The Ontario Construction Report – May 2009 – PAGE OCR B7
Longer term, Strickland says the OCS
will work with industry partners to ensure
that Ontario’s unionized contractors are
ready for the future, in an environment
where green energy, solar power, geother-
mal energy, and LEED-certified buildings
are the norm. “In all sectors of the industry,
in leadership development, how do you
identify the supervisors, superintendents
we deliver approximately two million and managers of the future,” he said. “The
hours of training for apprentices and jour- generational gap needs to be filled.
neymen each year,” he said. The OCS also works with contractors
He says the industry wants to avoid the and unions to improve project safety stan-
mistakes of the last recession, when ap- dards. “There needs to be a more rigorous
prentices unable to find work left the pre qualification (of contractors) and a
trades, adding to the labour shortages when more rigorous screening of safety standards
conditions improved. Job instability also for contractors,” he said. “
encourages parents to suggest to their chil- Still, with thousands of contractors, and
dren alternative careers – again depleting more than 100,000 skilled tradespeople, the
the supply of skilled labour. OCS is ready to partner with institutions,
Government support of training pro- private business and governments to to pro-
grams and infrastructure could help the in- vide valuable information for the planning
dustry weather the storm, he indicated. of large-scale projects that create thousands
Information at the OCS websites
of jobs and millions of dollars of economic
opportunity throughout the province.
Strickland joined the OCS after five
The Ontario Construction Secretariat maintains three websites.
Iciconstuction.com is the OCS’s main website, featuring an assortment of
years as business manager for the Waterloo,
downloadable resources, reports and newsletters, as well as a Contractors Direc-
Wellington, Dufferin, Grey Building and
tory, helpful industry links and other resources. For example, you can find the
Construction Trades Council. Previously
OCS’s recent comprehensive Ontario construction economy survey on the web-
he worked with the International Brother-
site.
hood of Electrical workers, and co-founded
CONEX (Construction Exchange), at www.ocsconex.com, is the largest sin-
yourlocalelectricans.ca, representing 40
gle source of construction-related statistics in Ontario. This site enables visitors
electrical contractors throughout the Kitch-
to browse a diverse selection of data organized under areas of: Construction Ac-
ener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Strat-
tivity, Labour Force, Economy, and other industry related information.
ford and surrounding areas that perform
Madewiththetrades.com is the OCS’ construction career site. This site fea-
residential and ICI work. Strickland’s fa-
tures clear and concise resource information on skills and apprenticeships, case
ther was the vice-president of the Bricklay-
histories, skill centre links, and job descriptions for all the construction trades.
ers and Allied Craftsmen Union of Canada.
OCS Contractors foresee cautious
economic outlook from a positive base
At the 9th annual Ontario Construction Secretariat’s Annual State of the Industry
and Outlook Conference in March, OCS members learned that most Ontario contractors
are in good shape economically, but that the “vast majority (70 per cent) expect the current
economic situation will have a ‘negative’ impact on their business, while about one-in-five
(19 per cent) feel the downturn will have no impact at all on their business.”
Ipsos Reid surveyed more than 1,000 non-residential contractors – both unionized and
non-union — for the OCS. The results indicate that contractors are optimistic about the in-
stitutional sector, but believe business will decline in the industrial markets, and increase
only slightly in the commercial sector.
These results also reflect regional differences. “Firms located in Ottawa, Kingston-Pem-
broke and Kitchener-Waterloo-Barrie are the most likely to feel they will conduct more busi-
ness in 2009, while those located in Hamilton-Niagara and Sarnia-Windsor are the most
likely to feel they will conduct less business,” the OCS reported.
Approximately three of 10 contractors surveyed said they expect to employ fewer work-
ers this year than previously. “However, even as construction may shed jobs, contractors
are still reporting shortages in several of the skilled trades,” the OCS reported. “The survey
found boilermakers, roofers and shinglers, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics,
glaziers and bricklayers are among some of the trades to be reported in short supply by some
contractors across the province.”
The survey suggested a dichotomy in availability of quality skilled labour between union-
ized and non-unionized contractors. “The majority (57 per cent) of contractors signatory to
trade union labour agreements reported good or very good availability of availability of
skilled trades, while non-union contractors were evenly split on the issue, with an equal pro-
portion (43 percent) reporting poor or very poor as good or very good availabity of skilled
trades.”
Notably, the survey found that just over half of construction firms (57 per cent) employed
apprentices. “However, the unionized segment of the industry clearly represents the back-
bone of Ontario’s apprenticeship system with 80 per cent of unionized contractors employing
apprentices compared to only 48 per cent on non-union firms.”
A comprehensive report of survey findings is available at http://www.iciconstruction.com.
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