GlassTalk

Aynsley Dueck is operations manager at Duxton Windows and Doors and has focused on bringing Continuous Improvement and Lean processes to her operation for several years now. She talks about just what these concepts are and how they can be applied to window, door and commercial façade manufacturing environments. We cover how to deal with the disruption and change that comes with reforming your proc...

With prescient timing, Samuel Doyon-Bissonnette, co-president of Unicel Architectural, has recently developed and brought to market a Passive House-certified stick-built curtainwall system using engineered wood. The timing is great because recent changes to codes and standards allow architects to do more with wood construction than ever before. Also, wood answers many questions about energy effici...

Last year in Ontario, 30 percent of all the working people who died from opioid overdose worked in the construction industry. It’s clearly time for we who employ tradespeople to pay some extra attention to this issue and be prepared to help those in our companies who struggle with substance use and misuse. To help, Jan Chappel, a senior occupational health and safety specialist with CCOHS, joined...

Hospitals and other health care facilities are commissioning some of the best glazing projects in Canada today. Not content any more with square brick facades, the healthcare industry has become a prime target for architectural glass companies looking for opportunities to apply their very best creativity and technology. Vincent Couturier, COO of Longueuil, Que., fabricator, Unicel Architectural, j...

Margaret Webb has retired after 22 years of dedicating inordinate amounts of time, energy, passion and expertise to this industry. She was instrumental in creating not one but two industry associations: the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance then the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance. GlassTalks was fortunate to get Margaret to step back into the industry for a brief moment following...

Monte McNaughton joins Glass Talk to explain the new agency, Skilled Trades Ontario, which replaces the Ontario College of Trades as the skilled trades regulator in the province. McNaughton explains his the reason for the change and the direction the new organization will take in trying to smooth the path for apprentices to move through the system, and in trying to attract new workers to the trade...

Glass Canada brand manager Navneet Matharu joins GlassTalk for a special New Year look back and look ahead. We talk about the supply chain issues that emerged in the second year of COVID; do some gossiping about what suppliers and contractors are saying; touch on the big news stories of 2021; and preview the year ahead in Canada’s commercial glazing B2B channel, including a preview of our exciting...

Keeping an eye (and ear) on your critical materials, equipment and personnel is more important than ever. Luckily, technology in site security systems is advancing quickly. Gavin Daly of Axis Communications joins GlassTalk to talk about the principles of security systems: what are the objectives? What is possible and not possible? What threats and opportunities should you consider? He touches on t...

The Ontario Construction Secretariat is the liaison between the unionized trades and employers in Ontario, so their CEO, Robert Bronk, is well positioned to discuss the big topic bedeviling all of us these days – skilled labour supply. Bronk used to train glaziers, so he knows this industry. We had a wide-ranging conversation about the sources of the present skilled trades shortage; the need for g...

We know the pandemic has done SOMETHING to our supply chains. But what? Michael Gabert and the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors are tasked with understanding the prices and availability of all manner of construction supplies and generating accurate estimates and forecasts for their clients. So he was the perfect person to have on the podcast to explain why it’s so hard to get the things we...

The Buildings Show, Canada’s largest construction show happening Dec. 1 to 3 at the Toronto Convention Centre, has been a popular destination for glazing contractors because of the opportunity it affords to take in the broadest possible range of suppliers and conference topics out there. There’s always a nice selection of commercial glazing and façade construction products, but also HVAC, insulati...

The young president of one of Canada’s iconic architectural glass fabricators, Antamex, joins Glass Talk to share his experiences through a period of whirlwind change for the company. From struggles, to ownership by international giant, Oldcastle, to independence and restructuring, Spurgeon and his team have been on a wild ride for many years. Now Spurgeon is leveraging the lessons learned and the...

Bringing the view from (barely) south of the border, industry influencer Max Perilstein joins Glass Talk to shoot the breeze about everything related to architectural glass and beyond. No one love the glass business more or has been commenting on it for longer, so tune in for Max's takes on the supply crunch, energy efficient glazing, the AGC sale to Cardinal, float glass production, training and...

