In national news, union leaders, opposition MPs and advocates for Canada’s steel producers have raised concerns about the potential use of raw materials produced outside North America in the construction of an international bridge financed almost entirely by the federal government of Canada.
In Ontario, Ottawa contractors working on municipal projects are reportedly struggling to comply with the city’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. Contractors are required to attest that all workers on municipal projects are vaccinated, but an unknown number of workers have refused to receive a vaccination, and their employers have consequently not been able to make the requisite attestation. Faced with a repeated choice between incurring construction delay and waiving the attestation, the municipal government has apparently consistently chosen the latter.
In Ontario, the provincial government has proposed legislation to require all construction sites to have naloxone kits onsite, a policy proposed by the Ontario Construction Consortium last year as part of a campaign to address opioid overdoses within the construction industry – of employed Ontarians who died of a drug overdose in 2020, 30% were construction workers. It is unclear how many of these overdose deaths occurred on job sites.
In B.C., Chris Gardner, the president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, has published a scathing critique of Bill 4, a recently introduced piece of provincial legislation that further regulates the training pipeline of skilled trades in B.C. Gardner believes that Bill 4 further congests an already overwhelmed apprenticeship model, when what is required is more training opportunities, e.g. opening more trade schools.
In Alberta, the provincial government has passed the Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act, which will come into force on August 29. Among its many significant refinements to the payment and lien regime in Alberta, this legislation introduces a 28-day timeline for owners to pay invoices from contractors and subcontractors, who are in turn required to pay their own subcontractors within 7 calendar days of receiving payment from the owner.
In Nova Scotia, ReNew Canada has published an interview with Public Works Minister Kim Masland, who made major announcements in 2021 aimed toward building resilient infrastructure, including doubling the Gravel Road Capital and Rural Impact Mitigation budget.