The question posed in the heading may have many of you scratching your heads in bewilderment, or perhaps you have had an epiphany and know the age-old answer to the query. Either way, it does not lessen the fact that our entire construction industry needs to work towards a consorted method of not only attracting talent to construction, but more importantly keeping talent in construction as a career instead of a job.

Please click here to read Giovanni's full article.

The first webinar in the OGCA Webinar Series, Navigating Contracts/Bonding & Risk Relationships Post COVID-19, is now available. Speakers included Geza Banfai and Jason Annibale of McMillan, and Gary Rodrigues and Steven Gava of Marsh Canada Limited

Please click here to view the webinar.

Past President Clive Thurston has established Thurston Consulting Services (TCS) effective immediately.

He is under contract to OGCA to assist members when needed. Members wishing to contact him directly can do so through the following contact information.

Email:  clive@thurstoncs.com 
Phone: (416) 399 2250

Clive Thurston - Thurston Consulting Services

CCA's board of directors, its committees and National Advisory Councils met over several days in September.

Click here for an update of discussions and decisions taken.

CCA issued the following statement today in response to the Speech from the Throne. 

Throne Speech acknowledges the critical role the Canadian construction industry will play in the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic; sector cautions federal government not to compromise urgently needed infrastructure investment by entangling with unrelated policy goals.

OTTAWA, September 24, 2020 – The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) was pleased to hear commitments by the federal government to invest in infrastructure and skilled training, secure jobs, and support small and medium sized businesses.

Click here for the full statement.

OnSiteIQ is a leading visual documentation and risk assessment platform for construction projects. Their data collectors use a 360-degree camera to capture imagery as they perform weekly walkthroughs of all accessible building floors and then upload that media to the platform.

With the OnSiteIQ platform, general contractors can map the walkthroughs to the associated building floor plans and provide 360-degree views at dozens of points along a walkthrough path. This enables users to navigate back and forth in time to monitor progress and changes between walkthroughs for a single point. It also lets general contractors and team members inspect and track the site for quality and safety.

For government projects, OnSiteIQ can be especially useful as it allows project managers to have a full view of multiple sites and verify change orders and append updates for on-site teams. This ensures the quality needed by government-regulated facilities. Increased transparency and accountability across the board is also useful to provide comprehensive photo documentation.

When GCs use advanced scanning technology like OnSiteIQ, progress, quality and safety can be monitored remotely outside the project. This is incredibly valuable in this current environment as sites are required to reduce the number of workers on work sites at a particular time.

For more information, please click here. 

On Friday, September 25, 2020, the Government of Ontario amended O. Reg 364/20, effective Saturday, September 26, 2020. This regulation sets out the Rules for Areas in Stage 3.

The amendment imposes a requirement that “the person responsible for a business or organization that is open shall operate the business or organization in compliance with the advice, recommendations and instructions issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health on screening individuals.”

The same day, the Ministry of Health issued its COVID-19 Screening Tool for Workplaces (Business and Organizations). The tool provides screening questions for any worker or essential visitor (defined in the tool) seeking to enter the work environment. The tool does not apply to patrons of a workplace, essential workers who travel outside of Canada for work, or emergency services or other first responders who may enter a workplace for emergency purposes.

Bottom Line: Effective September 26, 2020, each Ontario workplace is now required to pro-actively screen employees for COVID-19-related symptoms and risk factors prior to entry into the work environment, each day the employee seeks to enter the work environment (this would not apply to an employee working at home that day). The screening tool should include, at a minimum, the questions identified in the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Screening Tool for Workplaces (Businesses and Organizations).

When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, Chandos Construction — a builder with more than 500 employees across the country — had to think on its feet. 

“I’m not sure who was prepared for COVID. We definitely weren’t,” said Sean Penn, Chandos chief operating officer. “We like to prepare and do a lot of worst-case-scenario planning at our organization to make sure we are ready for whatever could come at us. But regardless of how we planned, we never saw this coming.”

The company was coming off of a year of record growth and expansion. Penn said the team quickly concluded that COVID-19 was going to be a massive issue and struck a committee to determine their response. 

“We are a business that likes to work together,” Penn said. “It’s probably the reason why we get a lot of the work that we get. Our concern was that COVID-19 was showing a lot of signs of isolation and independence.”

Since flying posed a myriad of challenges, Penn had the idea to get an RV and embark on an epic road trip across the country to visit Chandos teams. Penn and his family spent several weeks meeting with Chandos employees. 

To read the full article, please click here. 

We are excited to share that Examine has joined J.S. Held, furthering our efforts to deliver high-quality technical expertise and unparalleled client service on construction-related matters – locally, nationally and abroad.

“Joining J.S. Held allows us to share our expertise with a diverse group of technical experts who complement our existing capabilities,” said Francis Sirard, Eng., MBA, C.Med., president of Examine Construction Consultants. “Our clients will benefit from an enhanced suite of technical services and invaluable experience that can better support their needs. This partnership accelerates the vision of both firms to expand across Canada and establish our practice in France.”

Examine joins the J.S. Held team of over 1,000 professionals located around the world.

Click here to learn more about how our partnership with J.S. Held best positions us to collectively serve clients.

For further information, please contact Francis Sirard at 514-245-3851 or Ron Hicks at 647-296-9831.

Join this panel of tax and employment law experts as we discuss issues arising out of COVID-19, presented by Sherrard Kuzz and Thorsteinssons on October 8, 2020.

Topics include:

• Revised Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• Statutory Leaves
• Accommodation
• Safety Issues and Work Refusal
• Return to Work Plan

Click Here to register or click here to view the promo.

Effective October 1, 2020, Ontario’s minimum wage will increase for most employees.

To learn more, please click here to read the Briefing Note.

Many sectors of our economy continue to suffer the unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses and entire industries have had to adapt to this new and challenging reality while the various levels of our government continue to take extraordinary measures to safeguard the public and stabilize the economy.

Please click here for the full article from Concrete Ontario.

The latest issue of the Ontario Legislative Reports is now available on the OGCA website. Please click here to access the latest issue.

The Ontario Legislative Report is updated every two weeks and explains the intention and status of legislation and regulations that could impact the construction industry. For issues prior to January 2020, please contact Mary Wademan at OGCA.