Mobile vaccine clinics are making their way across Toronto and Central Ontario in an effort to increase the vaccination rate and protect us from COVID-19.

As you will see from the attached release, the initial focus is on community facilities and public places, but we understand that in coming weeks, it will be made available to workplaces, based on the opportunity to vaccinate many employees and members of the community.

It is an opportunity for worksites that were too small to participate or sponsor clinics in May and June to now participate. To inquire, use the GO-VAXX email on the attached release.

The Ontario government is investing almost $350,000 to provide free mentorship and training in construction for up to 60 people in the Sarnia region, most from local Indigenous communities. The project will prepare participants for a range of careers in the construction sector, including cement finisher and construction craft worker, addressing a skilled trades shortage in the local workforce. Please click here to read the full article.

Lumber and wood panels prices saw their highest level and set new records in 2021. Like other commodities, the price of lumber and wood products can change very quickly in response to the forces of supply and demand.

Like other sawmills across North America, many Ontario mills curtailed production in Spring 2020 to keep workers safe and prepare for an economic slow down in the USA and Canada. As it turned out, housing construction markets did not dip as deeply as expected and there was an unexpected increase in demand from do-it-yourself home renovation projects.

Please click here to read the full letter from the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry addressed to the City of Toronto.

Over the past year and a half, we have not-so-quietly grumbled over the fact that we have not been able to meet and engage with our membership in person. Well, that has all changed!

The LOC staff, quite often joined by our colleagues at OGCA, have been incredibly busy visiting our Champions and Patron Champions in their offices and on sites. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to everyone who has offered an invitation for us to visit. Every office and site visit provides a new learning experience for us, beginning with unique orientations depending on our location, to team safety meetings, monthly safety stand downs, and LOC jersey presentations and signings. We have seen firsthand through the mud, up and down the stairs or ladders, and at times, from a safe distance, how every single site is presented with incredibly unique and diverse safety needs. The one thing that stays the same is the unwavering commitment of LOC Champions in mitigating these risks. Thank you all for taking the time out of your very busy days to answer all of our questions and allowing us to capture hundreds of photos!

If you have not had the chance to meet the LOC staff, what better way is there for you to get to know the team than by arranging a visit from us. Please contact Judith directly at judith@theloc.ca to discuss opportunities.

We are very happy to introduce our newest Champions: Maystar General Contractors and Soncin Construction Corp. Welcome to the League!

Are you a Safety Champion? Do you know a Safety Champion? Do you know a company who would be a great addition to the LOC? Have you considered joining the League of Champions? If you have any questions or want to learn more about the League of Champions, just let us know, we are here to help.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Judith Reda at judith@theloc.ca

On behalf of the Carpenters Labour-Management Health & Safety Committee, you are invited to a free Fit-for-duty webinar on Monday, September 13, 2021, at 1 p.m.

We have lined up three speakers for this event:

Speaker one presentation - Norm Keith – employer’s perspective (30 min)
Speaker two presentation - Michael Church – worker’s perspective (30 min)
Speaker three presentation - Julian Toy – Returning workers to safety sensitive work after treatment or removal from the job site due to substance use (15-20 min)

To register for this event, please click here.

Passive House Canada, in collaboration with the Tower Renewal Partnership, is pleased to present a Tower Retrofit Symposium. This virtual event will feature engaging sessions that span the spectrum of knowledge on deep energy retrofits and EnerPHit projects.

The emerging retrofit sector has enormous economic long-term impacts including substantial job creation, reduced building operations and maintenance costs, and a variety of other significant spinoff benefits. Cities across Canada need to do more – and do it faster – to both mitigate and adapt to the reality of climate change. Retrofits play a critical part in helping to accelerate the current marketplace transformation for all buildings to reach net zero emissions.

OGCA member PCL Construction are participants in the symposium with their featured session on "Demystifying the Ken Soble Tower Passive House Retrofit."

Registration is NOW OPEN – Buy your ticket before August 20 to save! Learn more by clicking here.

Norm Keith, LL.M., CRSP has moved to KPMG Law LLP, as senior partner in the Employment & Labour group. Norm is the leading OHS lawyer in Canada and has successfully represented clients in over 1,000 OHS, TSSA, EPA, and related charges.

Norm is a longstanding member of the OGCA Safety committee. He and his team will continue to offer complementary consultations on workplace safety and workers’ compensation questions, incidents, MLTSD orders, work refusals, accidents and worker’s compensation claims to all OGCA members.

Norm’s new contact information is as follows: Norm Keith, Partner, KPMG Law LLP, 333 Bay Street, Suite 4600, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2S5, Email: nkeith@kpmg.ca; Office: (416) 476-2002; Cell: (416) 540-3435.

We hope you enjoy our August 2021 edition of Management Counsel (attached). Our newsletters and briefing notes are published several times a year to highlight important issues in Canadian employment and labour law. In this edition of Management Counsel we address two topics:

• Testing 1-2-3: Another Arbitrator Upholds Mandatory COVID-19 Rapid Testing in the Workplace
• Employee’s mitigation efforts unreasonable because she aimed “too high” in job search – Court reduced notice period by two months

You are also invited to our next HReview Zoom Webinar. Click here to register.

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.

CanBIM is hosting an event on Emerging Construction Estimating Technology August 25 from 11:50 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. EST. We thought you may like to share this with the OGCA membership. This is a half day, free virtual event.  

Learn about market leading tools and technology in estimating that will help save time and improve productivity on-site. If you are considering or researching technologies to improve your businesses, this annual event is a must attend. 

We currently have the following companies set to present and will be adding more speakers in the coming days so stay tuned to our website:

Visit the CanBIM Event page to learn more and register today - please share this FREE event with your network and membership. https://www.canbim.com/events/estimating21 

Project agreements have been part of Ontario’s construction industry landscape for over 20 years. With the current interest in community benefit requirements on many public sector projects, we have updated and enhanced the Ontario Construction Secretariat Project Agreement Guide.

This guide is a one-step resource to implementing a project agreement. The OCS Project Agreement Guide outlines what a project agreement is, the legislation, benefits of project agreements, what to include in an agreement, and also walks you through the project agreement process and roles. Be sure to check out the Resources section for a summary of previous project agreements, a complete list of ICI sector collective agreements, and contact information for Employee/Employer Bargaining Agencies and local area Business Managers.

The full Project Agreement Guide can be found by clicking here.