Recent Articles

“Big potholes. Small potholes. Potholes that lead to road closures. Potholes that keep Ken Krcel on high alert, particularly in the spring and even more so now amid climate change, because the deep freeze that used to take hold of the north in November and not release its grip until April is now often marked by mid-winter warm spells that heap more pothole-generating stress upon an already aging road network.”

Click here to read this article from the Financial Post.

We have a problem at Lumsden Beach Camp (LBC) – we badly need a new dining hall.
Let us explain.
At LBC, we proudly welcome and celebrate everyone, no matter their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. This inclusivity is a big part of why campers come back year after year, and why our camp continues to grow. While this growth is exciting, it also highlights our problem: our 70-year-old dining hall simply cannot hold everyone anymore,and the building has reached its structural maturity.

Support LBC’s Heart and Soul
Eating is more than just fueling up, and this is especially true at summer Lumsden Beach Camp. Campers sit family style, passing bread and building community. Meals are prepared to be healthy, delicious, and to please discerning young palates. Many camp traditions and events are food-focused, which has led to the dining hall being the center of camp life.

The LBC dining hall often fills with singing and silliness while life-long friendships are made over shared meals. Our dining hall feeds more than hungry little campers – it feeds friendships.
The LBC dining hall truly is the heart and soul of our camp. Your gift to this project helps this new building become reality. 

The agenda for Rock to Road’s upcoming Quarry Tech educational forum in Calgary on Oct. 18 is now available for viewing online.

Topics to date include:

• Maximizing cone crusher performance
• Getting the most out of your screen lifecycles
• A look at one of Lafarge Canada’s comprehensive groundwater monitoring operations
• Executive-level quarry operations visibility
• High-frequency and multi-frequency screens
• An update on the Community Aggregate Payment Levy in Alberta
• Mobile crushing
• Supply Chain Outlook for 2023

There will also be a special session from keynote speaker Lawrence Aimoe on creating meaningful consultation with First Nations communities.

You can check out the detailed agenda at www.quarrytech.ca.

What is Quarry Tech?

Quarry Tech is a one-day workshop focused on the latest technologies designed for optimizing quarry and pit operations. 

This one-day event, exclusively for quarry and pit owners and operators, will offer attendees case studies and panel sessions presented by industry experts covering a wide variety of topics.

Seats are limited so register now!

For more information, visit www.quarrytech.ca.

The Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC) has completed a robust development/review process of four documents, and has now approached the Canadian Construction Association for an endorsement of: 

• CCDC 4 – “Unit Price Contract”
• CCDC 16 – “A Guide to Changes in the Contract” – NEW
• CCDC 18 – “Civil Works Contract”
• CCDC 20 – “A Guide to Construction Administration”

As valued members and colleagues, we invite you to identify any potential risks for general and trade contractors in these proposed industry standard documents. Your comments will be considered prior to the documents being sent to the CCA Board of Directors for their endorsement. Please email info@ccdc.org to receive a copy for your review. We ask that feedback be provided no later than Oct. 7, 2022.

The WCR&HCA Stronger Together Conference is taking place in beautiful Waikiki at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort from Feb. 5–9, 2023.

Don’t miss these incredible keynote speakers!

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For more information about the Stronger Together conference – including the conference program and registration – visit the event website.

As 2022 continues to move ahead, one word keeps popping up again and again as businesses and households review their finances: inflation.

As costs increase, everyone is having to find ways to make ends meet. What that means for our industry has been calculated in an economic impact analysis done for the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association.

That analysis found that the industry is expected to face a further $426.7 million in new costs. The analysis looks at what that would mean for the profitability of the industry. It finds the industry profits $670 million per year on sales of $9 billion. Subtract $426.7 million in new costs and profits are squeezed to $243.4 million.

Knowing that profits are not distributed uniformly among all companies in the industry, reducing an industry’s profits by more than half would be too difficult for some companies to survive. It would also mean far fewer jobs in the industry as employment numbers could drop by more than half. 

One of those additional costs that our members face is an increase in the price of diesel. That increase in fuel has been difficult for many of our members under the existing contracts they have with the Ministry of Highways. 

You might recall that in July, I said in my President’s Message in The Interchange that we were discussing this situation with the Ministry of Highways. Seeing that the increase in fuel was estimated by the ministry to be around 69 per cent, it was important that we find a way to resolve the issue. 

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Highways presented our association with some proposed adjustments to the fuel escalation clause. 

The ministry had proposed expanding the scope to include additional types of work. It is also looking at the consumption rate and applying the existing consumption rates more broadly in some areas of work. It is looking at better options to address fuel consumption for haul. Then, there is payment. The ministry is using a monthly adjustment to apply interim adjustments in advance of a final calculation.

Our industry has reviewed the proposal and several SHCA members provided additional improvements they would like to see beyond what the ministry has proposed.  

We provided actual figures and examples of how the industry has been impacted by the price of diesel fuel escalating. We asked for compensation for our members that currently provide asphalt concrete products that go into making the binder materials for crushing, micro-surfacing, paving and more. Then, there are the various types of work that also consume diesel fuel that the ministry didn’t include in its presentation, such as rock excavation and hauling used for dirt excavation. 

We have been working with the ministry on revising the industry consumption rates to reflect more realistic figures. It should be reasonable and fair to both industry and government. 

The result of all that work is that there have been updates that will be included in fall tenders. Look for updates to the specifications for bid requirements and conditions, measurement and payment (which includes details on payment for extra work, partial payments, final payments and diesel fuel adjustments) and site occupancy, which will be incorporated into all contracts with a tender close date of Sept. 19 or later.

Also, a dating error has been corrected in the Weekly Diesel Fuel Prices document and the payment schedule has been changed to monthly instead of at the completion of each phase of the project. All of this should help contractors with their cash flow. 

Having this situation addressed by the provincial government was important and I am pleased we have been able to make this progress. 

I must say that I have enjoyed getting to know the new Minister of Highways, Jeremy Cockrill, who moved into the role in May. I appreciate the interest he has in getting to know the industry, its pressures and successes as well as its people. 

I appreciate all of you who contributed input so that we could provide the government accurate and meaningful information so your need could be addressed.