LATEST NEWS 
January 12, 2012
Efficiency is Ontario trades college goal
Ontario’s current apprenticeship system has failed the province’s youth, says the Ontario College of Trades new chair.
“It’s completely mismanaged, overstaffed, overspent and tapped all the resources possible to deliver an apprenticeship system that has failed Ontario’s youth,” said Chair of the Board of Governors for the College, Ron Johnson, Deputy Director of Interior Systems Contractors Association of Ontario and the Interior Finishing Systems Training Centre.
The College was legislated in 2009 to oversee the governance of the apprenticeship training system in Ontario, promote careers in the skilled trades and review compulsory certification and ratios. The entity was formed in response to one of the recommendations made in the 2008 Compulsory Certification Project Review by Tim Armstrong.
Johnson said taking the responsibility of trades training from the government and becoming a self-governing body will be a boost for the trades.
“The Ministry’s fallen down, quite frankly, over time,” he said.
“We see this as a really good opportunity for the College to get out there in front of Ontario’s youth and to promote the value of skilled trades. It’s an exciting part of our mandate, and I think it’s one of our most important.”
Johnson added that the College is in the middle of developing a marketing and communications plan to promote the trades to young people and that plan will be going forward to the board in 2012.
The College will have several hundred thousand members and will be the largest self-regulatory body in North America.
“It’ll be a fraction of the size of the bureaucracy for apprenticeship that was being contained within the Ministry. I think we will be efficient; I think we’ll be able to react quickly to changing technologies in terms of curriculum development. “
The College is currently working on many logistical details to get it up and running such as hiring human resources staff and putting out a request for proposals for membership software.
Current short-term funding for the College is being provided by Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Johnson said the expectation is that College will become self-funded in 2013. Membership fees will be determined by the Board of Governors, but have not been set yet.
Rough figures indicate that once the College is operational, there will be approximately 100 to 150 staff members though enforcement could increase staff levels.
Johnson said the growth will ultimately be determined by logistical details such as the size, scope and different classes of the membership.
Bob Guthrie, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the College, will become permanent in January. Guthrie is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission. He has nearly 30 years of experience working with trades and apprenticeship, as well as an extensive knowledge of industry standards and labour market needs.
Johnson said the 21 members of the Board of Governors work well together and they have backgrounds in various trades, union and non union, employers and employees and bring geographical diversity.
“I know there has been some out there that are upset at maybe the lack of representation that their specific trade may have, I understand that, the reality is that we couldn’t have 157 members of the board of governors,” he said.
“Once the trades community in general gets to know the Board of Governors, they’re going to be pleased with what they see.”
VIDEO: Journal of Commerce Weekly Update May 21, 2012
In this week's preview of the upcoming stories we’re coving at the Journal of Commerce, editor Bradley Fehr covers topics such as how the boom in the Albert a oil sands is leading to companies stockpiling aggregate.
VIDEO: Highlights from the May 18 Daily Commercial News
EllisDon Corp. is about to start construction on a performing arts centre at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, while critics are taking issue with the new classes of membership by the Ontario College of Trades. Find out more in the May 18 Daily Commercial News.
VIDEO: Common ladder safety errors in construction
Bruce Bolduc, owner of Construction Workplace Safety Training Ltd., recently gave a seminar near Toronto on ladder safety in construction. He talked about some of the common errors with ladder use, such as overextending and overloading ladders, and a new Ontario Ministry of Labour position paper.
VIDEO: Highlights from the May 17 Daily Commercial News
The May 17 issue of the Daily Commercial News has reaction from Merit Canada and labour groups to Bill C-377, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (labour organizations), which is currently before the House of Commons finance committee.
Where does labour law stand on ladder safety?
The Ontario Ministry of Labour recently issued a new position paper on the use of ladders in construction, and workplace safety experts warn employers need to train their workers and assess their sites for risk.
Ontario Technological Skills Competition in Waterloo a “pressure cooker”
1,900 students from across Ontario competed in 63 career fields at the 23rd annual Ontario Technological Skills Competition (OTSC) in RIM Park and Manulife Sportsplex in Waterloo. Most gold medal winners will advance to the Skills Canada National Competition in Edmonton May 13 to 16. Winners will form Team Canada to participate in the 2013 WorldSkills International Competition in Leipzig, Germany.
VIDEO: BC Hydro's massive "Regeneration" initiative
In 2011, BC Hydro announced their "Regeneration" initiative, an effort to overhaul the province’s aging infrastructure in order to meet substantially higher energy demands in the coming decades.
VIDEO: Journal of Commerce Weekly Update May 14th, 2012
In this week's preview of the upcoming stories we're covering in the Journal of Commerce, Editor Bradley Fehr talks about our upcoming Energy feature, which highlights electrical and oil and gas projects across western Canada.
VIDEO: Canstruction 2012 in Vancouver
Every year architects, engineers, students and many others take simple canned foods and turn them into amazing structures and works of art for Canstruction.
