Conversations about Construction RCCAO and iContact Productions

Thousands of good-paying construction jobs could be lost in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas between now and spring if senior levels of government fail to provide funding so municipalities can get working on state-of-good-repair infrastructure projects, says Peter Smith, chair of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) and executive director of the Heavy Construction Association of Toronto.

In May, Sidewalk Labs, a Google-affiliated company, announced it was abandoning a plan to build a high-tech neighbourhood on Toronto's Port Lands. The so-called "smart city" dubbed Quayside was set to feature a range of cutting-edge technology, from residential towers made of timber to the use of autonomous cars and heated sidewalks. The company had initially claimed the project would create 44,000 jobs and generate $4.3 billion in annual tax revenue. The final straw for Sidewalk Labs is alleged to have been the economic uncertainty that made it difficult to make the 12-acre project financially viable. Brian Kelcey, a public policy consultant and founder of State of the City who who actively spoke in favour of the Sidewalk Labs Quayside project as a VP of the Toronto Board of Trade, discusses the situation with John Michael McGrath, a staff writer at TVO who covers provincial politics and policy matters and has written extensively about Sidewalk Labs.

A combination of more extreme weather events and Toronto’s decades-old sewer system has exacerbated the threat of flooding. It’s expected there may be more occurrences in the coming years because of the effects of climate change. The City of Toronto is taking action and has several stormwater infrastructure projects included in a multi-year plan. Patrick McManus, executive director of the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association, and Dennis Cancian, executive director of the Ontario Formwork Association, discuss the situation and the work that’s planned.

Wood is back as a building material – in a big way. Mass timber building has become a global movement and Canada is right in the middle of it. Buildings made of wood are now springing up across the country. A new precedent-setting campus building planned at Centennial College in Scarborough, for example, will be the first net-zero, mass timber higher education facility in Canada. Is it a fad or will it continue? Mike Yorke, president of the Carpenters District Council of Ontario and a director of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario, discusses the issue and benefits of using mass timber with Steven Street, a mass timber and wood products business consultant who does business development and project sales for Moses Structural Engineers.

Nearly 100 years ago, two street railway companies merged to form the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The TTC has come a long way since then and today provides a vital service to the citizens of Toronto – and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future. With an Ontario Line in the cards, senior transportation planner David Crowley discusses the future of transit with Ed Levy, an independent transportation planner, civil engineer and author of Rapid Transit in Toronto: A Century of Plans, Projects, Politics and Paralysis.

COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on Ontario’s economy and, as the province emerges from the shadow of the pandemic, the question of how to kick-start the recovery looms large. Strategic investments in state-of-good-repair projects will keep jobs and growth on track. Alternatively, efforts to rein in infrastructure spending would have devastating consequences. The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) recently commissioned a report on the situation, titled Navigating the COVID-19 Socio-economic Shock: How Infrastructure Investments Will Facilitate Future Growth in Ontario. It was prepared by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA). The report warns that employment and tax revenues will take a staggering hit over the next decade unless governments work together to maintain pre-COVID-19 infrastructure investments. RCCAO executive director Andy Manahan, CANCEA president and CEO Paul Smetanin, and Heavy Construction Association of Toronto executive director Peter Smith discuss their ideas.