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CCA Overview

Accomplishments

What Have We Done For Our Members?

In the wake of another strong year for the non-residential construction industry in Canada, CCA has taken the lead on a number of key issues of interest to the non-residential construction sector.  Those accomplishments include:

LABOUR SUPPLY / IMMIGRATION REFORM

• CCA met with officials from the office of the Minister of Labour to discuss the federal and provincial government’s commitment to eliminate interprovincial labour mobility barriers by April 1, 2009.  The government confirmed this objective and stated that it will use the labour market agreement between Alberta and BC as a template for a national agreement.
• The federal government unveiled a number of announcements designed to facilitate the entry of temporary foreign workers into Canada.  These announcements included:
  • Establishing regional “Lists of Occupations Under Pressure”.  For occupations on these lists, employers are not required to demonstrate lengthy or comprehensive advertising or marketing efforts. 
  • Temporary foreign workers can now work for up to 2 years in Canada, an increase from 1 year. 
  • The March 2007 Budget announced that temporary foreign workers already working in Canada could apply for permanent residency without having to leave the country.
  • In the summer of 2007, informal discussions were held between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the President of Mexico to expand an existing seasonal worker program for agriculture to sectors such as construction. 

TAX REFORM

• Budget 2007 responded to a specific CCA request by increasing the capital cost allowance for buildings from 4 to 6%.
• The 2007 federal Budget announced a financial incentive for provinces to eliminate their capital taxes by January 1, 2011.  This announcement came on the heels of the federal government’s announcement to eliminate the federal capital tax in Budget 2006.
• In his October 30 mini-Budget, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced an acceleration of the reduction to the small business tax rate - it will now be 11% as of January 1, 2008.  Furthermore, the general corporate tax rate will be lowered to 15% by 2012.

EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

• CCA continues to push for the further reduction of EI rates and meaningful reforms to the EI system as well as more equitable tax treatment of employer-provided vehicles when used by construction employees to travel to and from their residences to construction work sites.
• In November, it was announced that EI rates would be lowered by 7 cents per $100 of insurable earnings per employee, and 10 cents per employer.

STANDARD DOCUMENTS

• In conjunction with the other members of the Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC), the updated version of CCDC 2 was approved in 2007 and released in early 2008.
• CCA 61, Risks of Pre-Purchasing Equipment and Materials for Construction Projects, was also finalized.  CCA 61 looks at various factors involved in pre-purchases, and recommends best practices to ensure that the decision to pre-purchase contributes maximum net value to the successful outcome of a project.

ELECTRONIC TENDERING / CANet

• CCA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) that grants CCA Member Association plansrooms with unfettered access to all federal contract tenders.  CCA Member Associations can now access, print, disseminate and distribute tender information for the purpose of facilitating and supporting the procurement process for the federal government. 
• CCA successfully coordinated an initiative spearheaded by the COO Committee called CANet, or Construction Association Network. Its vision is to be recognized as the construction industry's one-stop shop for accurate, timely information about construction tender opportunity information.  A number of promotional activities to recognize CANet were carried out throughout the year.

INFRASTRUCTURE

• After an aggressive lobbying campaign on the part of CCA, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled the federal Budget in March 2007 that contained what was claimed to be the largest single investment in Canada’s infrastructure since World War 2.   Over $33 billion in new infrastructure funds were announced.  The federal government also reacted to a key CCA demand when federal-provincial agreements began to be signed to start the transfer of these funds in November 2007. 

GOLD SEAL

• The Gold Seal program enjoyed a resurgence in 2007, with close to 600 certifications in 2007 – double that compared to 2006.  The roadbuilding and heavy construction sector recorded one of the strongest growth rates among all industry sectors participating in Gold Seal.  Gold Seal also introduced a new Construction Safety Coordinator designation which has been extremely popular across the country. 

ANTI-REPLACEMENT WORKER LEGISLATION

• In the face of heavy pressure from organized labour, CCA joined a business coalition and successfully defeated Bill C-257, a private members bill that would have outlawed the use of replacement workers in the event of a strike or lockout in federally regulated sectors.  Although construction is not a federally regulated sector, the indirect impacts of the loss of transportation, banking, or postal services (for instance) on the business sector would be traumatic.

ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES

• In 2007, CCA became a member of the Canada Green Building Council, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CaGBC in June 2007 to further develop the practice of green building across the national construction industry.