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General and Trade Contracting

June 19, 2013

Quebec construction workers on strike after failed negotiations

Quebec’s construction sites were idle on Monday because of a general strike called by unions. Negotiations broke down Saturday and the strike began at midnight.

June 17, 2013

New training centre comes at perfect time

The Carpenters’ Union Training Centre (Local 1946) in London celebrated its grand opening in style recently, with a number of union leaders from around the province and south of the border in attendance.

May 27, 2013

Shop and Sleep

Glass installation is moving up on the next phase of the Southcore Financial Centre mixed-use project in Toronto, Ont.

May 23, 2013

Ontario raiding season closes with a thud

The war is over but the ensuing legal battles over who signed who from which union local have barely begun.

May 16, 2013

Resurgent United States housing market impacted by lack of qualified workers

The resurgent U.S. housing market has sent builders calling again for Richard Vap, who owns a drywall installation company. Vap would love to help. And he would if he could hire enough qualified people.

May 15, 2013

Goderich Carpenters’ union help train Habitat project trades

Pass by the site of a 1,200-square-foot house being built this summer in Goderich, Ont. by Habitat for Humanity and you might notice something different: the volunteer corps constructing the house is made up of women.

April 22, 2013

Integrated electricity grid explored by CEA

A white paper published by the Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) proposes some policy recommendations to enhance the integrated electricity relationship between Canada and the United States.

April 9, 2013

Raid wars continue to heat up between LIUNA and Carpenters’

The three sides in the Open Season raids are lobbing legal missives at each other as the battle over signatures heats up.

April 3, 2013

Professional indemnity an Ontario College of Trades issue too

Further to Clive Thurston’s comments regarding the Trades Tax in his March 19 op-ed in which he hit the mark on many of his assertions, it is also important to recognize there will be a number of other effects of the Ontario College of Trades in Ontario (OCOT) that many may have not recognized or apprised themselves of to date.

March 22, 2013

Construction on GO station at Pearson set to break ground

Construction is set to begin on the Union Pearson Express station at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, ensuring train service to and from Union Station in time for the 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games.

May 14, 2010

Kitchener Auditorium retrofit a journey into the unforeseen

Many old buildings undergoing renovations have something in common — the element of surprise.

May 14, 2010

What is the W.R.A.P. in Hamilton for skills training?

Riding on the success of its first year, the Work Ready Aboriginal People (W.R.A.P.)program is placing another crop of young adults from the Six Nations into introductory training at 12 different union-certified trades training centres in the Hamilton and Brantford area this fall.

May 14, 2010

CFB Trenton fire hall build a logistics challenge

With 10-metre-high shear walls, 30-metre-long span trusses, and seven double bays, a new $12.1-million fire hall under construction at the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton is not a standard fire station. Neither are the logistics of building it.

May 14, 2010

A one-year tour of skilled trades at George Brown

In many cases, a person committed to the idea of a construction career faces an additional hurdle — the choice of a specific trade. A George Brown College program has been aiming to help construction students make informed choices by exposing them to a broad range of trades over a single year.

May 14, 2010

OETIO training prepares operators of the future

It’s a long way from a remote First Nations community on Moose Factory Island in James Bay to the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO) in Oakville. For 25-year-old Colin Wapachee the journey and cultural readjustment was worth it.

May 14, 2010

You’re never too old to learn a new trade

At a time when workers in construction — and in the general workforce — are considering retirement, Murray Wicks is embarking on a new career. In August, Wicks who turns 60 this November, received his electrician: construction and maintenance licence.

May 14, 2010

St. Joseph’s construction requires careful planning

With more than 680 tradespeople and office support staff on site at St. Joseph’s Healthcare West 5th Campus in Hamilton, construction manager PCL Constructors Canada Inc. has its hands full.

May 14, 2010

Diefenbunker construction design-build forerunner

Ottawa-area property available. 350 rooms. No view.