BUILDING DURHAM

Targeted Health & Safety Blitz Focuses on Keeping Workers Safe in Hot-Spot Regions

The Ontario government will begin targeted province-wide inspections of construction sites this Friday, dispatching 200 workplace inspectors, supported by provincial offenses officers, to visit 1,300 constructions sites to enforce safety requirements. Officers will also be visiting over 500 workplaces, including big box stores, food processors, manufacturers and warehouses, in Ottawa, Toronto and York Region, which have been identified as hot spots for COVID-19.

Details were provided today by Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development.

"Construction workers continue to be needed on the frontlines to build hospitals, testing centres, broadband and other critical infrastructure our province needs," said Minister McNaughton. "We've inspected these worksites regularly throughout the pandemic, but it is more important than ever, with these new variants spreading, that we continue to ensure that construction worksites are following the rules and that workers who still go to work every day are protected."

Inspectors will be checking that employers understand the risks associated with COVID-19, including how to reduce the spread in their workplace, and that measures and procedures are in place to keep workers safe. They will also be ensuring that workers are practising safe work habits both on the clock and on breaks, checking for physical distancing and wearing appropriate personal protective equipment when required.

Hot-spot workplace inspections in Ottawa, Toronto and York Region build on recent intensified inspection campaigns in Peel and Halton Regions last weekend. These campaigns will focus on enforcing the COVID-19 safety requirements and identifying those who are not following the rules. Violations may result in fines of up to $750 for individuals and $1,000 for businesses.

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It is absolutely critical that members continue to invest in and enhance health, safety and sanitation protocols as new COVID variants are more contagious and require more vigilance on jobsites. Members should review the Ministry of Labour’s guidelines for construction here and implement any infection prevention and control procedures not already in place. Also, please consult other supporting resources including OHBA’s COVID webpage, template COVID workplace health and safety plans (which all workplaces must have) and IHSA resources.

At the April 13th, 2021 Finance & Administration Committee meeting at the Region, Mary Simpson, Director - Financial Planning and Purchasing at the Region of Durham, made a brief presentation on the plans for updating the Region's development charge bylaw.

The amendment will seek to address the following:

• Remove 10% reduction on soft services
• Remove ineligible Social Services development charge as of September 18, 2022
• Include new secondary unit exemptions
• Reflect changes in collection of DCs and freezing of DCs
• Include growth-related costs for new long-term care home
• Planned implementation date - July 1, 2021
• Introduce Regional interest rate policy to address DC deferral and freezing of DCs

It should be noted that the province approved the Regional Application for a new 200-bed Long-Term Care Home in North Pickering, and staff are adapting the planned spring 2021 amendments to the Regional DC bylaw to include the consideration of the inclusion of the growth-related portion of costs for the new LTC home as part of the existing Regional DC charge for LTC.

The following is the planned timeline:

Background studies and proposed bylaws available to the public on the Region's website	April 23, 2021
Public meeting Notice	By May 5, 2021
Public Meeting of Council	May 26, 2021
Final date for public comment	May 28, 2021
Finance & Administration Committee Meeting	June 8, 2021
Regional Council Meeting	June 23, 2021
Implementation of DC Bylaw Amendments	July 1, 2021

After the presentation, several councillors had questions for Mary.

Pickering Regional Councillor Kevin Ashe asked if Mary had any information about a "voluntary development charge" implemented by York Region that funded the local hospitals, and asked if the Region could consider doing something similar.  Mary noted that hospital funding is not deemed an eligible service and she was not familiar with York's policies, but agreed to add the conversation to their policy discussions.

Mary also noted that the use of area-specific development charges (possibly in relation to new GO stations in Oshawa, Courtice and Bowmanville) and affordable housing considerations will be part of the policy discussions.

Councillor Ted Smith asked that in light of the changes to the Development Charges Act, "would you say that development is no longer going to pay for development, which is what development charges were created for?"

Mary's response was, "The methodology in some ways has modified a long standing concern, on the other hand, we are waiting to see what the implications are of the freezing of the rates and the ability to transfer payments out over time for those three classes of development.  I would point out though, for residential, none of the payment options, the deferral over the five or the 20 years applies.  Those are only for non-profit, rental and institutional, and in fact, we have been granted the elimination of the 10% deduction, which we were forced to make as part of the legislative methodology for development charges.  So I think I will be in a better question to answer that question when we come forward with the public meeting in May."

