March 18, 2010

Ontario names workplace safety system review panel

Ontario on Thursday unveiled the advisory panel it has appointed to conduct a comprehensive review of the province’s occupational health and safety system.

March 18, 2010

Ontario General Contractors Association unveils environmental management guide

The Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA) is publishing a 15-page guide to environmental management programs.

March 17, 2010

Bird Construction preferred proponent for Alberta school-building blitz

Bird Construction says a consortium it is part of has been named as the preferred proponent in a project to design, build, finance and maintain 10 new schools in Alberta.

March 17, 2010

Carrick: New home prices continued to rise in January

The national home price index reached its peak in the fall of 2008 and stepped down steadily from then until mid-2009, according to Statistics Canada’s latest report for January 2010.

March 16, 2010

EllisDon CEO: Maybe it doesn't take brains to be smart

I’m always impressed that most people have thought seriously about what it takes to be successful, in business and in life. It’s terrific that there are has so many individuals who look in the mirror and ... think.

March 16, 2010

Ontario Federation of Labour wants criminal probe after worker death

The Ontario Federation of Labour is calling for a criminal probe into the death of a construction worker in east-end Toronto last week.

March 15, 2010

IONA contractors wins Saskatoon deep utilities contract

The envision Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, IONA Contractors Ltd., has been awarded a deep utilities contract for Rosewood Phase 1A Subdivision in Saskatoon, Sask.

March 12, 2010

Carrick: Canada’s net job loss of 250,000 versus U.S. decline of 8.4 million

For the fifth time in the past seven months, total employment in Canada increased, according to February’s labour market report from Statistics Canada. The latest month-over-month gain was 21,000 net new jobs.

March 12, 2010

Canem Systems awarded electrical contract for Edmonton Clinic

Seacliff Construction Corp.’s electrical and data communications contracting arm, Canem Systems, has been awarded a contract to manage electrical construction services at the Edmonton Clinic North (ECN).

March 12, 2010

New York agrees to payout for Ground Zero toxic dust victims

After years of fighting in court, lawyers representing New York City, construction companies and more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers have agreed to a settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to responders sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center.

March 11, 2010

Carrick: Persistently high initial jobless claims in U.S. in early March

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. in the latest week, ending March 6, remained at a relatively high number: 462,000. This was a decline of only 6,000 versus the previous week’s level of 468,000.

March 10, 2010

38 states see double-digit drops in construction employment

The American construction workforce was smaller in every state in January 2010 than only 12 months earlier, according to an analysis of federal data by the Associated General Contractors of America.

March 10, 2010

SNC-Lavalin wins Venezuela engineering services contract

SNC-Lavalin has been awarded an engineering services contract for the Empresa Mixta Petromacareo Project by PDVSA Engineering & Construction, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A (PDVSA).

March 10, 2010

Carrick: Huge gains for North American stock markets in past year

It was a little less than a year ago (March 9, 2009) that the four major North American stock market indices sank to their low points in the recession.

March 9, 2010

Carrick: The ethno-cultural make-up of Canada, 2031 versus 2006

It’s a good idea to keep checking the Statistics Canada web site. You never know what you’ll find. Included among today’s releases by the national statistical agency is a report: Projections of the Diversity of the Canadian Population.

March 9, 2010

SNC-Lavalin awarded contract for South Africa calcium ammonium nitrate plant

SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a contract by Sasol Nitro to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for a new calcium ammonium nitrate production plant in an existing chemical complex in Secunda, South Africa.

March 8, 2010

Carrick: Canada’s housing starts in February just under 200,000 units

Housing starts in Canada have made a remarkable recovery, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The February starts level was just under 200,000 units, at 196,700 seasonally adjusted and annualized.

March 5, 2010

U.S. construction employment hits 14-year low

The U.S. construction unemployment rate jumped to 27.1 per cent and construction employment dropped to a 14-year low as another 64,000 construction workers lost jobs in February, according to new labour numbers.

March 5, 2010

RFQ issued for new courthouse in St. Thomas, Ontario

Infrastructure Ontario has issued a request for qualifications to design, build, finance and maintain a new consolidated courthouse in St. Thomas, Ont.

March 5, 2010

Carrick: Two sectors account for more than half of U.S. job losses since 2007

U.S. employment declined again in February 2010, but by only 36,000 jobs. In the worst month for employment in the recession, January of last year, the jobs decline was 780,000.