Op-Eds

View From Ottawa - By Arlene Dunn - Chief Executive Officer for Canada’s Building Trades Unions The opioid dependency epidemic affects a disproportionate number of construction workers across Canada; that number is even more pronounced in the province of British...

We have all heard the expression, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And so let us take a moment to reflect on what happened in May of 1919 in Winnipeg. The First World War had just ended and soldiers returning from Europe had...

Temporary foreign workers at the LNG Canada project in Kitimat will comprise fewer than five per cent of the workers, as promised by LNG Canada. Put another way, 95 per cent of the workforce will be Canadian. These estimates were released last summer in briefing notes...

LMS Reinforcing Steel Group president and chief operating officer Norm Streu's rhetoric is hard to swallow in his recent guest column in the Prince George Citizen on the provincial government's new Community Benefits construction framework. Let's recap: Streu concedes...

Paul de Jong’s pre-Christmas JOC op-ed against Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) wants to be all truth and light. Unfortunately, his arguments are just "alternative facts." De Jong begins by misrepresenting Building Trades unions’ market share in work related to...

B.C. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Claire Trevena offers a rebuttal to B.C. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson’s criticism of the NDP approach to public construction. Special to Black Press. Opposition Leader Andrew Wilkinson’s commentary on Community...

Date:  Thursday, August 30, 2018 For many of us, Labour Day traditionally signals an end to those lazy, hazy days of summer and the beginning of cooler temperatures, shorter evenings and more golden leaves on the ground.  Happy Labour Day, everyone! For many...

Re: Victoria councillors not unanimous in vote to remove Sir John A. Macdonald statue, Aug. 9 The removal of John A. Macdonald’s statue from the Victoria city hall precincts should be hailed as a victory for all those intent on destroying English Canada to clear the...

Much has been written recently about whether British Columbia’s new Community Benefits Agreements process for major public construction projects are a good thing. But what hasn’t been much discussed is why. Community Benefits Agreements are needed. It’s pretty simple:...

As president of the Allied Infrastructure and Related Construction Council of B.C., which is the formal body tasked with administering the new Community Benefits Agreement for members of all the affiliated unions, I feel like my title is more fittingly “myth buster,”...