On Wednesday, February 8, 2017 MCA Canada’s President, Del Pawliuk, accompanied by MCA Canada Associate Member Mr. Dan Leduc of the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, testified before the Banking Trade and Commerce Senate committee on Bill S-224: Canada Prompt Payment Act. The Bill has passed through first and second reading and is now in front of the committee.

This was the second of three days of hearings on the Bill which took place February 2nd, 8th & 9th, 2017. You can watch the discussions by clicking the following:

February 2- Click Here (Senator Plett, CIPH & CBTU)
February 8- Click Here (MCAC President Del Pawliuk, NTCCC, & CMMTQ)
February 9- Click Here (Parliamentary Secretary Steven MacKinnon)

It is expected that the Bill will hear third reading soon and then if passed in the Senate, will go on to the House of Commons. Stay tuned for further, up-to-date information!

Last week, mechanical engineering students from McMaster University, the University of Waterloo, and the University of Toronto met with contractors and faculty for two days in Hamilton, ON, to learn a little more about the mechanical contracting industry and what it has to offer as a career of choice. It was an enormously successful weekend bringing students and contractors together for sessions on the future of the construction industry (careers) and technological advancements in construction. On Saturday morning students participated in a competition where they had to make presentations to contractors. The planning committee would like to extend a huge thank you to UA Local 67 and Aecon for allowing students to have hands-on experiences in their training centre and prefabrication sites. This program was fully sponsored by MCA Canada, MCA Ontario, MCA Hamilton, MCA Toronto, MCA Kitchener-Waterloo, Victaulic and Aecon Industrial. Without their support this event would not have been made possible.

You have to file the T4 or T4A information return on or before the last day of February following the calendar year that the information return applies to. If the due date falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

Bulletin 20 – Part I: Indemnification Agreements and Risk (Liability) Transfer
Indemnification and hold harmless provisions are obligations we see in most contracts. To indemnify means to compensate. An indemnification provision is an obligation by one party to reimburse the financial loss of another party upon the happening of specified types of loss. To hold harmless means to hold another party harmless from financial loss. A hold harmless provision is an obligation to pay the liability on behalf of another party upon the happening of specified types of loss. 

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Bulletin 20 – Part II: Additional Insureds  
Many contracts require third parties to be included under a Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy as an "additional insured.” Insurers respond by using additional insured endorsements in varying shapes and forms, which do not always achieve what is required in a contract. For example, some insurers intend to provide coverage to additional insureds for defence costs only, and others for liability arising out of vicarious liability. The phrase most often used by the insurance industry on an additional insured endorsement or on a Certificate of Insurance is "ABC Company is added as an Additional Insured but only with respect to the operations of the Named Insured.”

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An international coalition of more than 40 groups from six continents is creating a new system for measuring construction costs that aims to reduce investment barriers caused by differences in professional standards.

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Looking to upgrade your Project Coordinator to a Project Manager? Are you currently a Project Manager but not quite feeling that you know all facets of the job? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then the Construction Education Council has the perfect 10-day program for you. CEC, in partnership with the University of Waterloo, offer a Gold Seal project management program each year and focus on several different competencies including but not limited to project administration, scheduling, safety (a management perspective), change orders, job cost controls, meetings and communication, labour relations, meetings and communication and project completion. Over 1000 individuals have graduated from the program. The next course will run March 30 to April 3 and April 20-24, 2017. The cut-off date for registration is March 14th, 2017.

The Construction Education Council (CEC), in partnership with MCA Canada and the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating (CIPH), is pleased to offer this all-new three-part webinar series on the "Industrialization of the Construction Industry." The construction industry is reaching an inflection point, beyond which things may never look or be the same again. Like many industries, the construction industry is under constant pressure to improve productivity and reduce cost and waste. In this presentation, Dr. Perry Daneshgari will explain the three forces leading to the construction industry's inflection point:

• Week 1 – March 28, 2017: Industrialization of Construction® – What's happening & how to get ready for it.
• Week 2 – April 4, 2017: Disruption of the Construction Industry – How will it happen & what should you do about it?
• Week 3 – April 11, 2017: Shift in the Construction Market – How to deal with the new realities.

Date: March 28th, April 4th, April 11th
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Cost: $129.00 per single webinar or $300.00 for all 3 webinars

OTTAWA—Canada’s labour market unexpectedly added 48,300 jobs last month, thanks to surges in part-time and private-sector work. Statistics Canada’s employment survey for January shows an increase of 32,400 part-time positions and a gain of 15,800 jobs in the more-desirable category of full-time work. The report also found that the number of private-sector jobs rose 32,400 between December and January, compared with an increase of 7,700 public-sector positions. The unemployment rate fell to 6.8 per cent from 6.9 per cent in December.

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MCA Canada	Contractor Membership
Construction Education Council	Supplier Membership
Mechanical Service Contractors of Canada	Provincial & Zone MCAs
National Trade Contractors Coalition of Canada	Operation Eyesight

We still need your help! Operation Eyesight has prevented more than 35 million people from facing the needless tragedy of preventable blindness. Their work is focused in places where blindness can be deadly, especially to those who are very young, old or poor. MCA Canada's members, offices and staff have made significant contributions to help in this worthwhile cause but we still have a long way to go.