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Finance committee Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank you and committee members for providing the Canadian Construction Association with the opportunity to appear before you today. Our association represents the non-residential side of the construction industry. We build Canada's infrastructure. We have an integrated membership structure of some 70 local and provincial associations from coast to coast to coast in Canada, with a membership of just over 17,000 member firms, over 95% of which are small and medium-sized businesses.
October 17th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee First of all, there is immigration reform, and I think there have been some positive steps in that area right away. There is no question that, despite our best efforts at home, we will still need to look for foreign-trained workers—if not to do anything more than act as journeypersons to train our domestic apprentices.
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee It helps. Whether it's a panacea or can, on its own, address the kinds of shortages we're looking at, I don't believe so. In many cases those individuals who are looking for that retraining or re-employment are middle aged. In those circumstances, because of some of the job requirements—including travelling to remote areas and, in some cases, having to be in good physical shape, etc.
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee May I respond to that?
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee We have shortages. We would love to be able to fill all of our needs domestically, but we can't right now and it's simple math. When we have a fertility rate of 1.58, we are losing our labour pool quickly. The other important thing to stress here is that this is not cyclical for our industry.
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee My quick response is, absolutely.
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee One problem we see all the time, which was also mentioned in the earlier session, is that there doesn't seem to be the streaming that used to go on. Way back when I went to high school, there was a place where people could be nurtured and introduced to the trades through shop and technical colleges, which was what I think they were called then.
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee Maybe I could start quickly. One thing that we ran into, even 7 or 8 years ago, when trying to get into the junior highs, was an initial resistance to our industry’s coming in on career day to talk to kids. The attitude was: “What are you doing coming in here? All our kids are going to university.”
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee Some of our local construction associations run youth employment programs. Some people might call them pre-apprenticeship programs. If my memory is correct the one in Calgary, for example, run by the Calgary Construction Association with employers is for kids who have dropped out or have no other place to turn.
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Human Resources committee Mr. Chair, the Canadian Construction Association would like to thank you for the opportunity to present here today. Our organization represents the non-residential sector of the construction industry, so we build everything except single-family dwellings. We build Canada's infrastructure.
May 16th, 2012Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Environment committee In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the Canadian Construction Association strongly suggests that the committee propose significant changes to federal environmental assessment by recommending that the Government of Canada adopt a leadership position in establishing a national framework for environmental assessment that minimizes duplication and assures “one project, one assessment”.
November 15th, 2011Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson
Environment committee Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be giving most of my time to Mr. Barnes. Good morning, and thank you very much for the invitation to appear. My name is Michael Atkinson. I'm the president of the Canadian Construction Association. I'm accompanied today by Mr. Jeff Barnes, who is a senior principal with Stantec Consulting Inc., a member of our association.
November 15th, 2011Committee meeting
Michael Atkinson