www.ecao.org 8 I FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GRAEME AITKEN I am very pleased to write that it has been a busy, productive, and rewarding time at ECAO since our last issue of The Ontario Electrical Contractor. Of course, none of this is possible without the support, input, and participation of our community and the exceptional efforts of your outstanding line-up of professionals at ECAO. A particularly rewarding occurrence is on display in this publication, as many of the articles in this issue were submitted by our Affiliate Partners. The topics range from human resources in the electrical industry, to new lighting products, health and safety, the Construction Lien Act, and to occupational health and safety in the electrical industry. We also have a feature from one of our Affiliate Partners; Pomerleau. This is a tremendous step forward for all of us. I wrote in our last issue about increasing our professional development and training offerings, and I am happy to inform the readers that we have done so. With the assistance of our Affiliate Partners, ECAO has hosted a number of webinars through the first quarter of 2019. These webinars (as well as those to be hosted in future) can be viewed in the members section of the ECAO website. We have also offered two new courses for our members; Labour Relations and Health & Safety. Both of these courses have received good reviews and, in addition to offering them again this year, ECAO is exploring the possibility of providing these training opportunities to our members in a number of geographic locations through our local ECAs. As outlined by Mark in his message, ECAO has been very active in meeting with our Provincial Government on issues relating to our members and partners. What has been truly rewarding throughout has been the expansion of our community. We have attended fundraisers and industry events at government offices, and Queen’s Park. Attendance at these have been on our own and with long-time industry partners such as the Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA), the IBEW/CCO, the Construction Employers Coordinating Council of Ontario (CECCO), the IBEW First District (Canada), and the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario. In addition to these partners, we have been before the government (and collaborated) with the Ontario Electrical League (OEL); a relationship we are working at rebuilding after far too many years of infrequent communication. It is worth noting, too, that there are a number of other groups with whom ECAO has been rebuilding or strengthening relationships, including; the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), the National Electrical Trade Council (NETCO), Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA), National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), Electro Federation Canada (Electro-Fed), Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA), our provincial association counterparts across Canada, and our local electrical contractor associations (please register quickly and plan to attend our Day at the Races, an event for our local ECAs and Affiliate Partners). As we continue to build these relationships and our community, we hope to strengthen our ECAO brand, be more involved with those who share and/ or impact our interests, and provide greater representation for our members and partners. I hope that you have noticed our significantly improved social media presence. Whether Twitter (@ECAOntario), LinkedIn (/company/ecaontario), or FaceBook (@ECAOntario), our efforts on behalf of our community, specifically ECAO members and partners, are garnering a great deal more attention. ECAO members, Affiliate Partners, and industry partners have the potential to help us to increase our profile (and, as a result, each member’s and partner’s profile) by posting, commenting, following, and re-posting ECAO’s social media contributions, so please follow us! Thank you for your input, your contributions, your feedback, and your support. I look forward to each day, task, and event on behalf of ECAO members and our community. I also know that all of the tremendous representatives you have in our office are similarly motivated. It is a pleasure and an honour to continue to advance the interests of ECAO members, Affiliate Partners, and our industry partners. Have a terrific summer. We look forward to seeing many of you at our Day at the Races at Woodbine Racetrack (July 3), Annual Conference in Nashville (September 25-29), and the ECAO and JEPP Annual General Meetings (October 23-24)!