SHARING YOUR VISION. BUILDING SUCCESS. Humber River Hospital, Toronto ON 2015 Dan Schwalm/HDR Architecture, Inc. We are Canada’s construction leaders. We look beyond your immediate needs to see the bigger picture, provide solutions, and ensure that we exceed your expectations. PCL is the proud builder of Canada’s landmark projects. Watch us build at PCL.com Message from Vince Versace, National Managing Editor, ConstructConnect 4 East and West connected by rail 6 On the road: the Trans-Canada Highway – Canada’s main street 21 Chinese workers integral in building Canada’s first megaproject 24 Canada’s most transformational project, the building The CN Tower: Canada’s iconic tower 53 of the Canadian Pacific Railway. From the ground up: building Canada’s parliamentary precinct 56 CanaData Canada’s Economy on Mend, but Don’t Uncork the Champagne Just Yet 14 Fighting the Fiction that Prospects are Nothing but Rosy in Western Canada 26 In Eastern Canada, Quebec is Winning the Accolades 60 Canada’s Top 50 Leaders in Construction 5 Leaders in Construction – Western Canada 28 Leaders in Construction – Eastern Canada 62 Advertisers’ Index 90 www.constructconnect.com Publishers of Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce Construction Record 101-4299 Canada Way 3760 14th Avenue, 6th Floor Burnaby, British Columbia Markham, Ontario L3R 3T7 V5G 1H3 Phone: (905) 752-5408 Phone: (604) 433-8164 Fax: (905) 752-5450 Fax: (604) 433-9549 www.dailycommercialnews.com www.journalofcommerce.com CanaData www.canadata.com Mark Casaletto, President John Richardson, Vice President of Customer Relations Peter Rigakos, Vice President of Sales Marg Edwards, Vice President of Content Alex Carrick, Chief Economist, CanaData Vince Versace, National Managing Editor Mary Kikic, Lead Designer Erich Falkenberg, National Production Manager Kristin Cooper, Manager, Data Operations Copyright © 2017 ConstructConnect™. International Standard Serial Number ISSN 1916-1611 Melinda Rideout, Research Supervisor Right of publication in whole or in part of original The Leaders, Volume 11 construction and engineering items appearing in this www.leadersinconstruction.ca magazine is reserved. Vince Versace National Managing Editor, ConstructConnect The catchphrase “True North strong and free” is synonymous with Canada and the foundation of its strength, coast to coast to coast, can be attributed in many ways to contributions from the construction industry. The year 2017 marks Canada’s 150th anniversary as a nation The CN Tower, standing at its majestic, sky-piercing 1,815 and to celebrate this sesquicentennial the Daily Commercial News feet, becomes commonplace when you are in downtown and the Journal of Commerce generated a special editorial feature Toronto long enough. We decided to look at it closely and con- series called Building Canada 150. This five-part, year-long series, sider the engineering and construction marvel it is. The tower looked at the integral role Canada’s construction industry has would cost roughly $325 million in today’s dollars (accounting played in building the country. From iconic projects to those that for only inflation) to build. The project cost when it opened transformed Canada’s massive landscape, linking communities, in 1976 was $63 million. It contains 40,500 cubic metres of cities and natural wonders, this series was a milestone initiative concrete, almost 5,100 tonnes of steel and employed more than created by ConstructConnect’s two premier heritage construction 1,500 workers during its construction. industry publications. Ottawa’s Parliament Buildings and surrounding government This year’s The Leaders 2017 is a commemorative edition precinct is an everlasting symbol of national pride. These build- packed with the most significant stories we generated during ings are a Victorian gothic revival gem that easily stand up against Building Canada 150. On this year’s cover you see a CP train other worldwide national capital buildings. Ground broke on this rolling along a track in a maple leaf. Our top story from the series project in late 1859 on a site situated at the top of a cliff in down- is about building the CPR railroad, Canada’s first true megapro- town Ottawa overlooking the Ottawa River. Today, through the ject, which not only physically linked a young nation but also skills of architects and trades workers, its’ elegant and powerful transformed its prospects for growth and success. beauty is maintained and revived for generations to come. The first of our western section stories in this year’s Leaders is Once again this year’s Leaders also delivers our national, about construction of the Trans-Canada Highway, another trans- eastern and western construction industry forecasts powered formational megaproject which linked communities and stretches by CanaData. These forecasts provide the pivotal intelligence across Canada’s varied and challenging landscape. The ‘Mile 0’ industry stakeholders need