At its 2023 Annual General Meeting, the Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada (MCAC) elected Charlie Webb, President and CEO of Anderson Webb Limited in Sarnia, Ontario, as President and Chair of the MCAC Board of Directors for 2023-2024. He is preceded by Derek Ermen of Moncton, New Brunswick.

“I am very excited to be stepping into the role of MCAC President during this busy and transformative time for the mechanical contracting sector in Canada,” said Webb. “Across the country our industry is dealing with unique challenges alongside exciting opportunities. Our sector has an essential part to play for a healthy Canadian economy, and our association is well-positioned to maximize that role on behalf of our members.”

Prior to its Annual General Meeting, the MCAC Board of Directors – alongside management of provincial and local mechanical contractor associations – undertook several days of strategic planning for the association. While there is still work being done on the new strategic plan, the themes of advocacy, growth, and innovation stood as critical pieces for MCAC moving forward.

As well, the association has recognized the significant challenges ahead with respect to availability of a skilled workforce, the need to advocate for and promote best practices in the industry, and the need to understand and educate how the transition to net zero will impact the mechanical contracting sector in the years ahead.

“What was clear during our strategic planning was that there is a significant role that MCAC will need to play in the years ahead,” Webb added. “As President and Chair, I am looking forward to seeing that planning process continue, and mapping out a clear strategy for the association moving forward. At the same time, we have a tremendous opportunity to raise the profile of our sector and the critical work we do across the country, and I am excited to take that on.”

Another important initiative highlighted by Webb was the role the association can play to elevate the value of Canada’s mechanical contracting sector, citing several key partnerships as a place to begin.

“As a national association, we are fortunate to have a number of organizations as partners that we can rely on and work closely with for the betterment of our industry,” he noted. “By working with these stakeholders – including government, labour, and industry associations—we can help to ensure that MCAC members are recognized as leaders, not just in our sector, but in the construction industry at large.”

The budget contained the least new funding or initiatives for the skilled trades in recent memory. This is a reflection of a deteriorating fiscal situation, as well as a sense among government officials that a tight labour market will an overheated construction sector should level off when interest rate hikes start to bite in the infrastructure space. There is a strong hesitation against doing anything that would quickly pour fuel on that fire and new funding
could only lead to further tightening and increased labour costs for construction businesses.

MCAC – Budget 2023 Summary

In response to the meetings held with stakeholder organizations such as MCA Canada, Natural Resources Canada has released a discussion paper on the Canada Green Buildings Strategy, and is inviting feedback from industry to help shape the policy.

There is a recognition from all stakeholders that industry and government collaboration will be essential, and MCA Canada is encouraging members to provide feedback on this discussion paper.

Click Here to View the Canada Green Buildings Strategy Discussion Paper

The intent of the Guide is to provide a fair and reasonable process for the costing and pricing of Change Orders.

It should also be noted that this Change Order Protocol is to serve as a guide, and that the terms and conditions of a Contract take precedence. As well, while this guide does contain lists of items to be considered in pricing a change, these lists are not exhaustive, and should not be exclusively relied upon.

Click Here to Download the Guide

A number of the points under the first pillar of the plan, “Making the Places Canadians Live and Gather More Affordable by Cutting Energy Waste,” are particularly relevant for MCA Canada’s recent discussions concerning investment in the built environment.

Some points of interest include:

• Invest $1.5 billion over three years for green and inclusive community buildings, and require that at least 10 percent of this funding be allocated to projects serving First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.
• Work with the building materials sector and other stakeholders to develop a robust, low-emission building materials supply chain to ensure Canadian, locally-sourced products are available.
• Continue to work with provincial and territorial governments to develop a new model ’retrofit‘ code for existing buildings, by 2022, with the goal of collaborating with provinces and territories to have this code in place by 2025.
• Conduct Canada’s first-ever national infrastructure assessment, starting in 2021, to help identify needs and priorities in the built environment, and undertake long-term planning toward a net-zero emissions future.
• Invest $2 billion in financing commercial and large-scale building retrofits, which will be repaid by energy savings costs. This commitment is part of the CIB’s $10 billion Growth Plan.
• Develop a simple, low-cost loan program that integrates and builds on energy audits and grants to finance deeper home energy retrofits for homeowners.

MCA Canada was pleased to see many of these points, as they are well aligned with the policy recommendations being developed by MCAC and CIPH.