November 5, 2009
CanaData Conference 2009
U.S. stimulus will help lift commodity prices: Scotiabank economist
Given that U.S. stimulus spending is just starting to have an effect on the prices of commodities and construction materials, Scotiabank’s vice-president of economics Patricia Mohr says the next 12 months will be critical.
“I think we’re only now beginning to see the impact of government infrastructure spending as part of the Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus,” Mohr said in an interview with Reed Construction Data during last month’s CanaData Construction Industry Forecasts Conference in Toronto.
“There has been a lift in municipal spending in the United States on water systems and power systems, but I think the overall level of spending remains quite low.
“Nevertheless, we would see the Obama administration fiscal stimulus really kicking in a little more in the second half of 2009 and definitely in 2010,” Mohr added. ”So it probably will gradually lift steel prices.”
In particular, Mohr noted, the increase in U.S. motor vehicle assembly – an industry that is steel- and copper-intensive – will also lift commodity prices.
Check out the executive summary from the 2009 CanaData Conference.
VIDEO: B.C. Construction Association welcomes standardized contract forms
Standardized construction documents are long overdue, says the president of the B.C. Construction Association.
Port Mann Bridge under construction
Time-lapse footage shows the progress of construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Metro Vancouver.
VIDEO: How effective has stimulus spending been?
If you want a good indication of how effective government stimulus spending has been in Canada, look at the “remarkable” institutional starts statistics for the first half of 2010, CanaData chief economist Alex Carrick says.
VIDEO: Owners must lead charge toward BIM adoption
The greatest challenge in getting the architecture, engineering and construction industries to embrace building information modeling is convincing individual players they’d be better off working collaboratively, says the chair of the Canada BIM Council.
VIDEO: Canada’s economy is slowing down
As fall approaches, the Canadian economy is slowing down, but this lower growth is due to factors that beyond the nation’s control, says CanaData Chief Economist Alex Carrick.
VIDEO: Canada should embrace rainscreen cladding systems
Canada has been too slow to embrace rainscreen cladding systems, despite the advantages they offer in terms of better performance, low-cost maintenance and longer-lasting structures, says a distributor of architectural building products.
VIDEO: Ontario General Contractors Association shows support for Gold Seal
All the directors on the board of the Ontario General Contractors Association have become Gold Seal Champions, part of an effort to help promote the national construction certification program.
VIDEO: Green building critical in triple bottom line accounting
Building design and construction standards will undergo significant changes as “triple bottom line” accounting becomes more commonplace in the industry, says a Saskatchewan-based economist.
VIDEO: Boom truck tips over at Vancouver condo project
A boom truck tipped over while delivering lumber to a low-rise condominium construction project in Vancouver’s trendy Kitsilano neighbourhood, near Vine Street and First Avenue.
