terms of materials
and workers—to rebuild the city.
damage that can be fixed given
time, the fires have had an ongoing
effect on the emotional well-being of
those returning to see the destruction, whether it’s residents who have
lost their homes or workers coming to
rebuild. But the kindness and charity
shown by neighbours and Canadians
across the country has gone a long way
in helping Fort Mac walk through these
chaotic months and days.
“If any positives can be pulled out of
this, we have been reunited as a larger
community and we are closer than we
were before,” says Bueckert. “There
is a strength that has been built up in
this city and a sense that everything is
going to work out. We are being supported through this, we are going to
rebuild, and we are going to be okay.” y
FACT:
At its height, the fire spanned more
than 500,000 hectares, an area bigger than Prince Edward Island.
Source: The Globe and Mail
HGTV celebrity contractor, Mike
Holmes, recently visited the city and
echoed statements from the Fort
McMurray fire chief that any future
structures will need to be built smarter
and better this time around to help
mitigate future disasters; although it is
difficult, with an event this unprecedented, to specifically pinpoint what
could have been done differently.
Many of the most practical ways to
slow the spread of fire involve reasonably simple changes to the surrounding
property of structures, including developing fire breaks, trimming trees and
ensuring combustible materials are
not located near buildings. The province and municipality will also need to
determine if tougher building codes are
required for the city’s future construction projects.
“It is hard to say if code changes
would have made much difference in
such extreme conditions,” says Rivait.
“But of course, because building codes
are constantly improving, new homes
will now be built to a higher standard
for things like greater energy efficiency
and fire safety than many of the older
homes that had burned.”
It is still too early to completely
understand the long-term impact
that the fire had on the city of Fort
McMurray. Aside from the physical
41
/ MAKING HEADLINES //
Safety Moment:
O
n Christmas Eve, 2009,
four construction workers died and another was
severely injured when
the scaffolding they were
working on snapped in
two, resulting in the crew falling 13 storeys from the side of a Toronto apartment
building. This entirely preventable tragedy served to highlight the risks faced
daily by construction workers on the job.
From 2009 to 2014, the construction sector represented, on average,
seven per cent of total employment in
Ontario. During this period, traumatic
fatalities in construction accounted for
approximately 30 per cent of traumatic
fatalities across all sectors.
“Workplace tragedies devastate
families and shake entire communities,
and moreover, they are preventable,”
says George Gritziotis, Chief Prevention
Officer at the Ministry of Labour. “The
purpose of the Occupational Health and
Safety Act is to keep workers in Ontario
safe and to ensure they are able to go
home safe and sound after work.”
In 2010, an Expert Advisory Panel on
Occupational Health and Safety made
46 recommendations on Ontario’s
occupational health and safety system,
placing the greatest priority on developing standardized training for high-hazard
activities and developing basic health
and safety awareness training for all
workers. Six years later, the ministry has
implemented almost all of the priority
recommendations from the panel; the
last of the priority recommendations will
be implemented soon.
“We first established the Working at
Heights training standards to address
Ontario Promotes
Health and Safety
Awareness at all Levels
the fact that falls from heights are the
number one cause of fatalities of workers
at construction projects in Ontario,” says
Gritziotis. “Requirements for Working
at Heights training are now in effect for
employers and certain workers on construction projects, and these new training
requirements and standards set a baseline of high quality, consistent training for
this high-hazard activity.”
Since Ontario has introduced these
mandatory training standards, more than
146,000 learners have taken the course.
The ministry has also established
new Joint Health and Safety Committee
(JHSC) certification training standards,
which came into effect March 1, 2016.
This new program standard sets out the
minimum standards that need to be met
in order for a JHSC certification training
program to be approved, with the ultimate goal of strengthening the quality and
consistency of Ontario’s certified member training.
“Many of the requirements for
employers to ensure their workers are
appropriately trained and knowledgeable about the potential hazards at
work have been in place for a long
time,” says Gritziotis. “Standardized
training, however, sets a baseline of high
quality, consistent training for high-hazard activities and sectors—as well as
job-related functions, such as JHSC
certification.”
