November 10, 2011

Mixed reaction from Ontario construction associations to College of Trades appointments

KELLY LAPOINTE

staff writer

The recent appointment of the Ontario College of Trades board of governors has drawn mixed reaction from the construction industry and renewed concerns about the new entity for some.

Karen Renkema, Ontario Road Builders’ Association Director of Government Relations, said there’s still concern over the transparency and accountability of the College and said there isn’t a lot of information being shared with stakeholders.

“There is a direct interest in the College to expand the number of compulsory trades because that would increase the membership of the college. That would increase the funding of the College by having the majority of the members on both the board of governors and the divisional board representing either compulsory trades or those that are in favour of compulsory trades,” she said.

David Frame, Director of Government Relations and Corporate Strategy with the Ontario General Contractors Association agreed College information is a concern.

“There needs to be strong criteria developed and then a broad discussion amongst those trades before decisions are made and we’re just concerned that the way this has evolved that some of these decisions may have already been determined.”

Frame said the recent report by Hamilton-based think-tank Cardus, called College of Trades: An Impossible Institution, expressed “very real” concerns about the structure of the College and its ability to properly function and serve the industry. He said OGCA will bring the report to the new minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Glen Murray.

“I would hope at the very least what they would do is pull the power to make decisions about compulsory certification out of the College. That will lighten the load for the College and allow them to focus more on the good stuff that they need to do, which is promote the construction industry and the trades.”

Patrick Dillon, Business Manager of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, said he has confidence the College’s Board of Governors will meet the goals of the mandate in helping parents and youth understand that a career in construction could and should be a first choice.

“I think one of the major benefits of starting a career in construction as a young person is the fact that you start out earning as you learn so at the end of your five-year apprenticeship, you don’t have education debts, you should have money in the bank. There’s definitely benefits to careers in construction,” he said.

“Hopefully the board will give us a much-needed jolt to be more diversified with the new entrants to the trades.”

The selection process included over 10,000 applications from across the trades and board members were chosen by the appointment committee. Walter Pamic, Ontario Electrical League Contractor Government Relations Committee Chair, said he believes the board and the divisional boards should have been selected through an election.

“If they were elected by the industry itself then I’d have more confidence that they would represent the views of the industry, but the problem is that I believe the College of Trades is going to be divided between open shop and closed shop individuals,” he said.

“There seems to be an inherent bias in this College of Trades and it’s dominated by the special interests who I think are working towards their best interests, not towards anybody else’s.”

He added that politicians are held accountable because of elections, but the Board of Governor won’t have such accountability.

For example, he said, many open shop employers have been calling for a change to the journeyman/apprentice ratio.

“This is a decision that the College of Trades is going to have to make, but because the weighting of the College of Trades is so heavy on the closed shopped sector, we don’t believe that they’re going to want to see that.”

Frame said though there are certain aspects they don’t agree with on the College, it’s not all bad.

“We believe we need a body that encourages our young people to go into the construction trade.”

Dillon is optimistic for the future of the College.

“I think that it’s going to take some time for everybody to get in place and understand their roles and start working together, but I’m really optimistic that the people that have been appointed are great and they truly do represent the many, many different disciplines of all the sectors in the Ontario economy.”

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