b'PRESIDENTS MESSAGEand drive investors elsewhere. But whatPerhaps one day soon candidates will of the growing sense of urgency forrespect certified election outcomes, contractors to invest in COR certification,governments will agree to honour existing which can be cost prohibitive. Willtrade agreements, and tariffs wont be procurement agencies that requisiteused against allies. But then again, who COR give contractors, particularly smallerare we kidding? contractors, the time they need to replenish their coffers before completingThe good news for Canadians, the certification process?particularly those of us who live and work in southwestern Ontario, is that we Sadly for most contractors, their capitalhave enjoyed the longest super-heated resources are depleted in the wake ofconstruction market in recorded history. a pandemic. Moreover, slow paymentEven the foreign competition that arrived will continue to characterize projectsin droves after the 2008-2009 meltdown not procured under the new Ontariodid little to diminish the prosperity Construction Act, a reality exacerbated bycontractors have enjoyed in a $10-billion-PREDICTINGthe fact that some clients are themselvesplus annual construction market. tapped out in the wake of COVID-19.CHANGE Suffice to say, the impacts of theThe magnitude of our super-heated market is unprecedented in the Western pandemic are enormous. But what aboutHemisphere. Even during the pandemic, the 260,000 baby boomers expected toToronto accounts for 38 per cent of all the retire from our skilled labour force beforetower cranes in North America. Imagine. G eorg C. Lichtenberg, an 18th2030? And how that will change ourAccording to Rider Levett Bucknall, century German physicist, haduniverse? All evidence points to a crisis ininternational property and construction this to say about change: Ithe not-to-distant-future, and this time theconsultants, Toronto is literally in a cannot say whether things willcrisis has nothing to do with COVID. As aleague of their own. get better if we change; what I can say isresult, employers face an urgent need toBut all good things must come to an they must change if they are to innovate and invest in new technologiesend. And even though COVID-19 does get better.to improve productivity and overcomenot seem to have affected high-rise labour challenges that coincidentally come when the industry can least affordconstruction in the GTA, high-rise Professor Lichtenberg didnt know muchto invest.residential sales are definitely in decline about construction and he was obviouslyand the work-from-home trend continues not predicting how our industry wouldCould the timing be worse? The answer,which impacts ICI and residential.evolve in a 21st century post pandemicsadly, is yes. It could be worse. Say, for world, but his quote is nevertheless sageexample, we were on the cusp of a globalFor the record, it is not my nature to be advice. Our industry is being disruptedrecession for which we were ill-prepared.a pessimist. Im just not loving the cards and not exclusively because of theAnd the economists I follow agree awe are holding as an industry on the pandemic. And employers must, asrecession is imminent. Bear in mind, wecusp of an era of rapid change. I have no Lichtenberg puts it, change if they are toskated through the 2008-2009 economicdoubt we will survive of course. Against all get better. downturn relatively unscathed. So inodds, we always do. We are the pit bulls point-of-fact, we last endured a recessionof industry and nothing is ever going to So lets talk about some of the challengesin Ontario nearly 30 years ago.change that. But change we must.we think employers will face as we brace for change. The most obvious, of course,Its no surprise we arent ready. We haveIt seems appropriate to end a message is COVID, specifically the contract disputesliterally forgotten what a recession looksabout disruption with a quote from one of that are inevitable given uncertaintylike. And more to the point, governmentsits greatest champions, Jeff Bezos from about how to position COVID-relatedcant continue to use artificially lowAmazon. To wit: In todays era of volatility, claims to optimize favourable outcomes.interest rates and aggressive spending tothere is no other way but to re-invent. The At an absolute minimum, employers withfight off recession when our debt-to-GDPonly sustainable advantage you can have poor dispute outcomes will finally take aratio is already at record highs.over others is agility, thats it.stand on untenable contract language.Respectfully,And my guess is that unreasonable riskI could probably also talk about the transfer will top the list. impacts of the November 3 U.S. election ad nauseam, but to what end? You have Heightened safety protocols are alsoheard it all. And the mayhem following inevitable as a consequence of COVID-19.the U.S. presidential election cant beJohn Mollenhauer And thats a good thing provided wegood for a nation that relies on oneTCA President & CEOare careful not to elevate project costscountry for 80 per cent of its exports. 6Quarter 3 2020 BUILDERSDIGEST'