“Anyone opting for a trade career can look forward to a challenging career with excellent opportunities for ad- vancement,” he said. “Students entering a career in the trade sector will usually enter the workplace with much less debt than if he or she was coming out of university.” He says it is important for people to understand that roofing has become more complex and requires a different skill set than in the past with less reliance on physical work and more on mental efforts. “Workers must be skilled in areas such as quality assur- ance when working with single ply technologies,” he said. “Continuous training and development of our employees and allowing them to grow and progress within the indus- try will be a key for our industry.” He says there is potential help through the federal gov- ernment’s Canada Job Grant. Brunet says the program, ad- ministered by each province, helps employers train new or existing employees for jobs that need to be filled. In addition to essential labour and continued training, there is also concern about the aging demographic of busi- ness owners who, nearing retirement, must define and plan their exit strategies. He says CRCA will continue to work with industry part- ners including the Canadian Construction Association and the National Trade Contractors Coalition of Canada to mon- itor and react to labour issues. ROOFTech, the biennial Canadian Roofing Exposition, has been scheduled for May 5, 2015 at the Vancouver Con- vention Centre. Brunet says the show has had huge suc- cess with its concept of seminars and live demonstrations during the trade show and the concept remains for this year. “We are in the process of finalizing the seminars and at least one of them will have a Western flair to it.” He says the last ROOFTech offered continuous education credits to many professionals attending the seminars. The hope is to expand the group of professionals who will qualify for credits at ROOFTech 2015. Brunet says he anticipates VOCs, hazardous product regulations, occupancy safety and sustainable and green building rating systems will be increasingly important chal- lenges. “On a national basis the number one priority in the work- place is worker safety and it will continue to be. Along with that, occupancy safety is also becoming very important when you are doing work on a building that is occupied.” For more information on CRCA, visit www.roofingcanada.com. To find out about ROOFTech, visit www.rooftech.ca. The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Winter 2015 – 51