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47TH ANNUAL ORAC AGM | NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE - GIDDY UP!
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The 47th annual ORAC AGM was held once again in Niagara-on-the-Lake at the scenic Queen’s Landing resort and was a resounding success for all. The event was supported by 12 very generous supporters this year including; Platinum sponsors, Airtron and Keeprite, Gold sponsors, Kilmer, Emerson, Enbridge, Master Group, Yorkland. Silver sponsors including, B&B, Sloan Partnerships, WWG Totaline - Carrier Enterprises, and our general sponsors, Sporlan - Division of Parker Hannifin and Springbank. Thanks so much to all those who supported and volunteered for this event!
Attendees provided feedback that the event, the excursions - and all the FOOD - were great! “Everything was very well-organized and so much fun.” Among the festivities, we dined on local, organic roast pig at Ravines Winery, visited the back of the Falls and several other local attractions, and attended the award-winning production of Cabaret at the Shaw.
The 47th ORAC Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday, May 3, 2014 followed later that evening by the President’s Dinner in the beautiful Tiara restaurant, with yet another delicious meal, fabulous photos, cruising swag and musical interludes. A very special congratulations went out that evening to Mr. Stan Parzygnat of Sundawn Integrated Services who received the ORAC Distinguished Service Award for his many valuable contributions to the HVACR industry.
All delegates and associates are invited to meet again next year from April 24 to May 2, 2015 to celebrate the 48th anniversary of the association on a spectacular Royal Caribbean | Oasis of the Seas cruise! The ship has a dozen restaurants, four pool areas, onboard surfing, and a tree-lined, open-air area called Central Park.
All AGM registrants (and all those interested) are offered a free spa package valued at $150 if you register for the cruise before October 15, 2014.
We hope you can join us!
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Now in the third and increasingly successful year of the Apprenticeship Intake program, we’re very pleased to announce we will be launching a new application website in the fall! The new system will be streamlined and completely redesigned to be much more user-friendly.
The Committee has seen an increase in overall applicant test scores in the past three years, and we hope that will be reflected in the apprentices’ course work at the JTAC. There has also been a significant increase in the number of first year apprentices that have been requested by ORAC contractors this year – our numbers have in fact increased by 50%! We will be accepting almost 100 candidates this year, more than ever before.
In 2012, we had 189 applications completed. In 2013, 307 and this year, we’ve received more than 400 completed applications from across Ontario. More than 1000 attempt to apply and about 400 actually completed the application - we’ve seen a consistent jump each year and we expect this trend to level out in the coming years.
Of those accepted to the list of available candidates, almost 98% have either another trade or HVAC college diplomas and/or a gas fitters license. The program has really caught on with ORAC members – there are more first year’s being requested this year than ever before. It seems contractors are planning for the future and it shows.
Due to the system glitch, we are a few months delayed in processing our candidates for the southwest, eastern and northern regions. We have a plan in process and we will have more candidates available by mid-July for these areas – we appreciate your patience. For the next intake period, we look forward to a streamlined application process for applicants -- and a more user-friendly online system for members to access the list of approved candidates. The new system is also being designed for mobile access so it will be available on any device. Stay tuned at www.oraca.ca for information on the launch of the new application intake site in the fall.
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DIGITAL THERMOSTATS RECALLED DUE TO FIRE HAZARD
Approximately 403,000 sold in Canada.
A joint recall issued April 30, 2014 with Health Canada, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (US CPSC) and White-Rodgers involves four models of White-Rodgers digital thermostats. Approximately 403,000 were sold in Canada and about 740,000 were sold in the United States from January 2006 through to December 2013.
The effected models (models 1F80-04xx, 1F83-04xx, 1F85-04xx and 1F86-04xx) are branded as follows: COMFORTSENTRY, DICO, Emerson, Frigidaire, Maytag, Nutone, Partners Choice, Rheem, Ruud, Unico, Water Furnace, Westinghouse, White-Rodgers or Zonefirst. The thermostats have a battery door on the top left corner.
Call White-Rodgers toll-free at 888-624-1901 from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CT Monday through Friday or visit the Emerson White Technologies' website and click on “White-Rodgers 1F8x-04xx Thermostat Recall” for more information.
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THE MASTER GROUP BRINGS IN EQUITY PARTNER
Hot on the heels of the signing of an agreement to acquire the distribution component of Eastern Refrigeration Supply Co. Ltd., The Master Group L.P. has signed a transaction involving the sale of 65 per cent of the company to Novacap, a Quebec-based private equity firm. The independent HVAC/R distributor will operate with the current management team of Alain Fournier, Michel Ringuet and Louis St-Laurent in place.
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OCS POSTS 2014 ONTARIO ELECTION CONSTRUCTION-RELATED CAMPAIGN COMMITMENTS*
The Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) posted the following on May 16, 2014.
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PC Party |
Liberal Party |
| Infrastructure |
- Not an explicit promise, but plan mentions an annual $12 billion infrastructure budget
- Province to assume control over rail-based transit (TTC’s subway service) and highways
- Plan says PC gov’t will be “…demanding better value and better service from current operators and their unions…”
- Proposed Ontario Transportation Trust will fund transit projects from asset sales and future surpluses
- LRT projects in GTA will be cancelled, but subways to Scarborough and Etobicoke will be funded
- No tax increases to fund transit
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- Planned expenditure of $130 billion dollars in public infrastructure over the next 10 years
- Includes $29 billion over 10 years available for transit infrastructure in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) as well as across Ontario
- $11.4 billion over 10 years in major hospital expansion and redevelopment projects
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| Post-secondary Education and Apprenticeship |
- Abolishing Ontario College of Trades
- Establishing a universal apprenticeship ratio of 1:1
- “…making it easier for people to get jobs as electricians, plumbers or precision machine operators by making trades training a community college course like any other.” – Note: this commitment is unclear and requires further review or clarification.
- Expects these moves to create 200,000 new apprentice spaces -- 42% of the net new jobs expected in the PC platform
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- No changes promised to Ontario College of Trades or process for adjusting apprenticeship ratios, or designating trades as mandatory or voluntary
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| Labour |
- Secret ballot for all certification votes
- Ensure that workers are not supporting political causes they don’t support
- For union leadership, financial transparency requirements similar to corporations and charities
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- No changes promised to date for labour legislation – recent legislation proposed shortening ICI raiding period to 60-days
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*As of May 16, 2014. NDP campaign commitments will likely be made in the coming weeks.
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