These training standards measures
were developed in conjunction with
industry working groups comprised of
employer, labour and small business
representatives from the construction
and industrial sectors, alongside subject
matter experts. The ministry also worked
with other important stakeholders across
Ontario in developing standards in order
to help gain consensus on content.
A company—top to bottom—has
a stake in ensuring its workers’ health
and safety while on the job. The goal
of standardized training is to promote
an internal responsibility system at
the workplace and arm workers with
the knowledge and skills they need to
stay safe and keep others safe. In the
end, everyone benefits when a workplace experiences fewer occupationalrelated illnesses and injuries.
“It’s no coincidence that world-class,
reputable companies are some of the
safest,” says Gritziotis. “There is a direct
correlation between a business’s commitment to health and safety, and its
ability to drive innovation, establish a
good reputation and build morale. The
bottom line is that complying with the
law is good for business.”
The ministry is currently putting forth
a number of initiatives to promote health
and safety awareness on Ontario job
sites to help make sure that everyone is
aware of how to protect workers and outline the resources and protections that
are available to them.
“Workers need to be able to go to
work with the belief that when they see
something unsafe, they are encouraged
to report it and are protected once they
do,” says Patrick Dillon of the Provincial
Building and Construction Trades
Council of Ontario. “Although Ontario
is a national leader in workplace injury
prevention, we are still a long way from
zero incidents of injury or death. But zero
can be attainable with proper planning,
training and awareness.”
y
43
Resource Council Created to Build
Investment in Alberta
A
lberta is known for
many things: rolling
ranch lands, sweeping
chinook winds and towering Rocky Mountains,
to name a few. What
“The Energy Province” is best known for,
however, is its natural resources. Alberta is
Canada’s largest petrochemical-producing
region, home to a $14 billion industry.
The extraction of these resources
benefits Albertans in a very real way, creating jobs and growing the province’s
GDP. The construction sector benefits as
well; new projects can cost into the billions and require tradespeople from all
disciplines to meet demands.
“Three of our members have $13 billion in planned or current construction
in Alberta,” says Christopher Ghazouly,
Executive Director of the recently created
Resource Diversification Council (RDC).
“These three projects alone are going
to create incredible job growth across
the board.”
The goal of the new council is to do
just that; create growth for the province by bringing together like-minded
companies that have senior executives
who are active, engaged and eager to
band together to create a strong voice
for development. “All of our members
believe in adding value to Alberta,”
comments Ghazouly. “We want to drive
investment to our province. We want
companies to grow and expand here,
creating jobs and opportunities for generations to come.”
Naushad Jamani, who is Senior Vice
President, Olefins and Feedstock, for
NOVA Chemicals and Chair of RDC,
points to the three major projects
underway by RDC members, including
North West Refining’s Bitumen to Diesel
Refinery (Phase 1); NOVA Chemicals’
Polyethylene 1 Expansion Project; and
Williams Energy Canada’s proposed
Propane Dehydrogenation Plant and
associated polypropylene facility.
These three projects will employ
approximately 9,000 construction trades
and will greatly support apprenticeship
retention. But this is only the beginning,
according to RDC Chair, Naushad Jamani.
These construction projects will generate approximately $12 billion in GDP,
$1 billion in provincial revenue and $2.2
billion in federal revenue in Alberta.
“Our diverse council members have
come together because we share a
common purpose—building the valueadded resource sector to provide
stable jobs and a place for Alberta’s
future workforce to grow and prosper,”
explains Jamani. “By further diversifying our energy industry, capturing
greater value for our resources and
securing a larger share of world markets, we have an opportunity to help
Alberta get off the roller coaster of
commodity prices, and set the stage
to be a major player in value-added
products that can be shipped all over
the world.”
