2020 CRCA President’s holiday message

On behalf of CRCA and the Board of Directors, I would like to wish all of our members, provincial affiliates, and everyone involved in the roofing and construction industry a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that each of you will relax and spend some quality time with your families and friends.

I think that speak for everyone when I say goodbye 2020! What a year it has been…COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into our industry, but are hopeful that a vaccine will be available soon. As a roofing contractor, this crisis and pandemic is something that I nor any of my roofing colleagues would ever have to face. As contractors each of us has had to make many changes to our way of doing business and many tough decisions that impact the way we do business. The passing of each day brings new challenges to the forefront but we also hope that 2021 brings us a light at the end of the tunnel.

COVID certainly had its impacts on CRCA including the cancellation of our Conference planned for May 2020 in Edmonton, but the rest of our activities and efforts continued at full speed. In January, CRCA continued our work on the harmonizing the roofer trade across Canada. We joined sixteen industry representatives at a national workshop held in Ottawa workshop to update the Roofer Red Seal Occupational Standard (RSOS) and harmonizing the sequencing of training across all provinces and territories. In February CRCA launched our social media platforms to advance the success and awareness of the roofing industry and we encourage you to follow us on our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages. In March we wrote directly to the Prime Minister of Canada lobbying to make the roofing industry an essential service/business during the pandemic. We also launched our COVID-19 resource page on our website and were in constant contact with our affiliate associations and our colleagues at the Federal government, the National Trade Contractors Council of Canada (NTCCC), the Canadian Construction Association and the National Roofing Contractors Association to keep abreast of the impact of COVID-19 on the construction industry. As a founding member of NTCCC, CRCA continues to work with our partners on many advocacy issues throughout the year including: improving the quality of drawings, federal prompt payment, PSPC (Public Services and Procurement Canada) Construction COVID roundtable to discuss infrastructure spending, community benefits as well as apprenticeships and workforce development through ESDC (Employment and Social Development Canada).

The updated Roofing Reference Manual was released at the beginning of 2020. This manual is a core training document that provides technical information for roofing apprentices and other roofing workers. The extensive revisions to the manual ensure that training information is harmonized across Canada. The manual is available in both French and English, in hardcover print and electronically on the CRCA website.

CRCA continues to collaborate with the National Research Council (NRC) and other industry partners on research projects related to the roofing industry including SIGDERS (Special Interest Group for the Dynamic Evaluation of Roofing Systems), Energy Resistance of Commercial Roofing, Vegetative Roofing Assemblies and Photovoltaics. These research projects provide indispensable information and testing requirements for the standardization of roofing products and/or roofing systems.

In July we announced that members can now take advantage of free legal support through Cotney Construction Law. All CRCA members have access to 30 minutes per month of free legal support through Cotney Construction Law and 15 minutes per month of free operational support through Cotney Consulting Group for their businesses. From August 24 to 28, CRCA launched Canada’s first annual National Roofing Week celebration. We would like to thank our members for their participation to make this first edition a huge success. All in all, close to 20% of our members – from across Canada got involved in the activities during Roofing Week. Visit our website to view a wrap up video featuring the highlights of the many actions and initiatives that showcase our members involvement to increase the awareness on the importance of the roofing industry in Canada.

With 2021 right around the corner, the CRCA Board of Directors and staff would like to wish our members and everyone working within the roofing industry a successful and prosperous 2021. COVID permitting, we hope to see many of you at CRCA’s 2021 Conference & AGM in St-John’s NL from May 14 to 16.

Happy Holidays to all and the very best for 2021!

Jacques Beaulieu | CRCA President and Board Chair Senior Provincial Manager Atlas-Apex Services (Manitoba) inc 1546 Wall St., Winnipeg MB R3E 2S4 t. 204 415 3012 | m. 204 791 3393 | f. 888 564 8210 Serving both Canada and the USA