b'Electrical Contractors Trade Coalition at Queens ParkI ofElectricalWorkersConstructionCouncilofOntariohim and discuss ourandBy Aaron Gairdner, Vice-President, Rubicon Strategy Inc.It has been a busy couple of months for your ECAO leadership team,as coalition partners to present the Skills and Safety Matter report to and we are very proud of the progress being made by working withconcerns and recommendations. Approaching government to advance the issues of our industry. the Minister as a unified coalition of stakeholders in the electrical industry was powerful,he appreciated the perspectives of the Through the spring, the ECAO collaborated with industry partnersvarious players in the industry. This was an unprecedented strategy from the Ontario Electrical League (OEL), the International Brother- for our industry, and one that we feel is proving very valuable.hood (IBEW-CCO)andtheChristianLabourAssociationofCanadaIn our robust discussion with the Minister, it was clear he shared our (CLAC) to define industry concerns with the apprenticeship systempassion and commitment to public and worker safety. We feel confi-and propose a set of recommendations to the Ontario government.dent that as an industry our commitment to constant and ongoing Thereport,entitledSkillsandSafetyMatter:MaintainingHightraining in order to earn certification ensures the highest standards Standards in the Electrical Trades is Essential for an Effective Ontarioof safety. Any degradation of these standards by changing the scopes Apprenticeship Model, brings together the collective experience of ourof practice or lists of restricted activities will not only reduce the coalition partners who represent 1,000 electrical contractors and overoverall effectiveness of our members, but also has the potential for 30,000 employees in the industry. serious safety issues for the public. So the consumer might be both disappointed with the work that they had done AND have the safety Astheprovincecontemplateschangestotheapprenticeshipandof their home or business put in jeopardy. This is not an outcome certification models for many trades, our strategy was to make athegovernmentwants,especiallywhentheyaretheultimate statement on behalf of the broader electrical industry. The reportregulatory body. emphasizes that proper training for skills in the electrical industry is critical to protect the safety of consumers and workers as well as theAs an industry we want to continue improving, adapting to new integrity of our industry. Preserving the Red Seal, acknowledging thattechnologies and working to ensure we deliver the best service to our electrical work is uniquely high risk, maintaining competency stan- customers. While our main message was that preserving the highest dards for electrical work and preserving the value of the Certificate ofsafety standards is our number one priority, we also want to work with Qualification (C of Q) are all critical issues for our industry which thethe government to make recommendations that will guide the govern-report addresses in detail. Our recommendations to the governmentments work to modernize our apprenticeship and training system in focus on protecting these important foundations of our industry.Ontario. The meeting with the Minister is an important first step in this process. Minister Romano and his team are reviewing Skills and We had the opportunity to meet the new Minister of Training, Col- Safety Matter now in his first few weeks on the job. We look forward leges and Universities, the Hon. Ross Romano (Sault Ste. Marie) onto continuing the conversation with our partners and the government July 4, just two weeks into his mandate as Minister. We were pleasedto further these initiatives.www.ecao.org8'