b'LEGISLATIONTHE ONTARIOCONSTRUCTION ACTAFTER NEARLY FIVE YEARS, WHERE ARE WE WITH THE NEW ACT? By Warren HeeleyTHE REVISED ONTARIO CONSTRUCTION LIEN ACT lack of industry understanding, says John Mollenhauer, (now called the Construction Act) came fully into force onpresident and CEO of TCA. The large number of projects October 1, 2019. The act and regulation had not been reviewedgrandfathered and the delays because of COVID have causedor significantly changed since 1983. The changes in thea serious industry knowledge gap about the terms of thenew act were made following a lengthy period of stakeholdernew act.consultation on the revisions needed to bring it into the21st century. Mollenhauer goes on to say that this gap needs to be dealt with The government received substantial input over two yearsnow that all new projects after October 2019 fall under the new of consultation and published an Attorney General report prompt payment and arbitration rules. Industry members who Striking the Balance: Expert Review of Ontarios Constructionchose to ignore these new rules do so at their own peril.Lien Actin September 2016. This report identified more thanNEW ACT REVISIONS100 recommendations for changes to the previous act with keyThe governments rationale for the revisions made in the new areas of concern being extended payment cycles, ineffectiveact was to modernize the construction lien and holdback rules dispute resolution, the legal conflict between provincial andand help make sure that workers and businesses get paid federal insolvency legislation and other issues frustratingon time for their work and payment disputes are addressed the purpose of the Construction Lien Act. Most of the recommendations from the report were included in the quickly and painlessly.new act.The most significant parts of the new act are the new prompt The new act has now been in place for nearly five years payment and mandatory adjudication sections. These two (Bill 142 received royal assent in December 2017, with newareas are being pursued in provincial and federal legislation provisions coming into force in 2018 and 2019). The mostacross the country to speed up payments through the important issue surrounding the new act at this point is theconstruction chain. 18Quarter 42022 BUILDERSDIGEST'