Download Southeast College’s 2022 Industry and Safety Training Calendar and stay up-to-date on various programs offered at Southeast College’s locations across the province, including CPR/First Aid, Confined Space, Ground Disturbance, Fall Arrest and more.
SHCA Annual Convention – Book Your Hotel Rooms
The SHCA Annual Convention is taking place April 7–8, 2022, at the Delta Hotels Bessborough in Saskatoon.
SHCA members are encouraged to book their room at the Delta Hotels Bessborough as soon as possible; SHCA has secured a special room rate of $154 per night.
Members need to book their room before March 7, 2022.
Book your group rate for the annual Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association Convention.
Sponsorships are also available – contact Jennie Avram for more information.
President’s Message – Upcoming Events in April
While there is still plenty of snow on the ground this month, it won’t be long before it has melted away and another busy road construction season is here.
Between now and then, there are some back-to-back April events I’d like to invite you to join. One is through a brand-new partnership that the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association has formed and another is a tradition I look forward to continuing this year.
The first event I’d like to invite you to is possible because of a partnership that has been developed between SHCA and the Asphalt Institute, an association that promotes the safe use, benefits and quality performance of petroleum asphalts. The Asphalt Institute describes itself as the international trade association of petroleum asphalt producers, manufacturers and affiliated businesses. One of its areas of strategic focus is to support its members with technical leadership and educational expertise.
Through this partnership, a training session for Pavement Inspection Certification will be taking place April 6–7. The course will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
These 16 hours of instruction will provide valuable information that will help owners and employees understand how to construct high-quality asphalt pavement by ensuring that every stage of the operation includes effective inspections.
This training would be useful to new employees who are learning the basics of asphalt construction and the inspection duties that are part of it, so as you are hiring for this upcoming construction season, keep this opportunity in mind for those people.
The certification will also be beneficial for those with more road construction experience to review their knowledge of all aspects of asphalt materials and paving. Employers who have their staff take this training can be assured that those doing asphalt inspection for them have proven their competency to do these duties so the pavement they construct is high-performing.
The course will be open to members and non-members who wish to receive the certification. It is a great opportunity for contractors to elevate their staff’s knowledge and skills as well as for consultants and Ministry of Highways employees inspecting paving projects across the province to raise the standard and quality of our pavements. It’s my hope that more training sessions like this can be offered in the future.
Then, a few hours after the course wraps up, the SHCA convention festivities will kick off at 6 p.m. with a welcome reception.
Over the two days of the convention at the Delta Bessborough Hotel and Convention Center in Saskatoon, we will be hearing from two wonderful speakers, Darci Lang and retired Colonel Mark Gasparotto.
Darci will bring her message of “Focus on the 90%” to help others find the positives at work, rise above adversity and triumph in their lives.
Meanwhile, Mark is passionate about self-reflection and personal development. He emphasizes results, teamwork and effective communications, which is how he was able to elevate to the upper ranks of the Canadian Armed Forces.
And since the event is being held in the spring, which is when SHCA’s annual general meeting is typically held, these two events will be combined. Finally, the convention will wrap up with the Chairman’s Banquet.
Details about registering for both the training and the convention will be sent out the week of Feb. 13–19.The deadline for booking hotel rooms is March 7, so make your plans soon to join us in Saskatoon. I look forward to seeing you there!
SHCA Equipment Rental Rates Guide & Membership Roster: Last chance to reserve your ad space!
The deadline to reserve advertising space in the 2022 SHCA Equipment Rental Rates Guide & Membership Roster is quickly approaching.
Click here to download the 2022 Media Kit and assess your company’s options to advertise in this exclusive annual tool for SHCA members. [link to kit]
In addition to advertising in the SHCA Equipment Rental Rates Guide & membership Roster, plan the rest of your 2022 marketing to SHCA members and stakeholders. Review the media kit and contact a sales representative today to confirm your placements or to request additional information.
Western Canada Trade Gateway Initiative Picks Up Support
A new report out of Export Development Canada on the country’s potential for market growth in China adds urgency to the Western Canada Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association (WCR&HCA)’s call for the federal government to ramp up funding for trade-enabling infrastructure, the WCR&HCA board heard Dec. 9.
