On November 8, Richard McKeagan, retiring CEO of the Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada was presented with the CIPH Order of the Bath and Bowl at MCA Canada’s 76th Annual National Conference. The Order of the Bath and Bowl is a humourous award for retiring volunteers and allies.

The federal infrastructure minister is defending a budget shift on his file, saying the planned delay in more than $2 billion in spending has nothing to do with the program itself.

If our economy is shifting, how much emphasis do we really need to place on filling predicted shortages and attracting more young people to the trades? If Canada is going to invest heavily in infrastructure, we must ensure we make equally strong investments in training talent that is going to build it. The answer might surprise you. In Canada's future economy, the skilled trades are going to matter more than ever.

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has announced the launch of registration for a new Zero Carbon Building program, the first in Canada.

The difficulties engineering firms have retaining female engineers went from elephant-in-the-room status to a front and centre discussion piece at the recent Association of Consulting Engineering Companies — Canada conference in Ottawa.

MCA Alberta is offering a two-part webinar series on November 23 and 30.

Being Effective with Difficult People is for employees at all levels who are committed to powerful and effective communication in the face of challenging circumstances and people. Webinars will cover different types of difficult people and how your personal triggers make you ineffective in conflict.

What will you learn?

• key principles of difficult conversations
• how your brain works in difficult interactions
• specific conversational skills for the three most common difficult personalities
• tactics for being effective in difficult interactions
• discovering the paradigm of conflict
• discovering your hidden triggers
• creating a new view of conflict

MCA Toronto in partnership with MCA Canada and the Construction Education Council are pleased to present this exclusive Agile Construction Training Learning Sessions on November 29 and 30.

These classes will teach the principles, exercised successfully by other industries and will focus on:

• work breakdown structure
• job productivity assurance and control
• short interval scheduling
• externalizing work through prefabrication & agile procurement including the application of the Integrated Material Logistics Solution 

For more courses like this, check out the CEC programs page.

MCAC members are invited to attend two free webinars to learn how to create online customer service that will help you earn new customers and keep existing customers around for a long time.

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, along with researchers from schools in China, Iran and the U.S., have developed a way to transform ordinary windows into solar-powered heaters that use the sun's energy to increase the window temperature by a bit more than 9 C when the weather gets cold.

With a long and successful history dating back to 1881, Bradford White is one of the most technologically advanced manufacturers of water heating, space heating, combination heating and water storage products in the world. With headquarters in suburban Philadelphia and its 800,000 sq. ft. manufacturing operation in Middleville, Michigan, the company builds all of its products strictly for wholesale distribution. Bradford White products for residential, commercial and industrial applications are designed for installation by plumbing and heating professionals. For more information, visit www.bradfordwhite.com.

• November 22: CEC webinar: Increase Your Revenue by Clobbering the Competition
• December 13: CEC webinar: Get out of the Truck and Go Online to Own Your Customers

Available to all members, staff and their families, the AON program offers savings of up to 20 percent on home insurance and significant auto insurance savings on their already heavily discounted pricing. (Please note that due to provincial insurance legislation the auto portion of this program does not apply in BC, SK and MB). For information, contact the MCA Canada office or www.mcac.ca.

With the holiday season soon upon us, Operation Eyesight is saying "thank you” to everyone who has contributed to this very important cause. Learn more about some of the people in the developing world whose lives your donations have changed. And as we start to look ahead to the holiday season, please consider making Operation Eyesight your charity of choice—as it is ours.