OGCA News

December is usually a month that people look forward to, a month that is synonymous with family and joy and, above all, celebration. Everyone is looking forward to the time off with family and generally speaking, people are happy. So, why am I forcing everyone to recall the tragic events that occurred in the construction sector in December 2020? In a word: perspective.

 

 

 

 

The Ontario Construction Secretariat reports that Statistics Canada recently released the Investment in Building Construction data for September. Overall, third-quarter ICI investment in Ontario amounted to $4.47 billion, down 8.7% over Q3 2020, but up slightly (+3.1%) over Q2 2021. Industrial investment in Ontario was down by 10.7% over Q3 2020, but up by 2.7% over Q2 2021. Commercial investment was down by 11.9% year-over-year, and down by 2.0% quarter-over-quarter. Institutional investment in Q3 2021 was up over both Q3 2020 (+1.5%) and Q2 2021 (+18.0%).

The Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA) has released Building Pathways and Pipelines into ICI Construction, a report outlining solutions to address labour shortages amongst project managers and site supervisors in the ICI construction industry. Across Ontario, the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) construction sectors’ productivity and competitiveness is laden with labour shortages. General contractors (GCs) have repeatedly identified a sector-wide workforce shortage of skilled candidates for these leadership roles critical to operational success and productivity.

So much of the construction tech available today was created by egg-heads who’ve never worked a day in the field. Not that there’s anything wrong with egg-heads – they keep the world going round in lots of ways. But they don’t understand what happens on a day-to-day basis on a jobsite. They’re approaching the problem from ivory towers.

 

 

When I first joined the LOC and OGCA, I spent a lot of time reflecting on these four words and what they really meant. I joined the team after a decade in a very competitive industry, where everyone simply wanted to be ‘the first’. I quickly learned that we are all on a journey, and what matters most with Safety is that you get there. You don’t have to be first, but you do need to make the commitment and put in the work, however long it may take.