The President and staff are currently in or will be enroute to Vancouver preparing for the AGM and Conference taking place next week.

The Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance (OSTA) has written to Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Merrilee Fullerton with bold proposals to address the skills gap.

The Ontario construction industry is experiencing the long-expected skills gap and OSTA has proposed that action be taken now to support the availability of trades.

This includes:

• Halt new trade certifications and remove the trade certification process from OCOT.
• Lower apprenticeship ratios and remove the ratio setting process from OCOT.
• Remove all enforcement responsibilities from OCOT.
• Refocus the OCOT mandate to address the skills gap through reform of the apprentice system and training delivery system.

OSTA has now launched a discussion focusing on the attached proposal.

OGCA will be moving our offices as of November 1 to 180 Attwell Drive, Suite 280, Toronto M9W 6A9. Our phone number will not change, but we will be getting a new fax number. In the meantime, please use our emails if you need to send something.

Please note that the office will be closed on October 26 following the Safety Award Breakfast, and on Monday, October 29 while we sort ourselves out.

Mark your calendars for the first League of Champions school visit of the season!

We have an exciting opportunity to visit Lambton College in Toronto on Wednesday, September 26 as part of their Speaker Series.

Date: Wednesday, September 26 
Time: 1:00 pm. The event is scheduled to run for 1 to 1.5 hours. 
Location: Lambton College in Toronto (271 Yorkland Blvd, Toronto, ON M2J 1S5)
Room: Toronto Atrium 
Who: 200-220 staff and students 
What: Presentation by MySafeWork, in conjunction with a panel of industry leaders (including Champions) who will respond to student questions.

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Andrea George by email at Andrea@theLOC.ca.

See you there!

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Robert (Bob) A. Bird, Past President and the son of Hubert J. Bird, Founder of Bird Construction. Bob passed away peacefully at the age of 92.

In 1948, Bob earned his BSc in civil engineering at the University of Manitoba. He worked as a labourer at company job sites during his school and university summers before starting full-time as an estimator in the Winnipeg office. From the mid 1950s on, Bob advanced through a number of management roles in Winnipeg before becoming the General Manager at Bird in 1964.

After his father’s passing in 1965 Bob became President. Bob was an active participant in furthering the construction industry and served on several associations including the Canadian Construction Association (rising to the position of Chairman in 1974), the Construction Labour Relations Association of Ontario, the Ontario General Contractors Association, the Industrial Contractors Association of Canada, the National Construction Industry Development Foundation and the Construction Industry Development Council of the Federal Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce.

Bob was known as a hardworking person of the highest integrity, values passed down to him from his father HJ Bird, and values that are woven into the fabric of the company today.

We offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

The deadline is coming up for submissions for the 2019 Ontario Builders Awards, which will be presented by Andrew Younghusband at the closing dinner of the Construction Symposium, April 11 - 13, 2019.

If you wish to submit an entry, please click here for the form. Entries must be received by the OGCA (at our new location at 180 Attwell Drive, Suite 280, Toronto M9W 3C9) by December 17, 2018 (note this is extended from the previous date of December 15).

Discover how you can put hundreds of thousands of dollars back in your company's pocket by leveraging government tax credits.

Connect with your peers over a free breakfast at the Burlington Golf Club and discover the tax incentive program that is saving construction businesses like yours millions. Register now to get a roadmap for your best fiscal year yet and find out how to double the profitability of your upcoming projects!

What: Executive Roundtable

Where: Burlington Golf and Country Club

When: Friday, October 19, 2018

How: Register here.

Are you looking for fall/winter uniforms for your departmental activities or holiday gifts for customers?

Come and see the latest products: Registered participants receive a sample package! Click here to see where and when.

Associate Partner eCompliance has recently published a couple of blog posts you might be interested in:

• Safety Leaders Don’t Need To Be Safety Experts. They Need To Be Change-Agents
• Lessons Any Company Can Learn From Tesla’s Safety Struggles

Remember that you can always look up the current and previous legislative reports by clicking here. The latest issue is September 15.

All OGCA members are cordially invited to attend two sessions OGCA will be delivering at the Construct Canada Session. In an industry that is rapidly changing and where people are constantly moving from one role to the next, it is critical to stay on top of what is currently in our industry.

Registration will be opening soon for the following sessions:

WS113 A Guide to the Construction Act of Ontario: Modernizing the Lien Act
Wednesday, November 28, 2018, from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm

The New Construction Act, which came into effect on July 1, 2018, addresses the modernization of the previous Lien Act and introduces several complex issues while introducing new elements to the process, such as adjudication. Learn about the two-part guide developed by the Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA) which will address these changes and what they mean to General Contractors in Ontario. Join OGCA as they provide recommendations for general contractors on how to respond to this new Construction Act.

TS102 Tender Forms and the Tendering Process: Best Practices
Thursday, November 29, 2018, from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm 

It all starts with the tendering process. Every year, hundreds of thousands of projects are tendered in Canada. Some tenders are simple and straightforward; others lead to confusion and disqualifications. What makes a great tender package? What types of tenders should be avoided? How long should the tender period be? This session will focus on what attendees should know about the tendering process and how to shorten, simplify and standardize tender forms. Following this session, attendees should be able to recognize an excellent tender form. Learn how to prepare simple, uncomplicated tender forms, the best time to close a tender, unit prices, separate prices, identified prices, alternate prices, and how owners can obtain the best value for their money.

We have opened up sponsorship for the 2019 Construction Symposium, April 11 - 13, 2019 at Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood.

At this time, sponsorship and booths are only open for Associate Partner Members to register.

If you are not an APP member, we will be sending out the sponsorship package to you in late October.

If you are an APP member and did not get the sponsorship package, please contact the OGCA.

Due to the fact that our member services staffer has left the OGCA, we find ourselves in a bit of a quandary in putting on the webinars that had previously been scheduled. As a result, while we search for a replacement for the position, we have put the webinars on hold. This includes the following:  

October 3 — "Weeding" out the Risk
October 17 — Now That Recreational Cannabis is Legal, what should GCs be doing?
November 7 — Technical Applications Applicable for Project Managers & Site Superintendents: Building
Science 101

We will be back up and running in no time. Please watch this space for more information and updates.