10,000 Ontario Students to Experience Skilled Trades at Exhibition Place

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 8, 2015) - On April 14-16, the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) will be hosting Future Building 2015, a three-day interactive exhibition providing career seekers with the opportunity to experience hands-on activities in all areas of the high-tech construction sector. Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities and Minister of Research and Innovation, Reza Moridi, Minister of Education, Liz Sandals, and Minister of Labour, Kevin Flynn will be in attendance, as more than 10,000 students and young adults get access to one-on-one instruction from construction-sector professionals.

The exhibition, aimed at students from grades seven to 12, adults considering a career change, educators and the general public, invites participants to interact one-on-one with professionals from a variety of high-tech trades and associations, and ask questions about academic requirements, apprenticeship and career opportunities. Guests will also be encouraged to try a variety of trade skills themselves, such as welding, operating heavy machinery in a simulator and taking a virtual walk on a skyscraper beam. Apprentices from across Ontario in sheet metal, masonry and pipe trades will participate in daily Apprenticeship Skills Competitions.

"The construction industry today isn't what it was 20 years ago," said Sean Strickland, Chief Executive Officer of the OCS. "Construction projects now apply leading-edge technologies, which are changing academic requirements for young people preparing to work in the industry. We want to help students and educators understand these changes while showing them how bright a future can be in this vital, growing sector."

A construction boom is well underway in the GTA, according to the OCS's annual Construction Confidence Indicator, which tracks the health of Ontario's construction economy. Contractors believe the region will continue to lead construction growth throughout 2015. However, Indicator results show that with expected growth, skilled labour shortages will persist in Ontario, and will continue to be the single most important challenge facing the construction industry in 2015.

Thousands of students and teachers representing 23 school boards from across Ontario will be attending Future Building 2015 at Exhibition Place, Queen Elizabeth Building. On Wednesday, April 15, for the first time, an evening session will take place from 5pm - 8pm for young adults and professionals considering a career change.

For more information, including a full list of exhibitors and registration details, please visit www.FutureBuilding.ca.

Future Building 2015

Future Building is a three-day hands-on construction career exhibition to help young people, teachers, educators and the public better understand opportunities in Ontario's industrial, commercial and institutional construction industry. The exhibition is a joint initiative, co-sponsored by Employment Ontario and the Ontario Construction Secretariat. Direct in-kind involvement from the building trade unions and management representatives who work in Ontario's unionized construction industry is a key part of the exhibition.

About the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS)

OCS was formed in 1993 as a joint labour/management organization representing 25 unionized construction trades and their contractor partners in Ontario's industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) construction sector. Its mandate is to enhance Ontario's ICI construction industry by developing relationships, facilitating dialogue, providing value-added research, disseminating important information to client groups and promoting the value of ICI unionized construction across Ontario and beyond. Visit the OCS online at http://www.iciconstruction.com.