2023-09-06 04:00:00
As Quebec prepares to “modernize” the construction sector, entrepreneurs want more flexibility on construction sites, in order to lower the cost of building condos, hospitals and other projects.
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Quebec might save up to 10% of hours worked by relaxing current regulations, according to the Association de la construction du Québec (ACQ), which unveiled a study to this effect on Tuesday.
By allowing workers to perform tasks that are not specifically included in the definition of their trade, the construction industry might save nearly one hour out of 10, which would reduce the bill passed on to commercial customers and governments.
“This proposal might have a significant impact on productivity in our industry, without eliminating a single one of the current trades,” specifies Jean-François Arbour, president of the ACQ.
Discouraged by current rules
A former entrepreneur, who prefers to remain anonymous, says he decided to change jobs because the heaviness of the regulations was hurting his business.
“We are the place in the world where it is the most complicated. On a construction site, if my carpenter wants to be nice and he takes the trowel from the pointer next to him to repair a little piece of wall that he has just hung, and put a little plaster, I risk to receive a fine of $10,000 or $12,000 from the CCQ!” he says.
Such fines have multiplied in recent years, he says. And this lack of flexibility ends up lengthening the duration of the work and increasing the costs.
“We have compartmentalized the construction trades so much that the worker who installs the linoleum in the kitchen cannot install a ceramic backsplash,” underlines Gabriel Giguère, public policy analyst at the MEI. “By having seven regulated trades, rather than 25, Ontario allows workers to be more versatile, which speeds up the pace of construction,” he adds.
Competence before flexibility
On the union side, it is argued that the regulations are already permissive as to the tasks that workers can perform, and that it is above all important that the employees be competent.
“Versatility requires first of all knowing your own job well from the start. There are already ways to have flexibility, but this must go through the assurance of competence at the start,” confided Éric Boisjoly, general manager of the FTQ-Construction, to the Journal last May. “It’s important for what we build to be of high quality and durable,” he said.
See you this fall
Labor Minister Jean Boulet plans to table his reform of the construction industry this fall. Decompartmentalization is precisely on the menu, with the aim of making workers more versatile and reducing delays on construction sites, he says.
When announcing the tabling of his bill, however, he stressed that he was not thinking of merging certain trades to have fewer, as is the case in Ontario.
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