Municipal and Industrial Products CORIX Water Products provides quality service and solutions from waterworks supplies and water meters, to HDPE pipe, valve chambers, and fusion and metering services. We are Ontario’s largest waterworks supplier with 12 locations to serve you. 1.888.866.8485 | www.corixwaterproducts.com W hat does “construction” mean to you? This question lies at the very core of the challenge the sewer and watermain industry faces in attracting new people to our industry. For many people, their view of construction is primarily limited to passing a sewer and watermain crew in the middle of a road or on the grounds of a new site (often a crew holding up the flow of traffic!). Our challenge is to ensure that students in high school and college and mid-career persons view the reality of our sector. Most often, because they’ve never seen the inner workings of a construction job, and don’t understand the totality of a job from concept to final construction, people consider our sector as a “dirty” job. They don’t understand that a high percentage of people working in the sewer and watermain sector, as is demonstrated in the feature article “Construction as a Career Destination” in this issue (see page 18), work in offices, on computers, and many are entrepreneurs in their own right. That’s why OSWCA’s Education Committee, working hand-in-hand with our local Associations, plays such an important role in changing this outdated view. Our Education Committee has representatives from all our local Associations and together we provide a plethora of initiatives. One of our most popular and highly successful initiatives is the school and onsite visits by volunteer members of our local OSWCA Associations through the Ontario Construction Careers Alliance (OCCA). Their goal is to ensure high school students have an opportunity to truly understand and experience construction firsthand. Another example of proactive initiatives are the scholarships and bursaries offered to students through OSWCA local Associations. Each local Association determines its program. For instance, the Greater Toronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors Association (GTSWCA), in fulfilling its mandate “to promote education and encourage the OSWCA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE IN CONSTRUCTION, OPPORTUNITY TENDS TO CREATE ITSELF From financial assistance to site and school visits, OSWCA local Associations are helping to attract new people to our industry LARRY TAYLOR, PRESIDENT next generation of workers to pursue careers in the sewer and watermain industry,” provides a number of scholarships and/or bursaries to students enrolled in a university, college, or trade school program that could translate into work in the sewer and watermain industry. In summation, we need to get the word out that, in construction, opportunity tends to create itself. We need to let young people know that if you’re good at what you do and have the desire to work, you will create opportunity for yourself within the sewer and watermain industry. UNDERGROUNDER Fall 2018 15