November 5, 2009
CanaData Conference 2009
Scotiabank’s chief economist has hope for Ontario
Ontario’s growth might be slower in the years to come as its manufacturing sector struggles, but Scotiabank’s chief economist still sees healthy prospects on the horizon for Canada’s economic centre.
“The reality is manufacturing employment is going to be pretty slow and that’s going to be a drag on Ontario,” Warren Jestin said in an interview with Reed Construction Data at the CanaData Construction Industry Forecasts Conference in Toronto Sept. 24.
“The good news is a lot of our economy is service-focused and that’s going to begin to improve,” Jestin added.
See: Live blog archive from the September 24 CanaData Construction Industry Forecasts Conference.
“I suspect we’ll still lag the national average in terms of growth performance over the next five years, but over the next year or so we’re probably going to get at least a healthy pop in growth from economic decline to at least some period of recovery.”
Jestin also offered insights into what’s in store for Western Canada after the recession and discussed what he believes the greatest threat to economic recovery will be.
Check out the executive summary from the 2009 CanaData Conference.
VIDEO: B.C. Construction Association welcomes standardized contract forms
Standardized construction documents are long overdue, says the president of the B.C. Construction Association.
Port Mann Bridge under construction
Time-lapse footage shows the progress of construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Metro Vancouver.
VIDEO: How effective has stimulus spending been?
If you want a good indication of how effective government stimulus spending has been in Canada, look at the “remarkable” institutional starts statistics for the first half of 2010, CanaData chief economist Alex Carrick says.
VIDEO: Owners must lead charge toward BIM adoption
The greatest challenge in getting the architecture, engineering and construction industries to embrace building information modeling is convincing individual players they’d be better off working collaboratively, says the chair of the Canada BIM Council.
VIDEO: Canada’s economy is slowing down
As fall approaches, the Canadian economy is slowing down, but this lower growth is due to factors that beyond the nation’s control, says CanaData Chief Economist Alex Carrick.
VIDEO: Canada should embrace rainscreen cladding systems
Canada has been too slow to embrace rainscreen cladding systems, despite the advantages they offer in terms of better performance, low-cost maintenance and longer-lasting structures, says a distributor of architectural building products.
VIDEO: Ontario General Contractors Association shows support for Gold Seal
All the directors on the board of the Ontario General Contractors Association have become Gold Seal Champions, part of an effort to help promote the national construction certification program.
VIDEO: Green building critical in triple bottom line accounting
Building design and construction standards will undergo significant changes as “triple bottom line” accounting becomes more commonplace in the industry, says a Saskatchewan-based economist.
VIDEO: Boom truck tips over at Vancouver condo project
A boom truck tipped over while delivering lumber to a low-rise condominium construction project in Vancouver’s trendy Kitsilano neighbourhood, near Vine Street and First Avenue.