The WCR&HCA is working with federal and regional partners to promote the initiative that is premised on pressing the federal government to substantially increase investment within the National Trade Corridors Fund, which was announced at $1.9 billion in 2021’s budget.
Anything less than a $10 billion federal contribution would be inadequate to task, WCR&HCA president Chris Lorenc says, to attend to the regional corridors in the West and across Canada that need attention, not just coastal or Eastern Canadian ports.
The update to the WCR&HCA follows the circulation of a report on the need for recapitalization of the federal Trade Corridor Fund, which sits at $1.9 billion. The report summarizes a roundtable discussion, co-hosted by Export Development Canada (EDC), the WCR&HCA and the Canadian Construction Association (CCA), among regional and national stakeholder organizations Sept. 8.
Two panelists of the roundtable, EDC vice-president and chief economist Peter Hall, noted that Canada has to significantly boost its efforts to diversify its trade markets, not just to alleviate reliance on the United States, but to take advantage of growing middle-class demand in under-developed export markets.
Western Canada is a region with access to west coast ports is indispensable to Canada’s trade profile and productivity and, therefore, its economic health and prosperity. With CP’s pending acquisition of KCS and KCSM, the continent of North America is also very much in play for market growth.
“Today, the United States is the primary customer for Canadian products, accounting for about 75 per cent of all merchandise exports. Unlike Asia, the U.S and other traditional export markets are already quite mature, with demographics that are not favourable to high future growth that matches the scale in the Asian markets,” the report says, summarizing Hall’s comments.
“While China represents only five per cent of Canada’s current trade, if the growth rate seen over the last two decades holds, it will surpass the U.S. as the top destination for Canadian goods by 2048. And if Canada can achieve even just half of Australia’s market share for Chinese imports… the point at which China becomes our top destination could be reached much faster – by 2036.”
Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, says there is huge potential for expanding trade into Asia, particularly China. He cautions, however, that strengthening ties to China brings risk, noting the severe sanctions China has imposed on Australia.
Australia is among the countries concerned about the use of Huawei Technologies and expressed concerns about the limited access to potential sources of the COVID-19 virus during investigations in China.
Food products make up 31 per cent of Canada’s exports to China, so “there is an opportunity to diversify into other areas, such as energy and manufacturing, where Canada lags behind other countries,” the report says, summarizing Saint-Jacques.
“To capitalize on these and other market opportunities, Canada must build the infrastructure required to bring Canadian products to tidewater.”
The need for reliable trade infrastructure was not lost on the federal government, in its financial update presented Dec. 15.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that supply chain problems, including port congestion, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will trigger $50 million in special support for Canada’s ports, to be drawn out of the $1.9 billion National Trade Corridors Fund.
More detail is to come on what criteria such proposals will need to meet.
Lorenc says the perspective must be much wider, because the trade network across the West needs attention.
The WCR&HCA is working with the CCA, Business Council of Canada, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and the Canada West Foundation in its strategy to put the WCTG&CI on the agenda of Canada’s premiers, provincial governments, federal MPs and ministers.
The proposed Western Canada Trade Gateway & Corridor Initiative aims to boost domestic, continental and international trade, particularly in Asia, through a multi-year national program that brings both public and private investments to Western Canada’s multi-modal trade transportation network. That includes investments in existing trade gateways and corridors, plus the long-term build-out of new marine and inland ports as well as road, rail and air transportation assets that will support the freight and passenger flows required for international trade.
How Inclusive is Your Engineering Workplace?
Research shows many companies are struggling to ensure women are represented fairly in top management and in retention numbers. Progress toward gender parity remains slow and the engineering profession is one of the few licensed professions where men continue to vastly outnumber women.
Engineers Canada’s 30 by 30 is a collaborative national initiative to increase the number of women in the engineering profession.
Read more about what employers can do to diversify their teams on Engineers Canada’s website.
Please Pay ASAP – Saskatchewan’s Prompt Payment Legislation
The Government of Saskatchewan has announced that the Builders’ Lien (Prompt Payment) Amendment Act, 2019 (the “Act”) will be proclaimed into force on March 1, 2022.
Click here to read about the purpose of the act as well as its key features and takeaways from the legal experts at Miller Thomson