Catch up on the latest industry news and notes with the latest edition of The WCA Newsletter, available here.

Catch up on the latest industry news with The WCA Newsletter for October 28.

The following prizes were unclaimed at Builders’ Night – if you have the winning ticket please contact wca@winnipegconstruction.ca to claim your prize.

Halloween Lotto Pack – # 086693

Local Artisan Package – #105559

Catch up on the latest industry news with The WCA Newsletter’s October 14 edition here.

Catch up on the latest industry news and notes with a jam-packed edition of The WCA Newsletter, available here.

We had an absolute blast buzzing the tower at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada last night for our Maverick: Mix and Mingle event. Check out the photos from the evening here!

On October 26, Winnipeggers will head to the polls to elect a new mayor and city council. Throughout August, WCA has been asking mayoral candidates questions on topics that have a deep impact on the local construction industry. We’ve been posting videos of these questions over the last several weeks, and you can get a quick overview of the topics we’re asking about in the recap video below:

We’ve compiled answers from the leading candidates for mayor (as well as one city council candidate who requested to be involved) who got back to us in time. They’re listed alphabetically below – please take the time to review them and see where each candidate stands on our five topics of interest.

For reference, here are the questions candidates were responding to (links to answers at the bottom of the page):

1) Permit, Planning and Development Department Resources

The Permit, Planning and Development Department current collects between $4 million $8 million more annually in permit and inspection fees than what is spent on those services. This over-collection is then transferred into consolidated revenue to help pay for other operations of the City of Winnipeg. Despite this, we see permit processing times still exceeding the City’s suggested target timeframe.

Question One: What would you do to ensure the permit department is adequately resourced in the future?

Question Two: Would you support changes to the Permit Reserve Fund to increase the total fund and ensure it is replenished prior to any funds leaving the permit department for consolidated revenue?

2) Adoption of industry-approved construction documents

The Canadian Construction Document Committee (CCDC) is an organization representing contractors, architects and owners that has developed standardized construction contract documents.  The Winnipeg Construction Association has been trying to work with the City the past four years to bring balance to their unique construction contracts. While this work has delivered improvements, it still does not meet the level of balance offered by CCDC.

Question Three: Would you support the use of the widely-accepted standardized documents (CCDC) for City of Winnipeg construction tendering?

3) Funding Important Construction Projects

The City of Winnipeg has a significant capital investment budget which is between $450-$550M per year for the next six years. Winnipeg needs to be prepared for when Kenaston Boulevard can be widened, there is still over a billion dollars in investments needed into the North End Water Pollution Control Centre and the Combined Sewer Overflow Master Plan needs to be accelerated. Our Mayor will need to develop and implement a plan that considers the current financial situation of the City of Winnipeg and can also deliver on these important quality-of-life infrastructure projects.

Question Four: How do you plan to balance the responsible use of taxpayer dollars and funding important infrastructure projects?

4) Winnipeg Metro Region

Manitoba’s success relies on Winnipeg and Winnipeg’s success is directly linked to the rest of Manitoba – especially the metro region around Winnipeg. To create a successful metro region, Winnipeg and the surrounding municipalities will need to work together. Areas that will need close attention are planning, delivering of services and building of roads.

Question Five: What will you do to improve collaboration in the Winnipeg Metro Region to attract outside investment?

5) Execution of Winnipeg’s Construction Projects

Winnipeg is about to embark on a number of large-scale construction projects, such as NEWPCC, the Transit Master Plan and the widening of Kenaston Boulevard. It is important to the construction industry and all Winnipeg taxpayers that the city can execute construction projects in an efficient manner. 

Question Six: As the City embarks on more significant infrastructure projects, what will you do to ensure Winnipeg construction projects can be executed more smoothly and efficiently?

Answers:

Rana Bokhari

Scott Gillingham

Kevin Klein

Shaun Loney

Jenny Motkaluk

Glen Murray

Rick Shone

Brian Mayes (Running for City Council – St. Vital)

We had a blast on Thursday, September 1 as we welcomed 144 golfers to Lakeview Hecla Golf Course for a great day on the golf course! The weather couldn’t really decide what it wanted to do, but the lightning managed to stay away so we were able to get all 18 holes in before enjoying a wonderful dinner with friends and colleagues.

This was our third and final golf tournament of the year – thanks to everyone who came out and played, to our sponsors for making it possible, and to all three golf courses and their staff for making our days as enjoyable as they were.

Fall Golf Tournament Champions

Congratulations to the team from AMC Foam, who shot the winning score of 61! The team was made up of Conrad Hoeppner (AMC Foam), Stephen George (AMC Foam), Nick Bockstael (Bockstael Construction) and Jesse Watson (Paragon Design). Congratulations gentlemen! For their efforts they will each take home a gift card to Golf Town and a sleeve of ProV1’s.

A big thank you goes out to our generous sponsors!

Closest to the Pin

Men

Joel Atlas, Apex

Women

Kristen Carter, YCLM

Congratulations to both Joel and Kristen who will each be taking home a Yeti Rambler 1 Gallon

Longest Drive

Men

Evan Carter, Building Products

Women

Julia Vossen, YCLM

Congratulations to both Evan and Julia who are the winners of a Bushnell Golf Watch iON2.

Door Prizes

Check your ticket numbers to see if you’re a winner!

Golf Bag donated by Expressions –  #0096225

LC Gift Card $50 – #0893581

Yeti Rambler 30oz  – #0893068 CLAIMED

Yeti Rambler 30oz –  #0096683 CLAIMED

All prize winners can contact wca@winnipegconstruction.ca to claim their prize.

Pictures

We have a photo album for the day available here (including some shots of the uninvited ursine guest) – feel free to grab pictures of your team and use them however you wish!

Catch up on the latest industry news and notes with The WCA Newsletter’s September 2 edition here.

This October, Winnipeggers will head to the polls to elect a new city council and mayor. Over the next several weeks, WCA is asking mayoral candidates questions about issues that have a deep impact on the local construction industry.

Our fifth and final question comes from WCA Chair Ellowyn Nadeau. Watch the video below to see her question on how the new mayor will improve the efficiency of large projects in Winnipeg, and be sure to watch this space, our Twitter feed and our LinkedIn page for more.

We’ll be publishing responses from candidates in September to make sure our members can make an informed choice when they head to the polls.

If you missed our other videos, find them here:

– Our first video on the Planning, Property and Development department
– Our second video on construction contracts
– Our third video on funding infrastructure projects
– Our fourth video on metro area collaboration