The presentation can be viewed here.

If you have comments, questions or concerns, please contact Stacey.

At today's Development Services Committee meeting in Oshawa, the committee passed staff's recommendation on expanding the Greenbelt.

The full report, DS-21-72 can be viewed here.

Prior to the report being passed, Councillor McConkey attempted to make an amendment to the recommendation, to request that all of the area north of the 407 that is not currently within the urban boundary be included in the Greenbelt.

Her amendment lost 5-1.

The original report passed unanimously.

Highlights of the report include:

1.  That the City of Oshawa supports expanding the existing Urban River Valley designated areas in the Greenbelt Plan to include the Proposed Expansion Areas,as generally outlined in Attachment 1, to the extent that they coincide with associated lands designated as Open Space and Recreation on Schedule ‘A’, Land Use, of the Oshawa Official Plan and as Natural Heritage System and Natural Heritage and/or Hydrologic Features outside of the Natural Heritage System on Schedule “D-1”, Environmental Management, of the Oshawa Official Plan;

2.  That the City of Oshawa supports expanding the existing Urban River Valley designated areas in the Greenbelt Plan to include Corridors 2 and 3 as generally outlined in Attachment 1, given that Corridor 2 is subject to Policy 5.1.9 of the Oshawa Official Plan which, among other matters, supports the maintenance and restoration of a continuous corridor function within the Lake Iroquois Beach area,and given that Corridor 3 coincides with lands already subject to Policy 5.7.2.6 of the Oshawa Official Plan which, among other matters, explicitly recognizes the importance of lands within one (1) kilometre of the Lake Ontario shoreline as wildlife habitat and a regional wildlife movement corridor;

3.  That the Province of Ontario be requested to provide implementing land acquisitionfunding to acquire new public Greenbelt Urban River Valley connection landsincluding Lake Ontario Waterfront lands;

4.  That staff be authorized to forward Item DS-21-72 and any related resolution of the Development Services Committee to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and to provide subsequent follow-up once Council has considered this matter; and,

5.  That a copy of Item DS-21-72 and the related Council resolution be sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing in response to the posting on the Environmental Registry of Ontario entitled “Consultation on growing the size of the Greenbelt” (Posting Number ERO 019-3136), with copies also provided to the Region of Durham, Durham area municipalities, Durham area M.P.P.s, the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority, and the City’s Building Industry Liaison Team which includes the Durham Chapter of the Durham Region Home Builders’ Association.

At the April 6, 2021 Region of Durham Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting, Ajax Mayor pulled correspondence from the Town of Ajax.

The Town of Ajax has passed a direction to send this letter to the Honorable Jeff Yurek at the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.  The letter outlines the Town of Ajax's objection to having three developers on the Conservation Authorities Working Group.

Initially approved by Ajax Council in February, Mayor Collier was looking for the Region of Durham to endorse this letter instead of simply receiving it for information.

In his comments to the committee, Mayor Collier mentioned that politicians must go through a commenting process to be heard, while developers have seat at the table, and said, "we feel that this is fundamentally wrong."

He continued on to say, "we feel the conservation authorities have already had their powers reduced substantially, and now to put members of the development community on; and I'm not saying anything negative about them, but I'm just saying the conservation authorities are already operating a little under duress as we've seen."

Mayor Collier also said that having developers on the working group was akin to putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.

Mayor Collier's motion was seconded by Councillor Lee, but lost.

Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan, also Chair of the committee, moved a motion to receive the correspondence for information, and stated that the working group had been in place since December, and that the 18 individuals in the group included 11 from conservation authorities, 1 politician, AMO and 2 regional staff members, and 3 from the development community.

Chair Ryan's motion to receive for information passed.

On Saturday, April 3, 2021, the Toronto Star ran an article entitled "Friends with benefits? An inside look at the money, power and influence behind the Ford government's push to build Highway 413."   The article can be read here.

OHBA & BILD have released a joint statement in response to the article, which can be read here.

On Thursday, April 8, 2021, the provincial Minister of Labour, Monte McNaughton made an announcement on an enhanced health, safety and sanitation inspection blitz on jobsites across Ontario, beginning Friday, April 9, 2021. You can view the entire press conference here.

Specific to construction, the press release notes that there will be increased inspections and enforcement across the province that will include: 

• Enhanced education and outreach to the construction sector, a robust and expanding program for rapid antigen screening for COVID-19 in construction, along with a zero-tolerance approach to enforcement of COVID-19 safety requirements on construction projects.

