As you may have heard, Bill S-224, the Canada Prompt Payment Act, unanimously passed third reading in the Senate of Canada on May 4. This is a huge win for our industry! The bill now goes on to the House of Commons for review and consideration by Members of Parliament. MCA Canada, together with the National Trade Contractors Coalition of Canada, has been working hard to get this bill passed in the Senate. We now need your help to get it passed in the House of Commons.

We are asking you to again write to your Member of Parliament to seek their support for this very important piece of legislation. And we’ve made the job as easy as possible. Just go to www.promptpayment.ca, fill in your personal information (name, address, company name) and click send. It’s as easy as that!

MCA Canada and the NTCCC will continue to lobby on your behalf on Parliament Hill. We aim to meet with as many Members of Parliament as possible, many of whom will have received your letters soliciting their support for small businesses in Canada.

Let’s work together to ensure the Canada Prompt Payment Act becomes a reality.

Do you have an employee who has a son or daughter currently studying to be in the mechanical contracting industry? Are you a member of an MCA student chapter? If so, we’ve got good news: CEC and Federated Insurance can help offset the financial burden. We are accepting applications for our annual scholarship until June 30. This is the 12th year that Federated Insurance has generously sponsored the scholarship. For further information please contact Tania Johnston at 613-232-5169 or tania@mcac.ca.

• Download scholarship criteria
• Download scholarship application

Congratulations to MCAC’s Director of Member Services and Executive Director of the Mechanical Service Contractors of Canada, Daryl Sharkey. Daryl has just received his CAE (Certified Association Executive) designation. After several years of hard work, he has received a professional designation in not-for-profit leadership. Designed to meet the needs of leaders in a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive market, CAE courses provide critical transferable skills overlaid with sector-specific knowledge. Good job, Daryl!

1. Reminder to representatives: An important change is coming to form RC59 in May 2017

Do you use form RC59, Business Consent, to get online access to your business clients' information in Represent a Client? If you do, there are three important things you should know.

The construction sector is in the top five of 17 sectors in terms of spending per worker per year on preventing work-related injury and illness, says the president and senior scientist at the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) who is conducting a pilot study on the matter.

Over the past two decades, we have learned more and more about the dangers of infection from hospital construction, renovation and maintenance activities, and Canada has led the way in standards to protect patients from these hazards. The latest edition of CSA Z317.13 Infection Control during Construction, Renovation, and Maintenance of Health-Care Facilities includes a number of changes and improvements to increase safety.

A new report by the Conference Board of Canada says more than half of Canadian businesses are having trouble finding workers with critical skills; long-term planning is advised to adjust to a tightened labour market.

Check out the following programs offered by the CEC and our local MCAs in the months ahead!

• Proactive Service – Vancouver, BC – June 15
• Design for Value Engineering to Increase Job Profits – Ottawa, ON – June 15

It’s back! The Construction Education Council is pleased to announce fall dates for its always-popular Project Management for Contractors course. The highly acclaimed, Gold Seal and Blue Seal accredited program is offered in partnership with the University of Waterloo. It takes place over a 10-day period and is split into two five-day sessions. To date, nearly 900 managers have graduated from the program.

Week one of the program is scheduled for November 16–20; week two is booked for December 7–11.

This program always sells out, so don’t delay. Register today.

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has announced that 16 of Canada's most innovative projects have been chosen to participate in a two-year pilot of CaGBC's Zero Carbon Building Standard. The standard, which assesses the carbon performance of commercial, institutional, and multi-family buildings in Canada, will be formally released on May 29 in Vancouver.

Award-winning author Rex Miller says the way most construction projects are carried out now drives good people to do bad things.

Since 1919, VICTAULIC has been the world's leading producer of grooved mechanical couplings and pipe-joining systems. Over the years, Victaulic has continued to develop innovative solutions focused on ensuring efficiency, reliability and safety. To find out more, please visit www.victaulic.com.

