STRENGTHENED SIDE BY SIDE

Words: Dick Dentinger

This summer, MCAA took part in the Canadian Masonry Contractors Association’s 58th Annual Conference in Ottawa, Ontario. MCAA was represented by our President, Jeff Buczkiewicz, our Vice Chair, Kent Huntley, and my wife and me. It was an incredible experience. The Canadian Mason Contractors group are very organized and run a professional association which is dialed-in tightly on making a difference for our industry. The CMCA is a true leader.

The event had a “bursting at the seams” feel to it as it was held in tandem with the 15th Canadian Masonry Symposium. Mason contractors from each of the provinces which sprawl across all of Canada traveled to their mid-year convention to participate in the shaping of our masonry landscape. They were joined by engineers, students and suppliers from throughout North America. We all spent the better part of the week in the beautiful city of Ottawa surrounded by remarkable historic masonry buildings. We were treated to a panel of restoration experts who walked us through an incredible undertaking currently underway of the Canadian Parliamentary buildings. The parliament campus in the capitol city of Canada was absolutely an amazing site to see. These massive stone, brick and block masterpieces could hold their own if plopped into the landscape of a more ancient city in England or France. They sit worthy to be painted if you set up an easel just down the hillside on the banks of the Ottawa River. The Parliament buildings in Ottawa are a true testimony to the magnificent beauty, definition and strength, symbolized by masonry.

In addition, I am always so impressed with the CMCA conventions and the work their association does. Their Executive Director, David Stubbs, and his team are running an association that mirrors MCAA’s leadership in so many ways. Their staff and the contractors who sit on their board are working just as hard for our industry as we are. They set the bar higher in one aspect, and then we set the bar higher in another. And back and forth. And all along the way we are working to make certain we share and cooperate in tandem, so we don’t waste energy or duplicate efforts. In fact, Kent and I spent quite a bit of time speaking with our counterparts from CMCA promising to find ways to have MCAA and CMCA take advantage of opportunities where we can do things together. We share the same continent and have the same goals so it’s obviously important we stay close.

While it was a wonderful trip, the timing of MCAA’s trip to the CMCA event was interesting. We didn’t know what to expect since our two country’s political leaders were at the heights of a unique and seemingly insurmountable tariff stand-off at the time. Certainly, as contractors, no matter which side of the border we live on, we are well aware that there always seems to be some outside factors, of which we have no control, that have an impact on the headwinds our businesses face. Sometimes it’s actual wars, or recessions, or extreme weather. As contractors, we have no choice but to acknowledge the situation and navigate around it until the dust settles. The impact of our two countries’ impasse regarding tariffs was another example of such challenges. We discussed the hopes of an agreement sooner rather than later regarding tariffs. Jeff, Kent and I and a few others from our MCAA membership had to absorb friendly jabs from a local comedian who performed at the main banquet and referred to America as “South Canada” which got a well-deserved hardy laugh from the full banquet hall. Honestly, I expected harsher darts from the comic considering the previous months when Americans made light-hearted comments regarding a possible 51st state.

It was a great and rewarding experience networking and working with our Canadian friends from CMCA. The last anecdote from our trip that I’ll share with you is how I received confirmation about how valuable it is that MCAA makes efforts to communicate to a broad audience about all the things we are working on. I met a contractor who is very active within CMCA and has been doing his part participating on their board. He’s just like all of us in the states that do the same for MCAA. We were sharing stories of work, when he went out of his way to tell me he reads my columns in the magazine. He said he reads every one of them. He went on to say he reads them cover to cover. This Canadian mason contractor has saved twenty-two years of Masonry Magazine. He mentioned that he didn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t do the same. He’s right. We can learn from each other and use resources like our Masonry Magazine, and by networking with others within our industry we can learn and improve our success. He and I finished by once again talking about hopeful ways the Canadian Mason Contractors Association, and the Mason Contractors Association of America can find ways to share our knowledge and resources to help the masonry industry in our continent continue to prosper.

STRENGTHENED SIDE BY SIDE

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