in order to operate in Canada’s marker for Canada’s great highway is in Victoria, B.C. The second evolving construction industry landscape. story in this section explores the sacrifice and hard work of thou- In closing, when you look at Canada from a strictly bricks sands of Chinese labourers in helping build the CPR railroad. The and mortar perspective, the vision, determination and skill story of these migrant workers during construction of this first to make this nation a reality is impressive. Our Leaders 2017 vital nationwide link is one well worth commemorating. stories are not just about the legacy these projects left for Cana- Our eastern section in this year’s Leaders is dominated by the dians to celebrate, they are also emblematic of determined con- two most iconic projects, according to our reader polls, that have struction, engineering excellence and nation building. We hope been built in Canada — the CN Tower in Toronto and Ottawa’s you enjoy reading them as much as we did creating them. Parliament Buildings. True North strong and free forever. Happy Birthday Canada. DE A R DE E S A R E S ADER L E S L L C A N N A I O C 2017 T D C NATIONAL ConstructConnect The Leaders 2017 5 A A ’S U N B T R N ES T I N CO N S C A I O D 2017 T A N A C N 2017 O ’S U A I B S T R D C T E S T IN CO N A’ U S B T R EST IN CO N S 1 PCL Construction Inc. 26 Maple Reinders Group Ltd. 2 EllisDon Corporation 27 R.W. Tomlinson Ltd. 3 Aecon Group Inc. 28 Dufferin Construction Company 4 Ledcor Group of Companies 29 Melloul-Blamey Construction Inc. 5 SNC-Lavalin Inc. 30 Kenaidan Contracting Ltd. 6 Mattamy Homes Ltd. 31 Nexrock Design Build 7 Carillion Canada Inc. 32 NorLand Limited 8 Graham Group Ltd. 33 Delnor Construction Ltd. 9 Graham Bros. Construction Ltd. 34 Traugott Building Contractors Inc. 10 Kiewit Canada Corp. 35 Polygon Construction Management Ltd. 11 Bird Construction 36 Dawson Wallace Construction Ltd. 12 Flatiron Constructors Canada Ltd. 37 Marco Group of Companies 13 Clark Builders 38 Manshield Construction Group of Companies 14 Stuart Olson Inc. 39 The Conservatory Group 15 Bondfield Construction Company Ltd. 40 Primont Homes 16 EBC Inc. 41 FRAM Building Group 17 Transelec / Common Inc. (TCI) 42 Tricar Developments Inc. 18 Pomerleau Inc. 43 Dexter Construction 19 Reliance Construction Group 44 Wright Construction Western Inc. 20 ITC Construction Group 45 LCL Builds Limited 21 ConDrain Group 46 Tucker HiRise Construction 22 Govan Brown & Associates Limited 47 TEQ Entreprise de Construction Inc. 23 Minto Developments Inc. 48 D. Grant Construction Limited 24 Chandos Construction Ltd. 49 The Daniels Corp. 25 Deltera Inc. 50 Heatherbrae Builders Co. Ltd. Information was gathered through a comprehensive questionnaire sent to more than 300 construction firms across Canada. Participation in the process was voluntary. *Firms declining to provide revenue information were ranked based upon their associated projects in the ConstructConnect project news database. All other rankings are based on self-reported, 2016 gross revenues from Canadian operations, as verified by company officials. Totals include revenues from all branch operations as supplied to ConstructConnect. To be considered for 2018 rankings, please email [email protected] or call 1-800-387-0213. by DON WALL t was the megaproject to end all megaprojects. University of Toronto historian Bob IBothwell calls construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) from Ontario to the Pacific Ocean from 1881 to 1885 — 3,100 kilometres of new rails to complete a national system 4,100 kilometres long — “the most important building project in Canada’s history, because it secured Canada’s destiny as a nation spanning the continent, Atlantic to Pacific. The CPR was the sine qua non for completing Canadian confederation.” >> WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (TOP) / HERITAGE SERVICES CPR (BOTTOM) Top Photo: Canadian Pacific Railway syndicate member Donald Smith drives the last spike to join the east and west sections of the railway at Craigellachie, B.C. on Nov. 7, 1885. Directly behind Smith, wearing a top hat, is Sandford Fleming, Canada’s engineer-in-chief, and on Fleming’s right is William Van Horne, CPR general manager. Bottom Photo: Construction crew at Rat Portage (Kenora), Ont., winter of 1881-1882. WE’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS TO EARN YOUR TRUST LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA The Mountain Creek Bridge over Beaver Valley at the summit of the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia was 1,084 feet long and 153 feet high. Continued from page 6 Who can disagree? It’s also the most mind-boggling in terms “Imagine, when you see the picture of the last spike on the SERVING COMMUNITIES ACROSS ONTARIO of logistics, the most visionary and no doubt one of the greatest CPR, what would have been the feeling of these guys, who had to adventure tales in our nation’s history.