PAGE OCR 2 – September 2009 – The Ontario Construction Report
Merit OpenShop Contractors Association
College of Trades: A bureaucratic, flawed concept
DAVID McDONALD
Toronto in 1990. Our main can visit our website can represent the Voice of
– Chair, Merit OpenShop Contractors Association of Ontario
goal was to restore and pro- www.openshop.ca to re- Labour and the Liberals are
tect fair and open tendering view our comments on their allies, the employee
Merit OpenShop Con- early 90’s after Union-only on public tenders paid for why the process of imple- members will be from the
tractors Association was bidding restrictions were in- by the taxes of everyone. mentation is flawed and Trades giving them effec-
originally founded in the troduced in the City of As we have grown, we why the details of the model tive control of the Con-
have evolved into an organ- are questionable. For this struction division of the
ization that has taken on the column, I would like to College. However,
role of protecting open shop make a few points on why StatsCan figures consis-
industry interests on many the whole College concept tently show that union em-
David MdDonald
other issues. A classic ex- is flawed in relation to Con- ployees are less than a third
ample of this is the Liberal struction Trades. of all Ontario construction Colleges all deal directly
government’s current initia- In looking at the model employees. with the public or the client
tive to create a new bureau- of all other Colleges it is Perhaps the most absurd in one-to-one relationships.
cracy called the College of easy to see that the CoT aspect of the CoT initiative Just think of the best ex-
Trades (CoT). Everyone in- simply does not fit. All is that other Colleges were amples of true Colleges
volved in construction other Colleges are elected not set up to promote the such as those for doctors,
should pay attention to this and are democratic organi- members’ status and num- engineers, lawyers etc.,
issue because we believe it zations. The proposed CoT bers but to protect the mem- who are all subject to mal-
is a disaster in the making. has three different levels of bers interest from liability practice suits and that, is
The government claims Boards, whose members are and many actually are a hin- why these Colleges exist.
the CoT is being created to all appointed by a Govern- drance to recruitment, inno- Now think of all the stories
enhance the status and pro- ment selected panel. The vation, and flexibility. about immigrant Doctors,
mote all trades in the CoT will be a creature of Colleges were set up be- Engineers and Lawyers
Province, so as to recruit Government. cause the members have who are driving cabs and
workers in anticipation of In all Colleges, there is high risks and liabilities in understand that a College
projected labour shortages no differentiation between the practice of their profes- for Trades would be a bar-
in the next 10 plus years. employer and employee sion and therefore want to rier to recruitment. Are con-
This seemingly noble whereas the CoT will be establish both high stan- struction workers going to
goal to create a College on a composed of Boards with dards of training and codes be disciplined for whistling
similar model to the Teach- equal representation of em- of ethics to protect then at a woman on the street?
ers College or College of ployee and employer mem- from legal action. Are the Building Trades
Physicians is however a bers. Since the Building The core source of the going to accept responsibil-
ridiculous boondoggle. You Trades insist that only they liability is that Members of ity for a leaking pipe or
crooked shelf and repair
mistakes on their own time?
The whole concept is mis-
guided.
So why is it being done?
For the answer one need
only go back to the begin-
ning of the initiative which
was the Liberals calling for
a Report on the issue of
Compulsory Trades, some-
thing the building trades
would like for all Construc-
Tree planting is a simple, immediate and effective way to
tion Trades. That is what we
counter the effects of greenhouse gas production.
believe this is all about and
It also makes Canada a healthier place to live, work and play.
from the process to date
Contact TREE Canada to learn about greening your street
have little reason to doubt
and local schoolyard.
it. Keep yourself informed
and follow the issue. The
CoT Bill will be going to
Legislative Committee in
September and deputations
will be made.
A winner of the Canadian Environmental Award (2007), Tree Canada
engages Canadians to support the planting of trees, the greening of
schoolyards, and the maintenance of our urban forests. To date, more Merit OpenShop Con-
than 76 million trees have been planted, more than 450 schoolyards have
been greened, and Tree Canada has organized 8 national urban forest
tractors Association is the
conferences.
Ontario association for
open shop construction
companies. We are part of
Merit Canada, the national
open shop construction as-
sociation. For more infor-
Ontario Construction Report and our advertisers support
mation on our services for
environmentally responsible practices. We have arranged with Tree Members, please visit our
Canada to plant a tree for every advertisement in each issue of website www.openshop.ca
OCR – the net result of this initiative is that approximately eight
or call 1-888-303-9878.
trees are planted for each tree consumed in printing our
newspapers. Further information about Tree Canada is available at
http://www.treecanada.ca
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