November 5, 2009
CanaData Conference 2009
Will economically sound Canada be forgotten about after the recession?
Canada has garnered worldwide attention for its sound economic stewardship, which has helped the country weather the downturn better than other industrial nations. But will we be forgotten about when things go back to normal?
“I don’t think it really matters,” said Linda Nazareth, an economist with the Business News Network and a keynote speaker at last month’s CanaData Construction Industry Forecasts Conference in Toronto. “I think the fact that we have relatively sound fundamentals is what’s going to help us over the long term.
“The other thing that helps us compared to other nations, and probably leaves us in a better place, is that we didn’t run gigantic deficits this time around,” she added.
Lou Schizas, a talk radio business analyst, co-keynote speaker – and Nazareth’s husband – discussed what he thought the greatest threat to the economic recovery in Canada may be.
“The biggest threat I see is confidence,“ Schizas said. “The other thing is that we have to make sure that banks put available credit into the marketplace.”
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.
