General and Trade Contracting

May 17, 2012

Merit Canada, skilled trades launch campaigns on opposite sides of Bill C-377

Stakeholders on both sides of Bill C-377 are renewing their efforts to make their voices heard. Merit Canada recently launched a national television advertising campaign urging financial disclosure while hundreds of skilled trades workers descended on Parliament Hill on May 15 to ask their locals MPs to vote against Bill C-377, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (labour organizations), which is a private member’s bill sponsored by MP Russ Hiebert, who represents the British Columbia riding of South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale.

May 17, 2012

Disclosure bill an attack on unions, says organized labour

Bill C-377, a private member’s bill introduced into the House of Commons by Conservative member of parliament Russ Hiebert, would demand trade unions publicly declare salaries and expenditures every year. The Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (labour organizations) is opposed by the American Federal of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations.

May 9, 2012

Worker’s choice bill introduced by Hillier

MPP Randy Hillier, Ontario Progressive Conservative labour critic, recently introduced legislation to defend a worker’s choice to be part of a union or not.

May 4, 2012

Ontario Labour official reveals details of enforcement blitzes targetting construction sites

At the Partners in Progress conference and exposition hosted by Health and Safety Ontario in Mississauga, the Ontario Ministry of Labour plans several enforcement blitzes over the next year, where inspectors will be sent to workplaces in target industries, including construction.

April 10, 2012

A hands-on construction experience for students at Future Building expo

Carolyn Butterworth heard that the construction industry is going to need 160,000 new workers. So, the Grade 8 teacher at Whitchurch Highlands Public School, north of Toronto, took her students to Future Building, a job fair organized by the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS).

April 4, 2012

A guide to construction liens in Ontario: Part One

The purpose of lien legislation is to provide an informal, inexpensive, expeditious, yet formidable, remedy for enforcing construction claims by contractors and subcontractors.

March 28, 2012

Future Building gives students hands-on construction experience

Ontario Construction Secretariat is holding Future Building, a hands-on job fair for students in Grades 8 through 12, at the Better Living Centre on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds in Toronto. Exhibitors included unions representing a variety of skilled construction trades, including carpenters, iron workers, welders, crane operators and boilermakers.

March 23, 2012

Work begins on London, Ontario Carpenters’ union training centre

Work is underway on a new 25,000-square-foot training centre for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 1946 in London, Ontario. Architect McMichael Ruth of Tillmann Ruth Robinson gives some details.

February 28, 2012

Pan Am Games cost claims don’t add up says Carpenters Local 18 union

Allegations that Ontario’s labour laws are going to add 40 per cent to the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games construction costs just don’t add up, says the Hamilton chapter of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.

February 21, 2012

Drummond report on Ontario public service recommends full cost pricing for municipal water

The Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services today recommended Ontario municipalities charge rate payers the full cost of water and to consolidate the 80 local electricity distribution companies along regional lines.

May 14, 2010

Canadian Standards Association aims to reduce confined-space danger

In trauma medicine, rescuers and doctors talk about the “golden hour,” the 60 minutes between event and treatment that determines the outcome.

May 14, 2010

Hybrid construction equipment technology drives forward

Driven by the need to produce machines that cost less to operate, and by regulatory pressures for lower carbon emissions, makers of construction equipment are spending a lot of time and money inventing and developing electric and hybrid drives to conventional hydraulic systems.

May 14, 2010

Precision the hallmark of Goderich Aircraft Inc.’s jet refit facility

Tradesmen work with lightweight woods and veneers for a jet’s luxury interior at Goderich Aircraft Inc.

May 14, 2010

Northway Construction finds niche in high-end auto market

There’s a new upscale Downtown Porsche dealership under construction near Toronto’s tiny Distillery District.