Well, we’ve finished the turkey, taken down the tree, gifted everyone, toasted everyone else, and have hopefully shovelled the snow off the driveway and sidewalks for the very last time.

According to the experts, we are all about to face some tough economic times. At a recent Contractor’s Only meeting, contractors reported an average 20 percent decrease in work opportunities for 2009 compared with the year before. Some gaged their expected decreases at around 10 percent, while others saw reported a work reduction of as much as 50 percent for the new year. Of course these types of numbers don’t excite SMACNA-BC Contractor’s, but contractors are not going to over react to the downturn because they have been here before.

This economic downturn is not a time to panic, but an opportunity to regroup and purge operations from the top down. Hopefully building owners and developers will realize and make use of some key opportunities presented by the economic downturn such as cost reductions resulting from a relative increase in the availability of skilled labour and less compressed schedules.

BC is not in quite as bad shape as other Canadian provinces. Federally, unlike our southern neighbours, we begin 2009 with no perceived saviour offering hope; instead we venture into 2009 with an unstable minority government in Ottawa, which hopefully will be stabilized sooner than later.

I apologize if I have depressed you with the aforementioned, though brief outlook, but remember as Stephen Wright says, “Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.”

Upcoming events / dates:

January 13-14    Interest Based Bargaining Program
February 14        Don’t forget Valentine’s Day
February 19        SMACNA-BC Membership Meeting
March 12            CSABC: “Owner’s Course” - Sheraton Guildford
March 20th         First Day of Spring
April 30-May 3    SMACNA-BC 40th Annual Convention - Harrison Hot Springs, Harrison, BC
September 17    SMACNA-BC Membership Meeting
September 18    SMACNA-BC Golf Classic - Northview GCC
October 11-15    SMACNA National Convention - Palm Desert, CA
December 4        SMACNA-BC Annual Christmas Party - Pan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver, BC

SMJ