GDP Tel: 416-675-2280 Read online Office Fax: 416-675-2209 [email protected] Trailer Support ❯ www.mgicorp.ca Alex Carrick dcnonl.com/news/economic 905 450-0500 ABATEMENT • REMEDIATION • DEMOLITION • SITEWORKS thefencepeople.com Daily Commercial News by Construct Connect® OCTOBER 29, 2018 www.dailycommercialnews.com VOL. 91 NO. 208 $5.23 plus HST ALERT! Industry stakeholders chronicle OCOT In the event of a Canada Post strike, you will have access to a digital copy of the Daily Commercial News: www.dailycommercialnews.com/ failures after PCs decide to scrap it issue Today, the Daily Commercial News reports on provisions contained in If you have any questions please Ontario government legislation to repeal the Ontario College of Trades. Rental Towers contact our Customer Relations team Part 2 analysis will study changes to apprenticeship ratios and other busi- at 1-800-959-0502. ness and labour reforms. DON WALL mum wage and undo worker STAFF WRITER benefits and improvements to In Brief eaction among construc- working conditions contained in tion stakeholders to the the Liberals’ Bill 148. Funding cancelled for three Rscrapping of the Ontario The ministers made lim- College of Trades (OCOT) has ited reference to OCOT in their Ontario campus expansions been varied, but they all agree addresses and the statement TORONTO on one thing — OCOT never announcing the new legislation Funding to expand three post-sec- achieved its potential. said, “The legislation, if passed, ondary campuses in Markham, Milton The College, founded by the will also modernize the appren- and Brampton has been cancelled by the former Liberal government to ticeship system by initiating Ontario government. promote and regulate Ontario’s an orderly wind-down of the Merrilee Fullerton, the minister of trades, launched in April 2013 Ontario College of Trades, which training, colleges and universities, says and was beset by problems right remains a source of unnecessary in a news release the province is not in a from the beginning — especially and burdensome complexity for position to fund the expansions because of within the construction sector. skilled trades employment in the its $15 billion deficit. The previous Liberal OCOT was accused of hav- province.” government announced plans to spend ing a bias towards compulsory The College will be terminat- more than $300 million on the projects. trades, of being preoccupied with ed by the end of 2019, the gov- York University and Seneca College its regulatory role and of ineffec- ernment announced. are partners in the project in Markham, tiveness in resolving scopes of “The announcement about Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga practice disputes. the College caught me totally by College formed a partnership in Milton, Premier Rob Ford’s Progres- surprise,” said Ian Cunningham, and the Brampton campus is a partnership sive Conservative government president of the Council of Ontar- between Ryerson University and Sheridan pulled the plug on the College io Construction Associations. College. York and Seneca say construction on Oct. 23 in a move that caught “I thought the College might of their satellite campus was set to begin many construction advocates off have been stripped of responsi- this fall and they are calling the funding guard. bilities with respect to ratios and cancellation an “unexpected decision.” The announcement of the status of trade and enforcement The decision to build the new campus new Making Ontario Open and that it would focus on work- in Markham was approved in May 2015. for Business Act was made at a ing with employers and appren- WILLIAM CONWAY/PROGRESS PHOTOGRAPHY The Ontario government had pledged media conference by the prov- tices and journeymen and con- Floors continue to rise on both rental towers of the Lillian Park $127 million for the project. Its fund- ince’s Minister Responsible for struction associations and unions project in Toronto. The owner is Shiplake Management Company ing commitment meant work could Red Tape and Regulatory Burden on apprenticeship moderniza- and the construction manager is Deltera Inc. The work includes begin developing programs and building Reduction Jim Wilson, Minister tion. Now this will have to con- one 24-storey tower and one 25-storey tower with a total of 564 designs. The schools say Markham and of Labour Laurie Scott and Min- tinue, but I just don’t know where units, underground parking and a daycare facility on the ground York Region have committed land, addi- ister of Training, Colleges and it will continue.” floor. Amenities will include a fitness centre with exercise studio; party rooms; an art gallery; a screening room; a business centre tional funding and planning support for Universities (MTCU) Merrilee Commented John Grimshaw, with collaborative work space; a lap pool; a recreation pool and the new campus. The campus was expect- Fullerton. an executive with the Interna- hot tub; steam rooms and sauna; outdoor park space; barbecue ed to open in the fall of 2021. Besides “winding down” tional