Op-Eds

December 18, 2020 2020 BEGAN AS IT DOES EVERY YEAR - with our annual Bentall Memorial in January, when we commemorate the four workers whose lives were lost in the Bentall IV construction disaster. This small ceremony has particular importance for me as we are always...

December 8, 2020 APPRENTICESHIP IS THE foundation upon which our unions are built. Historically, many of our Building Trades apprentices have learned and practised their skills under a “master tradesperson,” until they, too, became skilled at their craft. This passing...

November 16, 2020 DEAR TRADESPEOPLE, It’s been a difficult few months of anxiety, loneliness, frustration and anger. COVID- 19 has changed our world. For weeks, even months, we have been told to isolate, to wear masks, to keep our distance from other people in an...

October 27, 2020 ON MARCH 12, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and the world as we knew it changed. Almost immediately, the focus in the construction sector was on occupational health and safety protocols and personal protective...

September 29. 2020 CANADA IS FACING unprecedented health, social and economic challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. The over half a million highly-skilled women and men that make up Canada’s Building Trades Unions are committed to continue working on building the...

August 25, 2020 Executive Director’s Message by Andrew Mercier THE PAST FEW MONTHS have been marked by the emergence of the coronavirus and an unprecedented public health crisis. Construction workers have been at the front line of the pandemic, continuing to do the...

August 20, 2020 President’s Message by Al Phillips LEADERSHIP. One of the things that separates the BC Building Trades from many other organizations is our leadership. Our leaders for the most part began as apprentices, just as I did, and worked their way through the...

June 10, 2020 By Phil Venoit, Past President CANADA HAS THE WORLD’S longest national oceanic border, which continues down the Saint Lawrence seaway with the longest inland fresh waterway and border we share with the United States, our greatest trading partner. British...

May 26, 2020 THE TITLE OF THIS COLUMN is in the form of a question. What’s the answer? Simply this: Without a representative to assist you with vocational rehabilitation, you stand a good chance of getting your butt kicked! The first thing I tell the workers I...

May 18, 2020 By Andrew Mercier, Executive Director With the public debate focused on the question of dialling-up our economy in these trying times, it is important that we do not forget the important role of workplace safety enforcement going forward. Construction is...