JUST IN: ICBA is a finalist for 7 prestigious U.S. Reed Awards, which honour excellence in political campaigning, campaign management, advocacy, political consulting and political design.

In 2018, ICBA won 3 Reeds for our Site C/pink slip campaign (Best Canadian Online Ad Campaign, Best Canadian Use of Outdoor Advertising, and Best International Use of Outdoor Advertising). This year, we are finalists for 7 awards – including two of the biggest ones they hand out:

• Trade Association of the Year (a category which includes U.S. and international associations)
• Best Web Video – Overall (a category which includes U.S. and international campaigns, including all the US mid-terms), for our Big Gas ad

Being a finalist for Trade Association of the Year is an especially significant compliment to all of us at ICBA/ICBA Benefits/CIBP. What we have at ICBA is very special and it’s exciting to be recognized for it.

“Getting designated as a Reed Award Finalist is extraordinarily difficult,” said Shane D’Aprile, Co-Publisher, Campaigns & Elections. “Thousands of entries compete, but very few make the cut. That’s how it should be in the most exacting award the campaign industry has. So when you encounter a Reed Award Finalist you know one thing for certain, they produce work that’s head and shoulders above the competition.”

We are also finalists for:

• Best International Web Video (a category which includes all international campaigns outside the U.S.) for our Big Gas ad
• Best Canadian Web Video for our Big Gas ad
• Best International Outdoor Advertising (a category which includes all international campaigns outside the U.S.) for our Big Gas movie poster
• Best Canadian Outdoor Advertising for our Big Gas movie poster
• Best Canadian Website for our Stop Prop Rep pre-campaign website

The awards are handed out Feb. 21 in Austin, Texas. We will be crossing our fingers for some Big Gas Trophies!

How’s your time management? Are you a procrastinator? Don’t put it off for another day; register now for our Time Management Workshop on January 28 in Burnaby or February 20 in Victoria!

You will gain a new mindset, skillset and toolset that will optimize your personal productivity, and learn how to produce greater results in less time. Improved time management skills mean increased productivity, met deadlines, and a positive impact on all aspects of your business.

Here are some of the benefits of attending:

• Participants learn how to gain and keep control of competing priorities, concurrent projects and critical deadlines.
• Participants will learn powerful lessons about themselves, enhancing self-understanding so they can leverage their personal strengths and develop strategies to minimize the impact of their weakness.
• The focus on practicality means that people walk out with ideas and techniques they can apply the next day.

Plus, you’ll earn 1 Gold Seal Credit and 7 Group A CPD Points from BC Housing! Register now for this or any of our other upcoming courses at www.icba.ca/courses.

Do you have plans for breakfast on January 10? Check out our Construction, Excavation and Demolition Involving Hazardous Building Materials breakfast session in Burnaby. 

The process of sampling building materials to test for hazardous substances may seem straight forward, but it is often done incorrectly producing misleading or false results.

This breakfast session will provide you with an opportunity to learn about the new changes to the OHS Regulation Section 20.112, which requires additional information during hazardous materials surveys. You’ll also learn how these changes can impact your scope of work under renovation and demolition projects involving these materials.

In addition, this session will also provide a refresher on regulatory sampling requirements for submitting suspect bulk materials to a laboratory for determination of asbestos content, and a limited discussion of lead and silica bulk sampling protocols. This session will provide you with the fundamentals of interpreting hazardous material surveys and their associated analytical reports.

Plus, you’ll earn 2 Group A CPD Points from BC Housing! You can learn more about this breakfast session and register at www.icba.ca/courses.

And while you’re there, subscribe to our biweekly training newsletter at www.icba.ca/trainingnewsletter for the latest updates on courses in your area.

Jordan and Maclean break down the stunning defeat of proportional representation.

Just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean you can’t learn a few things! ICBA offers more than a dozen online courses that you can take on your own time and at your own pace. Plus, most of them offer Gold Seal Credits and BC Housing CPD Points!

Whether you’re looking for safety courses such as Confined Spaces Safety Awareness or Pipeline Construction Safety Training, or supervisory skills courses such as First Level Supervisor Training, we’re here to help. 

This year we added several more online courses to our lineup, including Working in a Respectful and Inclusive Workplace, Bear Awareness, and TDG Transportation of Dangerous Goods. We also have courses such as Construction Project Management, Construction Law, and Introduction to Construction Estimating.

Are you going for your Gold Seal Certification in 2019? It’s mandatory to take both the online and in-class portions, so get a head start and take the online course over the holidays!

When it comes to classroom courses, in 2019 we will continue to offer some of our most popular sessions, including Responsibilities of Joint Health & Safety Committees, Occupational First Aid Level 1, Supervisory and Management Skills, and many, many more. The training department adds new courses nearly every week all over BC; check out www.icba.ca/courses for the latest updates and to register for any of our upcoming courses.

The training department wishes you a safe and happy holiday season and we look forward to seeing you at one of our courses in 2019!

BURNABY, B.C.: The NDP Government’s Massey Tunnel non-announcement today will keep Lower Mainland drivers idling in traffic unnecessarily for years to come, said the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA).

“This is about a government using its partisan lens to look at a practical problem – the NDP don’t want to admit the BC Liberals ever had a single good idea,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA President. “Massey has undergone years of consultation and even had consultation about the consultation that was held. It’s time to build this bridge, get people out of traffic, and get our economy moving.”

The 10-lane Massey Bridge, cancelled by the NDP 16 months ago, was the product of a consultation process that took five years, nearly 150 technical reports, 35 meetings with regional authorities, and 110 meetings with municipal governments. “The NDP Government will shoot first and ask questions later on things like taxes, but won’t accept years of work on necessary infrastructure projects like Massey,” said Gardner. “The NDP’s handling of this project is a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money.”

The NDP’s own report acknowledges that reducing a new bridge to eight lanes will simply mean the same traffic delays 25 years from now as we see today.

“The South Fraser is growing in leaps and bounds, but the NDP refuse to acknowledge the need for new infrastructure to match. They talked the talk in opposition but don’t walk the walk in power,” said Gardner. “Whether it’s another delay on the Massey Bridge project or refusing to fund SkyTrain past Fleetwood or dragging their heels on new school construction, the is failing to invest in the infrastructure we need in our communities.”

Gardner also noted the NDP Government’s price tags don’t include a multi-million dollar markup for their preferred model of freezing out 85% of all construction workers in B.C. and handing over all construction contracts to the Building Trades unions that gave them millions in donations in previous elections. On the Pattullo Bridge, Transportation Minister Claire Trevena admitted the sweetheart deal will cost taxpayers at least seven per cent more – while other analyses show it could be several times that amount.

“By overpaying for construction on the Pattullo and Highway 1 projects, the NDP are running out of money for other critical infrastructure in Surrey and Delta,” said Gardner.