The value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities fell 5.8% to $7.0 billion in March, marking a second consecutive monthly decrease. The value of building permits for non-residential structures edged down 0.5% to $2.4 billion in March, a second consecutive monthly decline. Lower construction intentions for commercial buildings led the drop, moderated by gains in the institutional and industrial components. In March, construction intentions for commercial structures fell 7.6% to $1.3 billion. The institutional component climbed 9.1% to $658 million in March. The value of building permits issued for industrial structures rose 10.5% to $440 million in March.

1430: Joan of Arc is captured at Compiegne and sold to the English.
1660: King Charles II returns from exile sails from Scheveningen to England.
1785: Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals.
1788: South Carolina becomes eighth state to ratify US constitution.
1867: Jesse James gang robs bank in Richmond, Missouri.
1873: First running of The Preakness: jockey G Barbee aboard Survivor wins.
1873: Canada's North West Mounted Police Force forms (it didn't get the "Royal" until 1904).
1887: First transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver, BC.
1900: Associated Press News Service forms in NY.
1901: Ottawa Mint Act receives royal assent.
1922: Walt Disney incorporates his first film company Laugh-O-Gram Films.
1939: Hitler proclaims he wants to move into Poland.
1941: Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer on DQ in 7 for heavyweight boxing title.
1944: British and Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo, Italy.
1948: Joe DiMaggio hits three consecutive HRs.
1949: Federal Republic of Germany created out of the American, British and French occupation zones.
1969: The Who release rock opera "Tommy".
1984: "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" opens in the US.
1994: 47th Cannes Film Festival: "Pulp Fiction" directed by Quentin Tarantino wins the Palme d'Or.
2016: Chinese archaeologists announce findings of earliest use of barley in China to make beer, Shaanxi province 3400-2900 BC.

This year’s Annual CEC Fundraising Golf Tournament has moved to an exciting new venue, the Royal Ontario Golf Club in Milton, ON. The Royal Ontario is a prestigious course that everyone will enjoy. The tournament will take place Wednesday, July 12. Enjoy an amazing golf course, a great BBQ lunch, on-course games, a prime rib dinner, prizes, trophies and much more. Registration is now open and there are plenty of exceptional sponsorship opportunities still available. Learn more on our website or by contacting tania@mcac.ca.

The Construction Education Council is pleased to announce that UA Canada has signed on as a Gold Sponsor for this year's fundraising golf tournament.

There are still plenty of sponsorship opportunities available if your firm wants to sign on.

• May 25: CANS Golf Tournament, Halifax, NS
• May 26-28: CCA Meetings, St. John’s, NL
• May 31-June 3: Skills Canada National Competition, Winnipeg MB
• June 6: MCA Canada Western Regional Meetings, Saskatoon, SK
• June 15: MCA Sask/Ron Young Memorial Golf, Moon Lake Golf and Country Club, SK 
• June 22: MCA Sask/ASHRAE Golf Tournament, Deer Valley Golf Club, SK
• June 23: MCA Eastern Regional Meeting, St. John’s, NL
• June 25-27: CIPH Annual Business Conference, Ottawa, ON
• July 12: CEC Golf Tournament, Royal Ontario Golf Club, Milton, ON
• July 13: CANS Developing Executives Meet and Greet, Halifax, NS
• September 21: CIPHEX Roadshow, St. John’s, NL
• September 29: CANS 155th AGM, St. Andrew's By-The-Sea, NB
• September 29-October 1: MCA Toronto AGM, Collingwood, ON
• October 2-4: CCA Meetings, Niagara Falls, ON
• October 15-18: MSCA Educational Conference, Boca Raton, Florida
• October 17: CIPHEX Roadshow, Edmonton, AB
• October 19: CIPHEX Roadshow, Regina, SK
• November 6-9: MCA Canada’s 76th National Conference, Maui, Hawaii

AON Reed Stenhouse is the leader in Canada’s construction insurance business. It’s true that they are the world’s largest insurance broker, but don’t let that fool you. Their more than 59,000 colleagues are local people from your city who will be there to take care of your needs. Save money on premiums, expand your coverage and work with someone in your neighborhood. Learn more at www.mcac.ca.

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.