January 24, 2012

College of Trades

Ontario College of Trades chair meets with construction industry groups

KELLY LAPOINTE

staff writer

The chair of the Ontario College of Trades’ governors board recently met with members of a coalition of construction stakeholders that once called for the complete overhaul or abolition of the College.

College chair Ron Johnson, Deputy Director of Interior Systems Contractors Association of Ontario and the Interior Finishing Systems Training Centre, said he regularly meets with stakeholder groups to keep them apprised of the College’s growth.

This was the first time Johnson and the coalition sat down to discuss the College.

“I’m in the process of meeting with as many stakeholder organizations as I can. It is part of a general outreach program that I’ve embarked on to try and keep everybody in the loop as to what the College is doing,” he said.

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.

The coalition’s chief complaints about the College, in fall 2011, were its governance structure and an apparent lack of openness and transparency concerning issues like compulsory certification and determination of apprentice to journeyman ratios.

In a December interview with the Daily Commercial News, Johnson acknowledged that there was a lack of openness with the College prior to his appointment as chair and that of Bob Guthrie, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission, as Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the College.

Johnson had said the first few months of 2012 would see a “significant turnaround” in the overall view of the College.

The coalition consists of various construction employer associations throughout Ontario, including the Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA).

David Frame, Director of Government Relations, OGCA, said the recent meeting allowed the coalition to voice some of its concerns and it appears that both sides were beginning to build a discussion.

“It’s always a positive step when you get together and have discussions like this,” he said.

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Johnson said the College’s governors board recently met and he indicated that an update on the College will be released to the public in the coming weeks.

The College will deal with trades issues facing four sectors: construction, industrial, motive power and service.

For more information visit the College website at www.collegeoftrades.ca

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