✌️ Talent Thursdays: The sequel

Together with

Good morning! 🪓 Chop chop! Newfoundland and Labrador’s Cedar Cove has turned into a construction site. Crews have begun the year-long process of accessing and recycling a massive cargo vessel that ran aground in the area. The complex process involves breaking it up into smaller pieces and trucking them away. 

📈 BY THE NUMBERS

New data shows that over half of Quebec's road network is currently in poor condition, creating a maintenance deficit nearing $30 billion. Experts say this is due to the provincial government's reliance on costly complete reconstructions rather than proactive, preventive maintenance. They presented a five point plan to turn things around.

TOGETHER WITH MCABC

Don't miss your chance to get in the room for MCABC's Leadership Conference

The MCABC Leadership Conference lands in Vancouver June 10-11, with a lineup built around the forces reshaping the industry: AI, economic uncertainty, workforce gaps, and people-first leadership. 

Sessions will cover how to use AI for efficiency and profitability, what BC's political and economic shifts mean for your business, where trades training is headed, and more. (Catch the full preview here.)

If you haven’t signed up yet, now is the time.

👷‍♀️ PEOPLE MOVES

Cheryl Nelms has been appointed President of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project. With more than 25 years of experience delivering complex infrastructure projects across Canada, she brings proven leadership and expertise in transportation, buildings, water infrastructure, and alternative delivery models.

Trevor Nakka has joined QuadReal's Board of Directors, bringing more than 30 years of global leadership experience in corporate strategy, governance, capital markets, financial reporting, and audit.

Hammad Chaudhry has joined Pomerleau as Vice President, Innovation & Digital Construction.

Jessica Child has joined Turner Construction | Canada as Project Director for the Toronto business unit.

Leigh Schmidt is starting a new role as Project Leader - Mass Timber at Spearhead, after five years at Kalesnikoff.

Darryl Harrison has been promoted to President and CEO of the Winnipeg Construction Association.

Ryan Ounjian has moved on from his role as Director of Property Management at Dream after 7+ years and is now joining Imperra General Management as Director of Property Management and Operations.

Sean Maynard has been appointed Plant Manager, Western Canada at CGC Inc., where he will oversee the company's Western Canadian operations in Surrey, Port Kells, Calgary and Winnipeg. A 32-year veteran of USG, Maynard brings extensive management experience from roles across Canada and the U.S.

Mark Phillpotts-Delisser has been appointed Deputy Construction Director at Aecon Group Inc.

David Wilson is transitioning into a new role as an Enterprise Account Manager for Specialty Contractors at Procore after 7.5 years with the Procore Owners team.

Byron Bright has been appointed President, U.S., at AtkinsRéalis effective, succeeding Steve Morriss who will remain with the company to oversee the global Minerals & Metals business and lead growth initiatives with hyperscalers through the end of the year.

R. Alan Sawyer has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Corporate Development at Cormorant Utility Services, building on his previous role as SVP of Corporate Services & HSEQ where he advanced key programs including Proposals, Estimating, PMO, and Project Controls.

Dave Manson has been promoted to Vice President at Fettback & Heesterman.

Brian Buchan has been appointed Vice President of Communications at Infrastructure Ontario.

Anna Thomas-Lee, C.E.T., has joined York Construction after 5 years with Scott Builders.

Rick Goldman has been promoted to Regional Vice President at PCL Construction, expanding his leadership across Florida, Minneapolis, and PCL's in-house theming division.

Peter Mitchell has joined Bird Construction as a Senior Project Manager on the Special Projects Team, after spending five and a half years at Delnor Construction.

Jason Brown has joined Allnorth Consultants as Project Development Manager, bringing more than 30 years of experience in engineering, project execution, and operations in complex industrial environments. Based in Grande Prairie, AB, he will support client projects from early-stage definition through execution.

Tom Warner has been promoted to Senior Vice President – Project Controls at FlatironDragados, where he has spent 10 years developing and standardizing project controls practices across the company.

Peter Mitchell has joined Bird Construction as Senior Project Manager, Special Projects. 

🗞 HEADLINES

🛢️ Part two: The JGC Fluor BC LNG II joint venture—a 50/50 partnership between Fluor Canada and JGC Constructors—has received a limited notice to proceed for the proposed Phase 2 expansion of the LNG Canada export facility on Canada's west coast. 

🪏 Potash progress: Work has begun on a $4B expansion of the K+S potash mine in Saskatchewan, with major engineering and construction contracts awarded to Worley and Graham Construction. This initial phase focuses on a new compaction facility slated for completion by 2030 to process raw potash into fertilizer industry granules.

🏗️ Quebec infrastructure: Ottawa announced a ten-year, $10B federal funding agreement with Quebec to support infrastructure, health care, and sustainable transportation projects. The funding will support the Quebec City tramway, public transit electrification, higher education, and the renovation of 17 hospitals. 

🥇 First: Early work has begun on North America’s first 2+1 highway safety pilot project in northern Ontario. Modeled after cost-efficient European infrastructure, the design features a continuous three-lane configuration with a flexible median barrier that alternates passing opportunities between northbound and southbound traffic without requiring a full four-lane expansion. 

TOGETHER WITH PROCORE

Canadian construction is ready for AI. But is AI ready for construction?

The results are in… 

The conversation around AI in Canadian construction is loud. So we went looking for the truth underneath the noise. SiteNews, in partnership with Procore, surveyed Canadian construction professionals to build out a ground-level picture of how the industry is actually using AI: which tools, which workflows, and what's getting in the way.

Spoiler: only 10% of respondents report widespread adoption across multiple workflows. And the barrier isn't budget. It's something most organizations aren't talking about yet.

The full findings are out now — and they may just change how you approach AI at work.

🧠 INSIGHTS AND LEADERSHIP

Resources for professional development

• Laying the foundation for the G7’s first small modular reactor

• The problem with performance-driven companies

• Cut square without a square

• How pros prep a jobsite before their trades arrive

• Canada’s AI boom could collide with the labour shortage

💬 QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Why would we want to just keep doing things the way we were doing them? If the world’s changing, then you either change or you die, or you become irrelevant. And I’m not interested in becoming irrelevant.” - Westbank CEO Ian Gillespie

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Here’s to a great rest of the week!

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