The Resource Diversification Council
officially launched in March 2016, amidst
an economic downturn that hit the entire
province. When the industry was booming the need for more downstream
value-added projects was not as obvious,
explains Ghazouly. “As energy commodity
prices collapsed, job creation and investment became very important in Alberta.”
The projects being planned and
executed by RDC members will provide
contracts to engineers, fabrication shops
and numerous contractors. Once these
world-class facilities are in operation,
they are expected to create thousands of
direct and indirect jobs, and contribute
hundreds of millions of dollars to government and municipal regions through
ongoing corporate and municipal taxes.
Adding value to Alberta’s resources in
Alberta benefits the whole province.
The non-profit council, which had
been in the works for approximately two
years before it officially launched, currently consists of 10 members. “It just
makes sense,” explains Ghazouly. “Rather
than having one company advocate for
one specific project, our members have
banded together to support the entire
industry. And it all comes back around.
Supporting the industry as a whole benefits
the individual member companies as well.”
For more information, visit www.
diversification.org.
y
The $8.5 billion Sturgeon
Refinery being built by
North West Refining as
part of the North West
Redwater Partnership.
45
A Salute to Canada’s Tradespeople
Monument site dedication and design unveiling ceremony, Ottawa, Ontario (May 2016). Left to right: Marie-Jeanne Musiol (jury member);
Robert Blakely (Canadian Operating Officer, CBTU); Robert Kucheran (Chairman, Canadian Executive Board, CBTU); Sean McGarvey (President,
North America’s Building Trades Unions); Brent Booker (Secretary-Treasurer, North America’s Building Trades Unions); Michel Grenier (former
board member, CBTU); Russell Mills (Chairman, National Capital Commission); Michel Ruest (Director, Celebration and Commemorations Program,
Canadian Heritage); Elder Albert Dumont (Kitigan-Zibi First Nation); John Greer (sculptor); and Vanessa Paschakarnis (design team). T
here are over one million
tradespeople in Canada
and, up until now, no
national monument to
recognize their contribution in building and
maintaining the country’s infrastructure.
This is about to change. A national tribute, to be called the Canadian Building
Trades Monument, is in development
and will fully take shape in early 2017.
Robert Blakely, Canadian Operating
Officer of Canada’s Building Trades
Unions, says that while trades workers
have built the nation, many Canadians
do not realize the contribution these
people have made and continue to
make on a daily basis. “We are victims
of our own success,” he explains. “We
fence off an area, we dedicate our lives
to a project, we finish it and we move on
to the next assignment.”
Now the men and women who have
built a career building Canada will have a
dedicated site to honour their hard work.
The monument will be located in Major’s
Hill Park, which overlooks the Rideau
Canal and Canada’s Parliament buildings,
in Ottawa, Ontario. The powerful design,
created by the Halifax-based design team
of sculptor John Greer and architect Brian
MacKay-Lyons, will consist of an inviting
A rendering of
the monument.
and spacious plaza made of black granite.
The monument itself will be fabricated
in Ontario with Cambrian black granite,
quarried in Quebec. Its most prominent
feature will be a pair of oversized plumb
bobs, one of the oldest tools known to
mankind. The monument will also feature
16 iconic “tools of the trades” etched into
the granite. Each tool will be chosen by
one of the 15 different trade unions sponsoring the monument.
“It will be a monument that people will want to visit often,” says Annie
Hillis, Public Art Consultant and Project
Manager. When she thinks of the final
creation, Hillis pictures tradespeople,
their families and all Canadians enjoying
the monument and overall location, as
the site is surrounded by a park area that
is perfect for picnics and special events.
“It’s a gem of a location!”
In June 2016 the project received
Federal Land Use Design approval. With
this hurdle now crossed, fabrication of
the monument’s pieces, as well as site
preparation, can begin. The final monument will be unveiled in Spring 2017.
“The truth is,” says Blakely, “the lunch
bucket brigade builds everything in
Canada, from the smallest of projects to
incredibly complicated developments.
There should be a place in Canada to recognize the people who built the country.”