We all know there’s a new world coming, but what will it look like? Francis Pomerleau, chief executive for national strategy at one of Canada’s largest construction contractors, has some ideas. Pomerleau has launched a brand initiative for Pomerleau locating the company’s focus in three key areas: collaboration, innovation and sustainability. He’s positioning the company to meet the next wave of c...

At Top Glass in April, Canadian Premium Sand burst on to the Canadian architectural glass scene with an announcement that it was finalizing plans to build a float glass facility north of Winnipeg using high-quality sand from its deposit near Wanipigow, Man. Whether the new facility will produce architectural glass or glass for solar panels remains uncertain, but either way the return of primary gl...

Black Canadians have been part of our construction industry for as long as there’s been one, including many Black-owned contracting businesses. Now, a new organization known as the Afro-Canadian Contractors Association has come along to raise awareness of the good work they do, promote their inclusion and fair treatment and to help its members take advantage of the opportunities out there in our i...

Jay Polding of SolidCAD joins Glass Canada editor Patrick Flannery to talk about digital twinning. It’s the next iteration of building information modeling, turning the digital model of a structure into a living representation of the building including tracking of system performance, energy use, maintenance schedules, component failures and more. Building owners see their need for information abou...

Some energy markets across Canada are now competitive places with multiple providers making different offerings. But navigating these waters can be complicated and even risky without the right guidance. Energy broker Sanjana Bansal works with Anne Folomo and Schooley Mitchell to advise industrial clients on how to get the most zap for their buck when shopping for hydro and natural gas contracts. T...

Rich is probably the only person in Canada who is both a writer and a glass guy. With over 70 articles under his belt and a new gig as the back page columnist for Glass Canada magazine, Rich also has a long track record as a marketing consultant with the likes of Binswanger Glass, Hartung, Garibaldi Glass, PFG, the National Glass Association and others. He’s seen enough to have some opinions and i...

We pick the brain of Andrew Dolphin, general manager of glass operations at BV Glazing and president of the Ontario Glass and Metal Association, about some of the issues facing glass fabricators these days. Dolphin is looking with some concern at the city of Toronto’s proposals to require bird friendly patterns on surface #1 of all new windows. He thinks a float glass plant in southern Ontario wou...

There’s a couple new CSA standards in town – A440.6 and S478 – and David De Rose is the man with the information on both. A440.6 is a new standard for high-exposure fenestration that covers the right way to install and seal punched windows, continuous windows and window wall above four storeys. We talk about the nifty sealant compatibility chart and maintenance appendix in the new standard. Then t...

Bonny is back on Glass Talk with crucial information on changes to various federal and Ontario pandemic relief programs. Overall, eligibility is tightening, but some new programs are on the horizon. We also chat about how effective these efforts have been and what is likely to happen to them going forward.

Pandemic response expert Suzanne Bernier rejoins Glass Talk to tell us what we’ve learned in six months of pandemic about the virus, how it spreads and what businesses should do to combat it. We touch on some of the controversies around masks and lockdowns and whether surfaces are primary vectors for COVID-19. Suzanne looks ahead to the winter and the prospects for a vaccine – and the ne...

Back in April, at the height of the first wave of COVID-19, we spoke to Jay McColl, a business representative for the International Union of Painters and Trades District Council 46 in southern Ontario and a journeyman glazier. McColl was at the forefront of the union’s efforts to keep its workers safe and react to the wildly changing situation at the time. He also reflects on his experiences in th...

The Architectural Glass and Metal Technician program certifies glazier skills. But how do you test in a pandemic? Jeff and Ben join Patrick Flannery to explain how they came up with ways to test students remotely, and maintain the program’s high standards of rigor and integrity. They also cover how the North American Contractor Certification program acts as a quality assurance system for glazing c...