TCA Builders’ Digest is published for the Toronto Construction Association 70 Leek Crescent, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 1H1 Tel: (416) 499-4000 • Fax: (416) 499-8752 www.tcaconnect.com Publisher Robert Thompson Editor Roma Ihnatowycz Sales Executives Nolan Ackman Dawn Stokes Derek de Weerdt Mike Manko April Krysowaty Contributing Writers Matthew Bradford Andrew Brooks Senior Graphic Designer James T. Mitchell Graphic Designer Kelli McCutcheon Published by: 33 South Station Street North York, Ontario M9N 2B2 Toll Free: (866) 480-4717 robertt@mediaedge.ca 531 Marion Street Winnipeg, MB R2J 0J9 Toll Free: (866) 201-3096 Fax: (204) 480-4420 www.mediaedgepublishing.com President Kevin Brown Senior Vice-President Robert Thompson Director, Business Development Michael Bell Branch Manager Nancie Privé All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the association. Published January 2018. Publication Mail Agreement #40787580 Return undeliverable copies to: Toronto Construction Association 70 Leek Crescent, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 1H1 Phone: (416) 499-4000 • Fax: (416) 499-8752 Builders’Digest Builders’ Toronto Construction Association’s Quarterly Perspective Toronto Construction Association’s Quarterly Perspective PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE John G. Mollenhauer, President Toronto Construction Association THIS IS MY FIRST REPORT OF 2018, AND I WOULD LIKE TO begin my President’s Message by wishing TCA members a very Happy New Year. That said, I’m a little less bullish about the coming year for the Ontario construction industry than I have been in recent years. Let me explain. The headline in this morning’s Globe is a recurring theme, specifically “NAFTA uncertainty hits Canadian markets.” No surprise with Trump in the Oval Office. What concerns me most, however, is that we are seeing the dollar, government bond yields and blue-chip shares actually begin their long expected slide. It will get worse going into the June 7, 2018 Ontario general election when election debates draw attention to Queen’s Park’s $360- billion debt. This is not a criticism of the Ontario Liberal Party, who on balance have been very good to the construction industry. It does, however, mean that their debt to GDP ratio has risen above 40 per cent, which is not good news for consumers and certainly not good news for an industry that prospers when governments spend aggressively. I’ve also just read some construction- related Supreme Court decisions that irk me to no end. It’s a shame, really. We ended 2017 with the approval of Bill 142 and celebrated one of our industry’s greatest-ever success stories. Indeed, at the last report, my forecast for Ontario’s construction industry in 2018, based almost exclusively on Bill 142’s modernized Lien Act with prompt dispute resolution and prompter payment cycles, was pure sunshine. It now appears my forecast was perhaps a bit optimistic. Let’s talk first about a decision rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada with respect to BC Human Rights Tribunal v. Edward Schrenk (and literally a plethora of interveners). Ironically, given all the media around harassment these days, it deals with discriminatory harassment. And for the record, the Schrenk case is not about holding the alleged complainant accountable for discriminatory harass- ment. On the contrary, BC Human Rights Tribunal v. Schrenk is about whetherMr.Schrenk’semployershould be held accountable for discrimina- tory comments made by one of the primary contractor’s workers, in this instance Edward Schrenk, against one of the GC’s subcontractor’s employees when the discretionary comments are allegedly “regarding employment.” Simply put, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that the scope of section 13(1)(b) of the (BC) Code should not be limited to protecting employees solely from discriminatory harassment by their superiors in the workplace, but rather that the protec- tionshouldextendtoallemployeeswho suffer discrimination, notwithstanding that the worker who is discriminated against may have a different employer. Revised weather report for the Ontario construction industry 4 | Builders' Digest Quarter 4 2017