For more information, go to www.
canadianbuildingtradesmonument.ca. y
Top Talent Awarded at 22nd
Skills Canada National Competition
T
he Skills Canada National
Competition (SCNC) is the
only national, multi-trade
and technology competition for students and
apprentices in the country. This year, the competition was open
to the public June 6 and 7, 2016 at the
Moncton Coliseum located in Moncton,
New Brunswick.
Competitors were given the opportunity to further develop their skills through
hands-on competition with their peers,
and the distinction of being named the
nation’s best in their chosen field. The
competition brought together representatives from across industry, government
and education, along with more than
5,000 visiting students who all took
part in interactive Try-a-Trade ® and
Technology activities.
Over 550 competitors from across
Canada competed in more than 40 skilled
trade and technology competitions, ranging from carpentry and mobile robotics to
welding, aircraft maintenance and fashion
design. At the Closing Ceremony, they
received official recognition for their performances (the complete list of medal
winners is available on the Skills Canada
website). Over 200 medals were awarded
to the top industry champions in six skilled
trade or technology sectors, including
transportation, construction, manufacturing, information and technology, service
and employment.
During this year’s Skills Canada
National Competition, several celebrities attended and participated in the
Try-a-Trade® and Technology activities,
alongside the visiting students from all
over the Atlantic region. This included
Mike Holmes Jr., Sherry Holmes, Paul
Lafrance and Kate Campbell, stars of
HGTV, and Line Pelletier, who is a celebrity chef. They were on-site to raise
awareness of the incredible opportunities available in the skilled trades and
technologies sectors.
This is also a qualifying year for
WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017, and the
WorldSkills Team Canada 2017 prospects were announced at the Closing
Ceremony. They will have the opportunity to qualify to be a part of WorldSkills
Team Canada 2017 and compete at the
44th WorldSkills Competition in October
2017. The four-day competition is the
biggest of its kind and is considered the
pinnacle of excellence in skilled trades
and technologies training.
The next Skills Canada National
Competition will be held in Winnipeg,
Manitoba from May 31 to June 3, 2017.
Through these competitions, Skills
Canada seeks to raise awareness about
skilled trade and technology sectors to
all Canadian youth and their influencers.
For more information about SCNC
visit www.skillscanada.com. y
49
Ottawa Scaffolders
Jump into Action during
Parliament Shooting Crisis
(From left):
Stu Talsma,
Jim Bottling and
Andre Roy.
O
n October 22, 2014, in
Ottawa, Ontario, chaos
unfolded on Parliament
Hill as a lone gunman shot
and killed Cpl. Nathan
Cirillo, a young soldier
guarding the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier at the National War Memorial,
and then stormed into Parliament, dying
in a hail of bullets.
In an era of instant messaging and
24-hour news coverage, word spread
quickly across the country. During
the crisis, however, Andre Roy, a carpenter with the United Brotherhood of
Carpenters, and his colleagues, weren’t
watching TV or listening to the radio,
and they weren’t near their phones. They
were busy erecting scaffolding behind
the very building under attack. They had
no idea that anything was amiss—that is,
until a woman several floors above them
kicked a screen from a window and prepared to jump.
As reported in an Ottawa Citizen
article “Heroes in Hardhats Helped
Panicked Hill Staffers to Safety,” the
frightened woman shouted that a
shooter was in the building and seemed
determined to jump despite facing certain injury. Putting their carpentry skills
to use in a way they had probably never
imagined, Roy, Jim Botting and Stu
Talsma quickly constructed staging of
sorts from scaffolding components.
Using the staging, Roy climbed up
to where the woman and several others
were hiding. He was able to help two
women get to safety by using a harness and escorting each one down the
staging. Soon enough, police were on
the scene ordering the evacuees to
seek shelter, which they did in a job site
trailer. Eventually, they were taken to a
nearby hotel.
