Time's running out to apply for the 2017 CEC and Federated Insurance Scholarship. The deadline to apply is June 30! If your company has an employee who has a son or daughter currently studying to be in the mechanical contracting industry, or if you're a member of an MCA student chapter, this scholarship can help. CEC and Federated Insurance have partnered on this intiative for 12 years now. For more information, download the scholarship criteria and the scholarship application. You can also contact Tania Johnston at 613-232-5169 or tania@mcac.ca.

Bill S-224, the Canada Prompt Payment Act, is going 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. Please use our tool to write to your Member of Parliament seeking their support for this very important piece of legislation. Simply go to www.promptpayment.ca, fill in a few details and click send. It’s as easy as that! MCA Canada and the NTCCC will continue to lobby on your behalf on Parliament Hill to get this bill passed!

It is with great pleasure that the Mechanical Service Contractors of Canada recognizes A & B Mechanical Ltd. in Winnipeg, MB and Pad-Car Mechanical Ltd. in Medicine Hat, AB as achieving their MSCC 'Gold Standard' Contractor designation. The MSCC Gold Standard Contractor designation is a high-impact marketing tool that can be leveraged by elite contractors. To potential new customers, it confirms your company as one of a select number of contractors that are recognized with this industry leading designation. For the current customer base, it reinforces that they are being serviced by one of the very best in the industry.

The Mechanical Service Contractors of Canada (MSCC) has suspended the $75 fee for every journeyman applying to challenge the MSCC Gold Standard Certified Technicians exam until the end of June. Your service journeymen can register to take the exam at no cost. Register before the end of June and you have 30 days to take the exam. Simply email the MSCC office using your company email, include the list of techs who would like to take the exam and send it directly to daryl@mcac.ca. Shortly after receiving your list, a link to the exam site and your username and password will be emailed to you. Isn't it time you made the leap to truly differentiate your company from the rest?

Shoddy cladding may be the culprit behind London's Grenfell Tower fire, which left 79 dead or missing. While the U.K. doesn't mandate fire-retardant material, Canadian regulations prevent the issue—at least in theory. Exterior panelling known as cladding that was recently installed on the 24-storey Grenfell Tower is increasingly being cited as a factor in the blaze that killed dozens. Police said June 19 there are 79 people dead or missing after the blaze.British engineering experts have begun speculating that the cladding was constructed of inferior, combustible materials that helped spread the fire rapidly up the building.

The Government of Canada is seeking Canadians' views on renegotiating and modernizing NAFTA. Canadian industry and stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the consultation process. You have until July 18th, 2017 to provide your input online or via email.

On June 8, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) took an important step in the effort to increase efficiency and cash flow on federal construction projects. The department will publicly disclose payments made to prime contractors on its website so that subcontractors know when they can expect payment. This information will be made available for all construction contracts over $100,000 on the PSPC website.

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.

Mark the date on your calendar. The Construction Education Council (CEC) will be offering the 5th edition of the Estimating Project Procurement and Strategies Conference, October 11 -13, 2017 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Watch for further details and registration coming soon!

The University of British Columbia (UBC) has found a way to use Wi-Fi technology to reduce its energy costs by using proprietary software that determines the number of people in a building then adjusts ventilation accordingly.

IPEX Inc. designs and manufactures one of the world’s most diverse lines of integrated thermoplastic piping systems: pipe, valves and fittings. All are engineered from the ground up to handle the full range of today’s mechanical, industrial and municipal applications. With more than 50 years’ experience in thermoplastics combined with progressive manufacturing technologies, efficient distribution centres and coast-to-coast customer support has made the IPEX name synonymous with quality, innovation and performance. One supplier to stand behind you and your complete piping system.

For more information, visit www.ipexinc.com or call 1-866-473-9462.

Municipalities issued $2.6 billion worth of building permits for non-residential structures in April, up 4.1% from the previous month. The institutional component rose 10.7% in April to $790 million, following a 18.3% increase in March. The institutional component rose 10.7% in April to $790 million, following a 18.3% increase in March. In contrast, the commercial component decreased 3.0% in April to $1.3 billion.

  451: Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun.
1248: The University of Oxford receives its Royal charter.
1685: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.
1782: The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
1787: Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the 'United States'.
1837: Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.
1840: Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
1863: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
1877: Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario.
1887: Victoria Terminus, the busiest railway station in India, opens in Bombay.
1893:  Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.
1940: World War II: Italy begins an unsuccessful invasion of France.
1944: The experimental MW18014 V2 rocket becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.
1954: UN Security Council Resolution 104 is adopted in response to the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
1959: A rare June hurricane strikes Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.
1963: Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington and Moscow.
1972: Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.
1975: The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".

There's still room for you to join us July 12th for this year's Annual CEC Fundraising Golf Tournament. There's only a month to go and we would very much like to fill the course with our members. It's a great course and its always a lot of fun.  Enjoy a round of golf, a fantastic BBQ lunch, on-course games, a prime rib dinner, and a chance to win prizes and trophies. This year’s tournament will be held at the Royal Ontario Golf Club in Milton, ON. Registration is now open and there are plenty of sponsorship opportunities still available. Learn more on our website or by contacting tania@mcac.ca.

• 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

MCA Canada has a long-standing partnership with Petro-Canada. They carry a wide range of quality fuels including gasoline, diesel, aviation and alternative fuels. From SuperClean gasoline and residential heating fuels, to propane, natural gas and heavy fuel oils, they are the market leader in the consumer, commercial and industrial marketplace. To find out how you can save with Petro-Canada, email mcac@mcac.ca.

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.