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CGA newsletter – August 2008

The Canadian Glass Association held its semi-annual meeting in Edmonton, Alta., on June 6. We would like to thank the executive board of the Glass Trades Association (GTA) for hosting our meeting.

President’s report
By David Husson, CGA president

The Canadian Glass Association held its semi-annual meeting in Edmonton, Alta., on June 6. We would like to thank the executive board of the Glass Trades Association (GTA) for hosting our meeting. We would like to especially thank GTA president Ross Wady and Rick Zucchetto for their hospitality. It was very exciting to see the new SAIT Glaziers Apprenticeship Program, which was put together in six months by the GTA, who were currently putting their first group of apprentices through their facility when we visited.

We had a very productive meeting that predominantly dealt with the future of the CGA. It was decided that the CGA would hire a part-time person to assist our association to move forward. We are pleased to announce that we have hired Zana Gordon of British Columbia to perform these duties on our behalf.

As most of you are aware, one of the principal items that we have been dealing with is the introduction of the Glazing Systems Specifications Manual for Ontario. We now have a completion date set for Sept. 1 of this year. It has taken a lot of work by the Architectural Glass and Metal Contractors Association (AGMCA), the Ontario Glass and Metal Association (OGMA) and the Glazing Contractors Association of B.C. to achieve this. Congratulations to those groups.

We are having our Annual General Meeting AGM in Toronto, Ont., in December. We invite CGA members to attend or forward questions they may have regarding the association.

OGMA
By Frank Fulton

The Ontario Glass and Metal Association (OGMA) honoured Bill Parkin at its Spring Golf Tournament in May by presenting him with the OGMA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Parkin was introduced to the glass industry as an estimator for Sam Tillet at New Toronto Glass in 1953.  His father Al worked as a glazier there. Within a few years he moved on to Pilkington Glass in 1955 as an estimator, and then sales. He was promoted to office manager at Pilkington Glass when the company installed its second Canadian float glass line in 1970. He is one of the few people in the glass industry who can claim to have met and shaken hands with Lord Harry Pilkington as well as his successor, Sir Alastair Pilkington, the inventor of the float glass process. (Oddly, the two were not even distantly related to each other.) He left Pilkington in 1975 to start his own business, Brampton Glass, with longtime friend and fellow Pilkington colleague Morris Lash.

Brampton Glass grew by leaps and bounds during the booming economy of the late 1970s to the point where they decided, against Parkin’s wishes, to give up on the small day-to-day jobs and focus only on large projects.
The economy took a nosedive in 1980, large jobs dried up, contractors went under, and the customers doing small projects had taken their business elsewhere.

It was then that Parkin learned just how supportive large Canadian financial institutions become when you need them the most and he found himself in the difficult position of having to start over. He left Brampton Glass to open his own glass business in Burlington in 1981.

At Burlington Glass and Mirror Parkin was joined by his father Al Parkin, who managed the shop. Al was with Burlington glass until the age of 75. They were then joined by Parkin’s son Greg in 1983 where three generations worked together in the family business.

Parkin’s wife, Margaret, also worked at Burlington for almost 15 years, but decided to take an early retirement at the age of 70. At one point his entire family was working with him at Burlington Glass.

When the devastating recession hit in 1990, and while over half the glazing contracting companies were going out of business, the lessons Parkin learned the hard way a decade earlier about not overextending himself, focusing on small clients and avoiding the banks, helped him to weather the five-year storm. 

Parkin has been a longtime and loyal member of the OGMA and its predecessor, the Metro Toronto Glass Association (MTGA) for as long as he’s been involved in the glass industry. He served on the board of directors of the MTGA for more than a decade during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Today Parkin is semi-retired, but friends claim that he will never fully retire because he loves his work, the close-knit family in the business, spending time with customers and many friends he has made over his years in the glass business.

PGAA
By Steve Petersen

The Provincial Glaziers Association of Alberta (PGAA) has launched a website at www.pgaa.ca. Glazing-related companies can download membership applications, order a copy of the Glazing System Specification Manuals, link with other glass association websites, and locate the nearest provincial apprenticeship office.

There are more than 500 glass-related companies in Alberta. We have almost 100 members, mostly in Calgary and Edmonton, with the Glass Trades Association of Northern Alberta (GTA) and the Glass and Architectural Metals Association (GAMA) in Calgary. We would like to at least double that number.