Brotherhood of Electrical area; and guest suites. Completion has been scheduled for fall THE CANADIAN PRESS OCOT, the legislation contains Workers, “It certainly doesn’t sur- 2019. The project was designed by Rafael + Bigauskas Archi- provisions to change Ontario’s prise me. It definitely comes from tect, SMV Architects and Kohn Shnier Architects. Consultants apprenticeship system, roll back a Conservative playbook.” are Smith + Andersen – Toronto (mechanical/electrical) and GH3 planned increases to the mini- See IN THE, Pg. 3 (interior and landscape design). BUILDING REPORTS • CENTRAL 4–15 • EASTERN 15–20 • WESTERN 20–24 • NORTHERN 24–25 BIDDERS’ REGISTER 26–35 • CERTIFICATES AND NOTICES 36–40 • MARKETPLACE 39 • ECONOMY AT A GLANCE 2 Publications Mail Agreement 40064512 Upcoming feature November 28, 2018 CONSTRUCTION DIRECTORY ■ 1.800.465.6475 ext.25534 ■ [email protected] ■ sales close Nov 7 AND CONSTRUCTION RECORD Daily Commercial News Daily Commercial C259-18 Page 2 Daily Commercial News October 29, 2018 Economy at a Glance Daily Commercial News Prepared by Alex Carrick, ConstructConnect® Chief Economist AND CONSTRUCTION RECORD 14 mid-September economic nuggets SERVING THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY SINCE 1927 3760 14th Avenue, 6th Floor, Markham, Ontario L3R 3T7 Other reports written by this author over the past (8) Within Canadian manufacturing, the leaders for Phone: (905) 752-5408 • Fax: (905) 752-5450 month have focused on ConstructConnect’s up-to-date capacity utilization rates in Q2 2018 were: paper, 90.0%; www.dailycommercialnews.com starts statistics, persistently taut labour markets and chemical products, 88.0%; transportation equipment, soaring construction material costs, as captured by the 87.6%; wood products, 86.9%; and food, 85.2%. By the Mark Casaletto, President Producer Price Index series. way, StatsCan has assessed that Canada’s construction [email protected] In the background, there’s the ongoing uncertainty sector is currently operating at 93.0% of capacity. When Peter Rigakos, Vice President of Sales about Canada’s participation in a new three-way trade firms are approaching full capacity, appropriate and [email protected] agreement with the U.S. and Mexico. And it’s that time effective long-term planning dictates that they invest in of year when the world of academia comes into full new or additional machinery and equipment and/or, as (905) 752-5547 bloom once again. Alex Carrick in the case of manufacturing, new square footage for Marg Edwards, Vice President of Content In other words, our kids are going back to school. extra production lines. [email protected] Construction forecasts dealing with educational facili- ties are more upbeat for K-12 than for institutions of higher (9) U.S. retail and food services sales continued along a bullish EDITORIAL learning. Adding credence to that argument are the employment path in August, according to the Census Bureau. While total Editorial inquiries: [email protected] numbers for elementary and secondary schools, +3.6% year over spending was +6.6% year over year, part of that outsized increase year, versus jobs with colleges and universities, +1.8%. originated with gasoline stations, +20.3%. It must be remembered, Vince Versace, National Managing Editor But there’s a wealth of other data to pour over for insight into though, that the dollar volume of gas sales is being ‘pumped up’ [email protected] what is transpiring in the U.S. and Canadian economic heartlands. by a major price hike. The gasoline sub-index within the overall (905) 752-5544 Points (1) to (14) below get the ball rolling. Consumer Price Index (CPI) is presently also +20.3%. One might, Lindsey Cole, DCN/JOC Editor therefore, conclude that there has been no ‘real’ or constant-valued [email protected] (1) Some remarkable findings are showcased in the Bureau increase in gasoline sales over the past year. of Labor Statistics (BLS)’s latest Job Openings and Labor Turn- Don Wall, Staff Writer over (JOLTS) report. The collection and publication of monthly (10) Excluding gasoline stations, total U.S. retail and food ser- [email protected] JOLTS data began in 2000, eighteen years ago. In the most recent vices sales in the latest month were +5.5%, an impressive gain. Angela Gismondi, Staff Writer July, both the level (6.939 million) and rate (4.4%) of U.S. total job Setting aside petrol stations, the best-performing sub-categories openings soared to record highs. Furthermore, both are now far within total U.S. retail and food services sales in August, on a year- [email protected] exceeding their previous peaks in 2007. The level of job openings over-year basis, were: non-store retailers (i.e., solely web-based Maggie Cadeau, Editorial Associate in the U.S. economy is higher than the number of individuals who platforms and on-line auction houses), +10.4%; food services and [email protected] are saying (in the monthly household survey) that they are unem- drinking places, +10.1%; clothing and clothing accessories stores, ployed (6.234 million).