“By thinking quickly and not hesitating to help others in a potentially
dangerous crisis situation, Andre, Jim
and Stu demonstrated a true spirit of
generosity and caring—a spirit that
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters
believes characterizes their membership
as a whole,” said Jim Smith, UBC Vice
President (Canada). “We are an organization of hardworking men and women
who care deeply about their communities, whether on or off the job.”
BuildForce Canada congratulates
Andre, Jim and Stu for their courage
and their dedication to helping their
fellow citizens. They make us all proud. y
/ BUILDFORCE BASICS //
Engaging Industry to Create a National Workforce Strategy
I
n June 2015, BuildForce Canada
invited industry and government
to the first-ever National Strategy
Summit. Participants included
owners, contractors, labour and
government, and the end goal was
to develop a national workforce development strategy.
“We believed it would be valuable to
bring the industry together to talk about
what challenges we were seeing in our
labour market forecasting,” explains
Rosemary Sparks, Executive Director
of BuildForce Canada. “We wanted to
nail down a high-level strategy, with a
national perspective, describing where
the industry is, where we want it to be,
and how to get there.” The participants
focused on six key areas:
1. Recruitment: Attracting and recruiting the brightest and best from all
available sources of labour.
2. Training: Ensuring Canada’s construction industry has apprenticeship and
training capacity to meet demand.
3. Retention: Maximizing investment in
new tradespeople.
4. Mobility: Creating an environment
that supports the movement of
skilled workers.
5. Productivity: Defining, measuring and
improving productivity in the construction and maintenance industry.
6. Stakeholder engagement: Coalescing
industry stakeholders around a common vision and action.
The summit consisted of industry speakers as well as working sessions during
which representatives from the four
groups involved shared ideas on how to
reach collective goals.
“The idea is that if we create an overarching strategy in relation to our six
key focus areas, all of the key players
involved will think in terms of what they
might be already doing, and could be
doing, to contribute to these goals,”
explains Sparks.
She adds that, “any time you get
people together to talk about issues of
Meeting Construction and
Maintenance Workforce Challenges
National Industry Strategy
SEPTEMBER
2015
mutual interest, you’re going to come
out with better ideas and solutions than
you had before, and you’re hopefully all
going to be on the same page.”
To this end, the summit was a success
and received positive feedback. The
full report from the Summit is available
at www.buildforce.ca. Another summit
is being planned for October 5, 2017.
Details will be shared at www.buildforce.
ca as they become available.
y
51
/ BUILDFORCE BASICS //
Mandate
Get to know BuildForce Canada
The mandate of BuildForce Canada is to provide accurate and timely labour market information
(LMI) to advance the needs of the entire construction industry. BuildForce Canada will lead
value-added programs and initiatives that build the capacity and the capability of the construction
workforce to meet current and future industry demand to drive economic growth in Canada.
Board of Directors
BuildForce Canada is only
as strong as its people. You
will find no better people to
represent the interests of the
industry than those who sit on
the BuildForce Canada Board
of Directors. MEMBERS
Paul de Jong
President
Progressive Contractors
Association of Canada (PCA)
BuildForce Canada’s
Strategic Partners
Sabine Just
Director of Training
Independent Contractors
and Businesses Association
CHAIR
John Schubert
President, McCaine
Electric Ltd.
Past Chair, Canadian
Construction Association
Patrick Dillon
Business Manager & Secretary
Treasurer, Provincial Building
and Construction Trades
Council of Ontario
Robert Kucheran
General Vice President,
International Union of
Painters and Allied Trades
Chairman of the Executive
Board, Canada’s Building
Trades
Bill Earis
Divisional Manager
Generation Construction &
Contract Management, BC
Hydro
Jason Peterson
HPMA Managing Director/
Labour Relations Lead,
Business Support
Manitoba Hydro
»» BC Hydro
»» Canada’s Building
Trades Unions
»» Canadian Construction
Association
Ron Genereux
VP Productivity &
Construction
Suncor Energy Services Inc.