It is absolutely critical that members continue to invest in and enhance health, safety and sanitation protocols as new COVID variants are more contagious and require more vigilance on jobsites. 

Members should review the Ministry of Labour’s guidelines for construction here and implement any infection prevention and control procedures not already in place.

Also, please consult other supporting resources including OHBA’s COVID webpage, template COVID workplace health and safety plans (which all workplaces must have) and IHSA resources.

A new Soil & Groundwater Protocol was presented to the Regional Planning and Economic Development Committee on April 6, 2021.  The committee had no comments regarding the Protocol.

The Protocol includes updates to make it consistent with updated O.Reg. 153/04, and other improvements to streamline and simplify the process.

Highlights of the updates include:

• Remediation of the sites containing various exceedances, such as road salt, would be exempt from the requirement for an RSC; 
• The Region's Reliance Letter has been upgraded;
• Improvements to the Use of the Non-Potable Groundwater Standard - extends the conditional period to one year from 15 days;
• Site Screening Questionnaire (SSQ) - for minor development proposals, this can now be completed by an Authorized Officer/Owner instead of a QP;
• SSQ was simplified from 18 to 8 questions;
• Below grade work can now start before an RSC and/or RA has been filed.  The flexibility allows for the scenario where the timing of the RSC process can be difficult to coordinate with the normal aspects of development work;
• ESA reports - flexibility to allow for some deviations from O.Reg. 153/04 regulatory requirements, giving flexibility to the Peer Review Process;
• Peer Review Process streamlining - greater emphasis on direct communication between the QP and the Region Peer Reviewer.

The presentation is expected to be brought to Regional Council on April 26, 2021.

The presentation can be viewed here.

Based on the Premier’s announcement today, there are no new restrictions on construction. Jobsites are permitted to continue operating, with heightened enforcement of public health guidelines. As per the today’s announcement, the following businesses can remain open and operating including,

Construction

Construction activities or projects and related supporting services, including demolition and land surveying, are allowed.

Supply chain

Businesses allowed to open if they supply essential:

• support
• products
• supplies
• systems
• services, including processing, packaging, warehousing, distribution, delivery and maintenance

Real estate (including pre-sale construction)

No open houses – showing a property permitted by appointment only.

Maintenance

Maintenance, repair and property management services that manage and maintain the safety, security, sanitation and operation of institutional, commercial, industrial and residential properties and buildings are allowed.

Resources

It is absolutely critical that members continue to invest in and enhance health, safety and sanitation protocols as new COVID variants are more contagious and require more vigilance on jobsites. The Ministry of Labour will be enhancing education, outreach and enforcement of COVID-19 safety requirements on construction sites.  Members should review the Ministry of Labour’s guidelines for construction here and implement any infection prevention and control procedures not already in place. Also, please consult other supporting resources including OHBA’s COVID webpage, template COVID workplace health and safety plans (which all workplaces must have) and IHSA resources.

OHBA will continue to monitor the situation and communicate pertinent information and updates out to members. We all want safe jobsites, we need to keep each other safe. Please reach out if you have any questions.

The Durham Workforce Authority (DWA), in collaboration with the Social Research Centre (SRC) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Ontario Tech), is conducting research on business trends in Durham Region. The DWA is funded through the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (LTSD) and aims to improve the availability of local labour market information in Durham Region.

The DWA and SRC, with significant input from community partners, have worked collaboratively to create a survey designed to provide significant information on employers in Durham Region. The Employer Survey will be utilized to fill significant gaps in labour market information and better understand the skills and needs of the businesses in Durham Region.  The surveys probe employer respondents on topics such as attraction and retention of employees, skill sets required, industry outlook and the business climate in Durham Region.  Analysis of this data will be used to augment data collected from the previous Workforce Report and create a fulsome picture of the supply and demand of the labour force in Durham Region.  

Your contribution to this process is extremely important and highly valued. The surveys are anonymous and survey results are kept confidential.  The surveys take approximately 15 minutes to complete.  Please find the link to the survey below.

http://bit.ly/employersurvey2021

Should you have any questions or concerns please contact Matthew Stein, Director of the Social Research Centre at matthew.stein@ontariotechu.ca.  This study has been approved by the Ontario Tech Research Ethics Board (REB # 16926) on February 11, 2021.