RC107 JulyAugust2023 - Magazine - Page 41
TORONTO
Good Roads Conference
TORONTO: JARED LEMAY VANCOUVER: PATRICK HINTON/SE IMAGE
At the recent Good
Roads Conference
in Toronto, Premier
Ford chatted with
Good Roads executive
director Scott Butler.
ONTARIO’S MINISTER OF LABOUR, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, Monte
McNaughton announced a $1.8-million
investment through the Skills Development
Fund to support 625 public works staff in
Ontario municipalities and First Nations
communities.
McNaughton made the announcement in
front of more than 1,500 attendees at the 2023
Good Roads Conference at the Fairmont
Royal York in downtown Toronto.
The annual conference brings together
different levels of government from Ontario,
Canada, United States and other parts of the
globe. The four-day event focuses on municipal transportation, and infrastructure topics,
with over 80 sessions, a variety of speakers,
study tours and 120 exhibitors.
“Ontario needs all hands on deck to help
build the highways, transit, schools, homes
and hospitals our growing population relies
on,” said McNaughton. “Today’s announcement will not only benefit municipal and
First Nations employers but provide workers
with the training they need so that they can
get jobs they can be proud of and earn a
bigger paycheque for themselves and their
families.”
With the support of this investment by
the provincial government, Good Roads will
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bring training to regions of Ontario where it
has not been provided previously. This will
benefit municipal and First Nations employers as the traditional barriers of geography
and costs that confound rural, smaller, and
northern municipalities and First Nations
will be removed. Good Roads will be offering courses that meet the immediate needs
of their frontline public works staff. Course
content will include the basics of road construction and maintenance, heavy equipment
operations including snowplows, and leadership training for new supervisors.
“Good Roads appreciates the Ministry of
Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s focus on delivering training to
historically underserved communities. This
funding will help frontline workers upgrade
their skills and better serve their communities,” said Butler.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also made an
appearance, sitting down with Good Roads
executive director Scott Butler to highlight
his government’s initiatives to get roads built
across the province.
“We’re doing everything we can to build
roads faster. We’re improving the procurement strategies, making use of leading technologies and enhancing Ontario’s One Call
system so we can safely get shovels in the
ground more quickly,” said Ford. “We also
recognize to deliver on our plan to build and
improve our roads and to build the infrastructure our province needs we’re going to
need thousands of new skilled construction
workers over the next decade.”
The winner of the fourth annual Municipal Concrete Award was also presented at
the confernto the Town of Amherstburg and
Amico Infrastructures Inc.
Presented by Concreted Ontario, the
Municipal Concrete Award recognizes the
successful collaboration between municipalities and contractors for project excellence
and innovation.
The project stood out because of the
unique challenges associated with paving
on Bois Bianc, an island with access only by
ferry from the mainland and the innovative
use of roller compacted concrete (RCC).
Constructing the road in asphalt would have
been costly and time-consuming due to the
weight constraints of the ferry. Using RCC
was an efficient, innovative, and cost-effective way to construct the three-kilometre
roadway. A portable plant was set up on the
island to produce the RCC, and the required
materials (cement and aggregates) were
delivered to the island by boat to alleviate
logistical issues and trucking/ferry costs.
JULY/AUGUST 2023 – RENEW CANADA 41
