Conference Highlights

At the CHBA - Alberta Conference held September 20 - 23 at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, many builders were honoured at the Awards of Excellence in Housing and at the Industry Leaders Breakfast.
The Industry Leader Breakfast honoured Past President, Allan Klassen with the George Frieser Award for outstanding volunteer contributions to the association at the provincial level over an extended period of time. CHBA - Alberta's new President, Vince Laberge was Klaus Springer Award recipient which is presented annually to the top provincial builder volunteer. The other major volunteer recognition award was presented to Herman Bruin of Bruin's Plumbing and Heating in Red Deer. He was presented with the Maple Leaf Award for his long service to the association and organizations.

That same morning, the Safety Awards were presented to: Daytona Homes Master Builder was named the winner of the builder category for Certificate of Recognition (COR) in safety holders, while Keystone Excavating of Calgary won the Trade and Supplier category. Gold Seal Master Builder of Carstairs took home the award in the Small Employer Certificate of Recognition (SECOR) in safety category.

During the President's Gala, a special presentation was made by outgoing President Ralph Hutchinson of Edmonton to Tom and Debra Mauro of Albi Homes. The Mauros were being inducted into the association's Hall of Fame. They were cited for their "pioneering charitable work” on behalf of the housing industry.

At the Awards of Excellence in Housing, 28 awards were distributed builder and renovator members including UBG Alpine Homes, recipient of the Ralph Scurfield Builder of the Year Award.

Your feedback is important in planning next year's event. For those who attended the conference, please complete the survey that was emailed to you. You could win 2 nights at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. If you did not receive the survey, please click here and one will be sent to you. Deadline to enter is Friday, October 12.

Board Estabilished to Develop Certification for Residential Construction Trades

CHBA - Alberta has received approval from Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training to begin a process to define and certify residential construction trades specializations, starting with the carpentry trade. An industry-based ‘Provisional Board' will be formed over the next few weeks to provide representation from new home builders and renovators, carpentry trades contractors and tradespeople, and from all Local HBAs. Any interested members should contact Mary Kenny, CHBA - Alberta's Director of Skilled Labour Development.

Occupational Profile & Standard for Framers

As part of CHBA - Alberta's goal, we plan to develop new provincially-recognized apprenticeship programs for Framers, Cribbers, and Exterior and Interior Finishers. The first priority is development of a Framer apprenticeship program. We have a head start on this because we can build on CHBA - BC's Residential Construction Framing Technician industry training program.

We have retained a qualified consultant to help us do this work. The first task was to map the British Columbia program with the Framer components of the Alberta Carpentry apprenticeship program. This showed these two standards were very similar. The next important step is to hold a workshop of Alberta Framer ‘subject matter experts' (SME) to review occupational standards and program model options. After this session, we will be in a good position to make a submission to Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training for the approval of Framer as a distinct "optional certification trade.”

We are inviting you to a Framer SME Workshop to be held in Edmonton on October 22, 11am-2pm. Please contact Mary Kenny at the CHBA - Alberta office if you are interested.

Improvements for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Effective September 24, 2007, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has implemented a pilot Expedited Labour Marker Opinion (E-LMO) for 12 selected occupations in Alberta and British Columbia that are facing severe labour shortages and "where there is a high degree of confidence in the labour market for the sector and it is easily accessible”. This includes the construction carpenter. The E-LMO pilot is a 2-step process: 1) the employer applies to Service Canada to become eligible to access the pilot, and 2) if approved, Service Canada expedites all regular requests from that specific employer for E-LMO applications. Applications will be processed with three to five business days of being received by Service Canada. A team of 15 Service Canada officers have been dedicated to processing the E-LMOs.

Click here for full details on the program and how to participate.

Help in Recruiting Foreign Workers

In Alberta, employers can use third party organizations to assist in recruiting foreign workers for their companies. These include labour brokers, employment agencies, immigration consultants, and/or immigration lawyers. While many recruiters are reputable and experienced, others can create problems down the road for employers. It is important to ensure that any recruiters you work with are meeting Alberta and Canada regulatory requirements, and that they are able to provide you with kind of skilled workers you require.

CHBA - Alberta has met with many recruiters currently operating in the Alberta labour market and will profile these in future newsletters. One recruiter is Strategic Project Management Ltd (SPM). SPM works with HRSDC and CIC to provide Alberta employers with qualified foreign workers. Its president is Mr. Ron Gallardo can be contacted at 780.289.9271 or e-mail: president@strategicprojects.org.

CMHC Conference

The Alberta Housing Outlook Conferences are coming up soon. Find out what's in store for the housing market in 2008. Join CMHC's Market Analysts and Economists as they answer this question. Find out whether Alberta's record housing starts and sales will continue to rise. Learn what lies ahead for housing prices in Calgary and Edmonton, and hear what the analysts are forecasting for the rest of Alberta. CMHC's 2007 Housing Outlook Conference is your opportunity to get the inside scoop from the experts. To view more information about the conference and to register for either the Calgary and Edmonton session click here.