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Construction associations
The Edmonton Journal The new agreement between Edmonton Construction Association and its Fort McMurray counterpart to speak as one voice on critical issues creates a formidable lobby group -- especially if you look at construction value. ECA is Western Canada's largest construction association, with more than 725 members, while Fort Mac has 130. More importantly they include some of the largest construction companies in North America handling some of the biggest projects. And that's a voice to be heard. "Between us we represent the lion's share of construction in this province now and in the future," says ECA executive vice-president Darlene LaTrace. "And it got to a point where we need to speak to the issues specific to the region." The work up here is more geared to heavy industrial than high-rise towers, so the challenges are quite different than southern Alberta, she says. Fort McMurray also feels isolated politically, and the agreement allows ECA to speak on their behalf with the different levels of government. ECA resigned from the Alberta Construction Association last year, and Fort McMurray followed suit in January. ECA said at the time the split had been building for years and they finally had enough of ACE interfering in their core operations. |
