ASPHALTopcs | Summer 2017 | VOL 30 | NO 2

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Roads Scholars and Scholarship Program shifts into third gear in the race to recruit skilled workers by Abigail Wright Pereira According to BuildForce Canada, the average age of a Canadian construction worker is 41; over the next decade nearly 90,000 of Ontario’s construction workers are expected to retire. Within that time, Ontario will need to attract over 110,000 new skilled construction workers to replace the retiring workforce and to contend with the increased labour demand. In 2012, then Ontario Hot Mix Producers Association (OHMPA) president Murray Ritchie appealed to the Board of Directors and the Plant and Paving Committee to work together to develop a program to help bridge the impending skilled labour gap. “I recognized that we needed more boots on the ground to get the job done and those people needed to be highly skilled. The combination of an aging work force and growing demand for specialized skills has some serious implications for the road building industry in Ontario,” says Mr. Ritchie, Manager of Estimating, Sales and Marketing for the Miller Group, Georgian Bay Region. “Over the past five years the problem has become wider 26 OAPC | ASPHALTOPICS
2017 Roads Scholars attend the April 6 Spring Operations Seminar held at the International Centre in Mississauga. in scope than anticipated. It really comes down to a skills shortage and that is where industry partnership with the colleges becomes a crucial component to resolving this issue.” The Board and Plant and Paving Committee recognized that the balance between Ontario’s skilled labour supply and demand within the construction industry was off-kilter and the labour shortage could potentially leave Ontario’s road building industry stuck in a ditch. OHMPA (now OAPC) initially partnered with Centennial, Conestoga, Georgian and Fleming Colleges to better engage and educate young people about the industry as they were making career choices. Thus began the Roads Scholars Program which in 2013, its inaugural year, brought six students to the annual Spring Operations Seminar to learn about the latest innovations in asphalt paving and to network with industry leaders and potential employers. “Our initial efforts in partnering with the colleges were quite successful,” says Plant and Paving Committee Chair and Vice President of FLO Components Mike Deckert. “In 2012, we held our Spring Operations Seminar at Georgian College and had more paving equipment there than at the National Heavy Equipment Show. Building off of this momentum, we developed the program.” As a part of a long-term strategy to expand its investment in attracting skilled workers to the industry, OHMPA introduced the Roads Scholarship Program in 2014. From its bursary, OHMPA offered each partner college two yearly $1,000 scholarships to be awarded to two students within respective heavy equipment operator/ technician and civil engineering programs. Selection of the scholarship recipients is based on academic achievement, leadership, and technical skills. Special consideration is given to students who express a keen interest in the road building and asphalt industry. This year the program expanded to Canadore College’s millwright program and Algonquin College’s welding and fabrication techniques program to reach those trades that are in demand within the operations of an asphalt plant. Now entering its fifth year, the Roads Scholars and Scholarship Program has brought 32 students to OAPC’s annual Spring Operations Seminar and has awarded 26 students $1,000 scholarships, totaling $26,000. Based on an estimate from a LinkedIn search and reaching out to OAPC members, approximately 30 per cent of the Roads Scholars students are employed by an ORBA/OAPC member company. This is a good start. Nevertheless, according to Mr. Ritchie, it is a pinhole of light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. “These days the average age of a crew is in their late 40s to early 50s, and crews are smaller which impacts productivity. A lot of people considering coming into the industry don’t ›› SUMMER 2017 27
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Page 3 and 4: Cover photo: iStockphoto.com © 201
Page 5 and 6: CHAIRMAN’S CORNER by Mike McLean
Page 7: LETTERS FROM THE ED by Vince Aurili
Page 10 and 11: CANADA’S BU RUNWAY UND FAST TRACK
Page 12 and 13: One of the four MTVs and two of the
Page 14 and 15: To keep Hotel Taxiway’s granular
Page 16 and 17: REHABILITATION OF RUNWAY 05-23 AND
Page 18 and 19: Partners in Quality symposium hits
Page 20 and 21: The 2017 OAPC Partners in Quality R
Page 22 and 23: Your New Asphalt Plant Pays for Its
Page 24 and 25: y Steve Pecar The Ontario Asphalt P
Page 28 and 29: In 2015, Conestoga College purchase
Page 30 and 31: Paving the way with frien The Aspha
Page 32 and 33: spring and fall, to make them valua
Page 34 and 35: TECHNICALLY SPEAKING by Vince Auril
Page 36 and 37: EXTRACTION MANUFACTURING RECLAMATIO
Page 38 and 39: OAPC PRESIDENT’S DINNER AND AGM Q
Page 40 and 41: ENBRIDGE RIDE TO CONQUER CANCER Con
Page 42: THE LAST WORD by Abigail Wright Per

ASPHALTopcs | Summer 2017 | VOL 30 | NO 2

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