September 1, 2004

CCA shifts its strategy for Gold Seal program

BY PATRICIA WILLIAMS

STAFF WRITER

Affirmation by the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) of a promotional strategy for the Gold Seal certification program is a “positive” development, says Ontario General Contractors Association president Clive Thurston.

At its summer meeting, the CCA board passed a resolution authorizing its gold seal committee to actively lobby construction purchasers who require, or intend to require, performance standards for construction management personnel to make Gold Seal the appropriate standard.

The caveat was that this be done without promoting prequalification.

The gold seal program is a national certification program for construction project managers, superintendents and estimators.

Thurston, whose association has been promoting the program at the community college level and recently launched discussions with Conestoga College in Kitchener, said the move by the CCA board is a “subtle” shift in direction.

“It’s a good shift,” said Thurston, who is Gold Sealcertified and whose association puts on seminars for its members on the program.

Dennis Ryan, the CCA’s director of industry human resources and secretary to the national gold seal committee, said the resolution enables the organization to be more than just re-active in promoting the program to federal contracting agencies.

Earlier this year, the committee sent a memo to the CCA board proposing a more aggressive marketing strategy.

This came after a federal agency introduced Gold Seal certification as the only acceptable standard for supervisory personnel employed by both the prime contractor and prime subcontractors on a project in Atlantic Canada—without the input of CCA.

“There was no discussion on how this should be implemented, or at which levels,” Ryan said.

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