 We are updating our list of glazing companies, however, there have been some major changes, with Belron buying automotive glass companies and then rationalizing the store locations. This is a lot of time-consuming work. We want to be able to fax or e-mail the entire Alberta glazing market.
Sales of the Glazing Systems Specifications Manual have slowed, and we must re-energize our sales. We have more than 55 manuals sold.

The Provincial Glaziers Association of Alberta (PGAA) is looking for a first vice-president, preferably from the Edmonton area, and more regional and autoglass industry directors. George Kennedy has agreed to be the second vice-president. The presidents of the GTA and GAMA are also directors. We are looking into a managing director as a paid position due to the time investment required to follow through on our communication agenda with the glass industry.

 
GCA of BC
By Zana Gordon

In the past few months the Glazing Contractors Association of BC has been actively involved with the re-evaluation of the apprenticeship program.

Working with Construction Industry Training Organization (CITO), a group of industry leaders have organized a governance committee to oversee the changes in the apprentice program.  This committee will review the National Occupational Analysis recommendations and make any necessary changes. The new program is slated for the first sessions to be held in January 2009. Currently the GCA of BC is working with a few educational facilities to see who can offer what portion of the program. Currently there are approximately 1,400 registered apprentices in British Columbia; all of these are in varying stages of education and locations.  More research will be conducted to see what the exact status is of each apprentice.  We believe there are currently approximately 360 active apprentices.
Thompson River University continues to add new apprentices to our industry.  It has run three Module A sessions this year. These sessions have brought approximately 14 new glaziers into this industry. Stuart Browning, the glazing instructor from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), has retired from teaching. At this time BCIT does not have a replacement instructor. DC38 continues to offer the Glazing Program at its location in Surrey.

The board of directors met recently for an in-depth strategy planning session. This session discussed areas such as education, membership retention and recruitment, social activities, value-based programs, association affiliations, and much more. This plan will be presented at the first general meeting in September.

The GCA of BC/WDMA-BC 17th Annual Golf Tournament was held at Hazelmere Golf and Country Club. The tournament this year was a smashing success. We had full course with 149 golfers and achieved the highest level of sponsor participation. I would like to thank the following sponsors: Platinum Sponsors include Dow Corning and Cardinal IG; Gold Level Sponsors include Antamex International Inc, Kawneer Company Canada Inc., Starline Windows, Tremco Canada Division; Silver Level Sponsors include Allied Windows, Alumicor, BC Hydro, Bronco Industries, Euroline Windows, PFG Glass, True North Drafting, TruSeal, and Western Glass & Mirrors.

We had 20 “Hole Sponsors” also. The social committee did an amazing job to achieve this level of success. The committee consists of Steve Bal (chair) of AFG Glass, Devin Pickles of Starline Windows, Rich Porayko of Simplicity Computers Solutions Inc., Mike Taylor of Cascade Aqua-Tech Ltd., Ken Wilson of Firestone Building Products and Ingrid Cooper of WDMA-BC. I applaud all who assisted with this event. We will be holding the 18th Annual Golf Tournament at Hazelmere Golf Course next year on May 21. 

Watch our website at www.gca-bc.org for current information and upcoming events, social activities, meetings and educational opportunities.

GDAS
The Glass Dealers Association of Saskatchewan (GDAS) held its 2nd annual Auto Glass Technician Competition on May 3 in Saskatoon, in conjunction with its Annual General meeting. The competitions were held at the Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), Claim Centre.

There were seven contestants competing to be crowned the best in Saskatchewan and to go on to compete in Las Vegas, Nev., at the Auto Glass Technician Olympics to be held in November. This year’s winner was Brendan Picard of Novus Auto Glass in Regina.  This will be the second year Brendan has won the competition and represented the GDAS in Las Vegas at the AGTO.  

Nathaniel Vey and Jordy Racette both with Speedy Glass placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. The winner was announced at the GDAS’ AGM banquet that evening. n

AGMCA
By Dennis Haatvedt
The Architectural Glass and Metal contractors Association (AGMCA) has covered a lot of ground in areas of apprenticeship and training, LEED for construction, Council of Ontario Construction Association involvement, work with government on Occupational Health and Safety and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, among other initiatives.

The AGMCA has also completed the final changes to the Glazing Systems Specifications Manual for Ontario, which it sent to the CGA in BC for review. The tentative target date for its launch is Sept. 1.

The AGMCA has appointed its 2008/2008 Executive Board of Directors: Rene Vlahovic, president; Anthony Menecola, vice-president; Al Jones, treasurer; Dennis Haatvedt, Rick House, Shawn McHale, George Scullion, directors at large; Kline Holland, director of labour relations and Barrie Eon, Association manager.