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This Week in Construction Law: March 7 – 11, 2022

In Ontario, Toronto is mandating pre-application consultation for official plan amendments, zoning bylaw amendments, site plan approval, and plan of subdivision applications. The new mandate will come into effect November 1, 2022.

In Ontario, Ontario Construction News has published an interview with the vice-president of finance of Ottawa-based McDonald Brothers Construction. The interview covers the company’s approach to the labour shortage in the skilled trades, including upskilling incumbent workers and taking advantage of government-sponsored training programs.

In B.C., residents of Richmond claim that affordable housing is difficult to find despite a construction boom in the area. The issue appears to be the prevalence of private condos among the new builds and a dearth of purpose-built rentals. Discussion and resolution of the issue is apparently plagued by a lack of reliable data, e.g. the city counting housing starts that are not yet complete in its estimates of available stock.

In commentary, Andrew Punzo and Evan Ivkovic discuss lien lawsuits and breach of trust claims in the context of the Damasio Drywall Inc. v. 2444825 Ontario Limited decision from the Ontario Superior Court in 2021. The decision is the first in Ontario to clarify the law in relation to the removal of the breach of trust joinder provision from the Construction Act.

In commentary, Don Wall discusses the statistics on women in the trades in Canada, which indicates a “minimal uptick” over the past three years, and summarizes practicable solutions to a seemingly intractable problem, including enforceable workforce targets and programs aimed at connecting young women with training and work in the trades.

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