Bulletin Board

Paul Isabella, President and COO, Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. of Herndon, Virginia, yesterday announced the retirement of Beacon Canada President, Jean-Guy Plante. Although his retirement is effective immediately, Mr. Plante has agreed to to remain active with Beacon to ensure a smooth transition.

Speaking of transition, Mr. Plante's retirement has resulted in the appointment of Marc Allaire to the position of President of Beacon Canada, effective immediately. No stranger to the roofing industry in Ontario and Canada, Mr. Allaire was formerly Beacon's Regional Manager for Central Canada and has held a number of prominent positions within the Ontario roofing industry.

Best wishes go out to both Jean-Guy and Marc in their new ventures.

Fenn & Fenn Insurance Practice Inc., brokers for the OIRCA Liability Insurance Program, has added a President's Blog to their website. The direct link is as follows: http://www.fenninsurance.com/index.php/site/simonsblog

Simon Fenn's March 26, 2008 blog discusses "Understanding the True Value of Business Insurance".

Mr. John Mayne has resigned as President of the OIRCA, effective Tuesday, March 25, 2008. Mr. Mayne's resignation became necessary as a result of the sale of his business, MJM Roofing & Siding of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and his retirement from the roofing industry.

Mr. David Devine of D.R. Devine Roofing of Ottawa, OIRCA First Vice-President, has been appointed Association President effective immediately. Mr. Jim Norman, Palmer Roofing & Insulation, St. Clements, Ontario will move from Second Vice-President to First Vice-President.

During the January 24, 2008 OIRCA Annual General Meeting, OIRCA Annual Zero Frequency Category Awards were presented to:

 Provincial Industrial Roofing & Sheet Metal Company, Concord (100,001 manhours and over) and

Cordeiro Roofing Ltd., Toronto (100,000 man hours and under) .

In addition to those awards, a total of 44 member companies from across the province won Annual Zero Frequency Awards.

All of these awards are presented to companies that worked without a lost time injury (LTI) in the award year (2006).

During the January 24, 2008 OIRCA Annual General Meeting, the following individuals from OIRCA member companies were announced as the 2008 OIRCA Board of Directors:

John Mayne, MJM Roofing & Siding, S.S. Marie, (President)

Manuel DaCosta, Viana Roofing & Sheet Metal Ltd., Toronto, (Treasurer)

Brian Benham, York Roofing Limited, Concord

Doug Brown, Convoy Supply Ltd., Etobicoke

Pat Fagan, Carlisle SynTec Canada, Oakville

Nelson Rites, Crawford Roofing Corporation, Toronto

Graydon Hexham, Pinnacle Roofing Consultants Inc., Richmond Hill

Blair Holmes, Flynn Canada Ltd., Hamilton

Barry Warner, Covertite Eastern Ltd., Kingston

Mike Witt, Semple-Gooder Roofing Ltd., London

OIRCA member contractor, Semple-Gooder Roofing Ltd., is the recipiant of the 2007 Roofing Canada Award presented annually by the Canadian Roofing Contractors Association. Won for their roofing restoration work at the New St. James Presbyterian Church in London, Ontario, the project is a 110 year-old local landmark. Materials installed on the 120 foot church towers included new lead-coated copper as well as new red slate.

To read the whole story on this challenging project, see the current issue of Ontario Roofing News on this website. Simply click the Ontario Roofing News tab at the top of the website and connect to the online version of the publication. If you would like to receive a hard copy through the regular mail follow the instructions to contact the OIRCA office.

The OIRCA Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at The Old Mill in Toronto.

The AGM will be held in conjunction with two morning seminars that address the subject: Where are we going to find the roofers of the future? At 10:00 a.m. Silvia Bendo, Program Manager for CREWS (Construction Recruitment External Workers Services) will discuss options available to employers seeking assistance with the process of hiring foreign workers. At 11:00 a.m. John Tibbits, President of Conestoga College will make a presentation on an exciting opportunity available to the OIRCA, the building of a "roofing training institute" at their Waterloo campus. Lunch will follow this session at 12:30 p.m.

If the future of your workforce is important to you, don't miss these valuable seminars. Members should watch for their invitation which has been sent by both regular and e-mail.

The City of Toronto's financial crisis does not seem to be getting in the way of plans to install a green roof on the newly refurbished Victoria Park subway station. Toronto's executive committee gave the approval to spend an additional $3.2 million dollars for the roof top garden. This decision preceded TTC's announcement that transit fares are on the rise.

Critics question the city's move especially in light of the fact that libraries and community centres are facing a cut in hours of operation and the TTC is contemplating shutting down certain bus routes.

Toronto's Deputy Mayor, Joe Pantalone, the driving force behind Toronto's green roof program believes that the benefits to the city and the planet will far outlive the city's financial crisis.

CINDOTT Inc. and B.E.T. Inc. have announced their upcoming course dates for the fall, winter and spring. This course combines classroom with hands-on training and includes the construction of roof assemblies on full size decks. Systems covered include: BUR, EPDM, PVC, TPO and Mod Bit. Each student will receive a 180 page roofing reference manual, a course certificate and 29.5 CEH's rewarded by RCI Inc.

Scheduled dates are as follows:

November 19-23

December 3-7

January 28- Feb 1

February 11-15

March 3-7

April 7-11

For more information contact:

George Wilson: 416-606-3270, gwilson18@cogeco.ca

Peter Zahradnik: 416-540-2523, peter.zahradnik@bellnet.ca