»» Canadian Natural
Resources Limited
»» CLAC
»» Irving Oil
»» Manitoba Hydro
»» MERIT Canada
»» Nalcor Energy
»» National Construction
Labour Relations
Alliance
PAST CHAIR
Robert Blakely
Director of Canadian Affairs,
Building and Construction
Trades Department
American Federation
of Labor & Congress of
Industrial Organisation
»» Alberta Council of
Turnaround Industry
Maintenance
Stakeholders
»» Canadian Home
Builders’ Association
VICE CHAIR
Christina Taylor
Manager, Labour Relations
and Workforce Development
Irving Oil
BuildForce Canada relies
heavily on the experience
and expertise of our partners—the people and
organizations who shape
our industry. All of our
projects and initiatives
are determined by our
partners, and led by key
stakeholders. Thank you to
everyone involved!
Clyde Scollan
President and CEO
Construction Labour
Relations Association – BC
»» Nexen Energy ULC
»» Ontario Power
Generation
»» Progressive Contractors
Association of Canada
»» Shell Canada
»» Suncor Energy
Dick Heinen
Executive Director, CLAC
»» Syncrude Canada
53
/ BUYER’S GUIDE //
Addiction Services
Canadian Addiction Rehab.................. 33
Associations
Canadian Home Builders’ Association.... 11
Construction Association of Rural
Manitoba (CARM)............................. 26
Construction Safety Association of
Manitoba.......................................... 44
International Association of
Heat and Frost Insulators and
Allied Workers................................... 31
Mechanical Contractors Association
of Canada.......................................... 20
Pipe Line Contractors Association
of Canada.......................................... 10
Progressive Contractors Association
of Canada (PCAC).............................. 44
Construction-Related Unions
BC Building Trades.............................. 20
Canada’s Building
Trades Unions..................................OBC
Carpenters’ District Council
of Ontario.......................................... 52
CLAC....................................................IFC
Construction & General Contractors
Local Union 180................................ 24
Construction & General Workers’
Union Local No. 92.............................. 3
Construction Maintenance and
Allied Workers Canada (CMAW)........ 25
IBEW Construction Council
of Ontario.......................................... 21
International Union of
Operating Engineers, Local 793........ 15
International Union of Painters
& Allied Trades..................................... 6
Iron Workers, Local Union No. 771....... 51
LiUNA..................................................... 8
Quality Control Council of Canada...... 27
Teamsters Local Union 230................. 20
Union Local No. 1 of Bricklayers
& Allied Craftworkers......................... 44
United Association (UA) ..................... IBC
United Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners of America,
Canadian Office................................. 50
Construction Labour Management
Ironworker Management
Progressive Action Cooperative
Trust (I.M.P.A.C.T.)................................ 4
Construction Labour
Relations
Construction Labour Relations
Association of BC............................... 14
Construction Labour Relations
Association of Saskatchewan Inc....... 49
Construction Trade Training
for Women
Women Building Futures.................... 30
Energy Processing,
Transporting and Marketing
Company
Irving Oil.............................................. 41
H2H Programs
Helmets to Hardhats
(H2H) Canada................................... 42
Heavy Equipment Operator
Training
Robar Centre........................................ 44
Loyalty Rewards and Insurance
Union Rewards/Union Power.............. 18
Material Suppliers and
ALCOHOL and Drug Testing and
Rehabilitation Services
Dräger Safety....................................... 16
Provincial and Regional
Building Trades Councils
Manitoba Building Trades,
Allied Hydro Council......................... 40
Millwright Regional Council
of Ontario.......................................... 44
Provincial Building & Construction
Trades Council of Ontario.................. 42
Safety Services
Marcus Krueger Services..................... 42
Safety Training and Safety
Training Providers
iRescue Training.................................. 44
Safety Guys Workplace
Safety Trainers................................... 37
Skills Contest, National
Competition
Skills Canada....................................... 48
Specialty Aluminum
Trims
Flannery, Inc........................................ 47
Union Saving
Incentives
Union Savings..................................... 54
Workforce Skills
Development
SkillPlan.............................................. 39
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BuildForce Magazine

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