OGCA News

The Ontario College of Trades (OCOT) is to disappear, to be replaced by an organization that will promote the skilled trades. Today, Economic Development Minister Jim Wilson announced that the government’s first major red tape reduction action will be to Overhaul Bill 148 and dissolve OCOT. 

The OGCA, as a member of the Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance (OSTA), has aggressively challenged OCOT since its inception more than seven years ago. The battle was over the direction of an impossible mandate, to both promote and regulate the skilled trades. This has been the main feature of the big picture debate.

From the beginning, OCOT decided to flex their muscles by enforcing mandatory trade requirements and apprentice ratios. Ten trades were in the queue to make the case to expand the list of mandatory trades to include many of the common trades, including carpenters.

OSTA organized 34 employer associations to oppose this direction. It lead to the “Stop the Trades Tax” campaign in 2013 that involved itself in the 2014 election. It galvanized thousands of companies and contractors to object to, not only the tax, but the barriers placed on recruitment and hiring, as fewer apprentices were able to move through the system.

In the past four years, the focus has been on working the process to challenge the adoption of more mandatory trades. One trade - the sprinklers - were able to proceed, but ten other trades remained waiting for their hearing until today. OGCA, with OSTA, has challenged this agenda at every step.

After seven years of battling many unions and employer associations who advocated greater regulatory restrictions, the new government has responded. OCOT, in direct contradiction to their mandate to promote the trades, acted to restrict access to persons eager to enter the industry and employers in need of skilled workers.  That is why today, the new PC government acted. This includes:

• Set all journeyperson to apprentice ratios at one to one
• Implement a moratorium on trade classifications and reclassifications
• Initiate the winding down of the Ontario College of Trades

The legislation will give the government the power to take charge of the Board of Directors and appoint an administrator. The commitment is that “apprenticeship in Ontario needs to be modernized and transformed to better meet the needs of apprentices, employers and industry.” The government intends to develop a replacement model early in the New Year. 

OGCA fully supports this action and will work with the government to define the services and mandate of a successor organization. The new focus must be to provide leadership to address the skills shortage.

October 23, 2018

TORONTO — Ontario's Government for the People is taking concrete measures to make Ontario open for business, grow the economy and help create and protect good jobs across the province.

Jim Wilson, Ontario's Minister Responsible for Red Tape and Regulatory Burden Reduction, joined Laurie Scott, Minister of Labour and Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, to announce a series of regulatory and legislative changes that, if passed by Ontario's Legislature, will make it easier for Ontario employers to hire and make it easier for workers to find jobs and grow their careers in Ontario.

Click here to read the full press release.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Open for Business: Removing Burdens While Protecting Workers
Open for Business: Modernizing Ontario’s Apprenticeship System

The latest issue of the CEO Newsletter eGlance is now available. Click here to read it.

The Canadian Construction Association has released this statement:

OTTAWA, October 16, 2018 – The Canadian construction industry has been disregarded by the Canadian government in its decision to impose provisional safeguard measures on steel products.

‘’We have been understanding while the negotiations were in progress with the U.S. government, but the outcome is that the construction industry has been ignored. Not only do the steel and aluminium tariffs remain; these safeguards are another blow to the industry,’’ said Mary Van Buren, CCA’s president. ‘’Now it’s time for the Government of Canada to help the construction industry by dedicating research and development funds to improve productivity and to allow for accelerated depreciation on capital equipment.’’

The U.S.-imposed tariffs and these safeguards on the import of foreign steel will hurt the construction industry, its workers and fundamentally all Canadians by raising prices, damaging competitiveness for business and potentially delaying projects necessary for building Canada’s infrastructure.

The CCA has long advocated for reciprocity and the establishment and maintenance of a free-flowing international system of trade, both in terms of goods as well as services. CCA supports international free trade agreements, including provisions respecting government procurement.

***

Link to CCA's statement on the CCA website
Link to CCA's tweet

www.latelocates.ca is a website seeking to better track and address problems with the late delivery of utility locates in Ontario. While legislation does exist – the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012 – that sets a mandatory delivery timeline of five business days for all locates, it is not uncommon for property owners and/or companies to wait weeks for the delivery of their locates.

To improve the timelines for the delivery of locates, we would encourage OSWCA members to visit www.latelocates.ca. This site provides an easy-to-use way to lodge a complaint to Ontario One Call about the late delivery of your utility locates. It also allows for the independent tracking of late locate information and third-party assessment to help identify where the bottlenecks in this process exist.

The League of Champions (LOC) office location is relocating alongside the Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA). As of Monday, October 29, our address will be:

180 Attwell Dr., Suite 280
Toronto, ON M9W 6A9

New mail should be directed to this address; however, we will also have a forwarding service for the next several months. The phone number, 905-671-3969, remains unchanged.

Get ready for three exciting League of Champions school opportunities in November. All Members and Patrons are invited to participate in the Q & A sessions. Join us as we engage with staff and students regarding important health and safety issues.

George Brown College

Date: Thursday, November 8
Location: George Brown, Casa Loma Campus (160 Kendal Ave., Toronto, ON M5R 1M3)
Room: Pre-event Reception – C400; Presentation – E321
Champion arrival time: 2:15 – 2:30 p.m.
Presentation time: 3 – 5 p.m.
Audience: Approximately 200 staff & students

Bendale Business and Technical Institute

Date: Tuesday, November 13
Location: 1555 Midland Ave., Scarborough, ON M1P 3C1
Champion arrival time: 9:30 a.m.
Presentation time: 10:00 a.m. – 12 noon

Yorkdale Secondary School

Date: Monday, November 19
Location: 38 Orfus Rd., North York, ON M6A 1L6; Room 156
Champion arrival time: 10:00 a.m.
Presentation time: 10:35 a.m. – 12 noon

To RSVP for any of these events, please contact Andrea George by email at Andrea@theLOC.ca.

See you there!

Don't forget to join us for the 2017 OGCA Safety Awards, being presented on October 26, 2018 at Verdi Banquet Hall, 3550 Derry Road East, Mississauga, beginning with breakfast at 7:30 a.m.

See you there!

Walsh Canada is proud to receive for the second straight year, two awards from Canadian Occupational Safety magazine as part of its annual Canada’s Safest Employers awards, an annual competition recognizing Canada’s occupational health and safety leaders.

Walsh Canada Vice President and Business Group Leader, Craig Lesurf, and Health and Safety Manager, Dave Irwin, were called to the stage at the annual gala held on October 18th to receive the honours, which include the Silver Award for the Building and Construction category and the Silver Award for Young Worker Safety.

Please click here for more information.

This year’s NXT event was an unprecedented gathering of over 50 safety leaders from across North America. For those who couldn’t join us, here are the key takeaways from each one of our sessions:

Read more