Ontario’s unionized building trades have thrown their support behind three key construction projects at Bruce Power.

Delegates at the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario’s annual convention in Windsor last week passed a resolution re-affirming their commitment to collaborating to further Bruce Power’s ongoing Life-Extension Program and MCR project, as well as new opportunities with the Bruce C Project, which could see the development of a new nuclear build on the Bruce Power site.

“The Ontario government’s Integrated Energy Plan – Energy for Generations – recognizes Bruce Power’s critical role in securing the future of the province’s clean energy supply, as well as the possibility of new nuclear through its Bruce C project,” said PBCTCO business manager and secretary-treasurer Marc Arsenault. “Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Building Trades workers at Bruce Power, refurbishments are advancing safely, with quality, and on schedule, and the Bruce C project would create and sustain thousands of direct and indirect jobs during construction and operation.”

During the design and construction phase of Bruce C, it is estimated that more than 20,000 jobs would be created or supported nationally each year. Across the entire project lifespan, an estimated 12,000 full-time equivalent jobs would be created or supported annually in Canada.

The PBCTCO resolution also called on the government to bolster its plans through policy certainty by “unlocking investment through investment tax credits and other innovative financing models, Indigenous participation, and supply chain and workforce collaboration.”

As part of its resolution, the building trades highlighted the large economic footprint that Bruce Power projects have, including creating an estimated 22,000 jobs directly and indirectly from operations, and an additional 5,000 jobs annually throughout the investment program.

The trades are collaborating with Bruce Power, site contractors, and the local community to help diversify the construction workforce needed to supply these projects, to include more Indigenous employees, women, returning veterans and reservists, and underemployed youth.

PBCTCO represents 150,000 skilled trades workers throughout the province belonging to 15 affiliated construction craft unions.