Comments on: Industry stakeholders chronicle OCOT failures after PCs decide to scrap it

By: kojak

kojak — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 05:25:59 +0000

OCOT is the biggest JOKE in trade history, no one sees them anywhere in the construction industry, they are just money collectors by threatening the tradesman !!

By: Sandro Franzoi

Sandro Franzoi — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 18:42:31 +0000

As a tradesman and a manager I had to deal with OCOT , the first time i had a hairdresser telling me excavation and concrete are an electricians job and her supervisor telling me 44,000 volt overhead lines are an electricians job as well . Consulting the laboir board on past practices would have made there lives easier instead of threatening hard working people with enforcement fines that amounted to nothing and ultimately there demise.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 16:49:47 +0000

OCOT was and still is an organization that went and ruined livelihoods. They went into businesses that were established long before regulations took over and forced them out because of lack of paying their “dues” If you were not a member you could not function.

My own brother has been a mechanic and bodyman for over 40 years. Had his own shop with loyal customers for 30 of those years. They came in and because he didn’t have a college or university ticket, or wasn’t a member of OCOT and shut him down. Yes, he has licensed technicians employed, and was a registered business in good standing, but that didn’t matter. Not only did they force him out and fine him huge, the enforcer on the case took it personally and stalked him for 18 months. Followed him around literally and when he would pull into a shop the enforcer would follow in to ensure he wasn’t working on any vehicles. That was crazy. Way beyond the intended scope for the OCOT but with no regulations they had free will to do as they pleased.

Karma finally stepped in and got the enforcer in the end: He was following my brother and I one day and he had a woman fellow enforcer with him . We pulled into a fenced-in compound and shut the gate. We noticed they got out of their OCOT JEEP Cherokee and were writing down the licence plates of all the vehicles in the compound. When asked what in hell they were doing, we were told they were going to contact the registered owners and asked who was working on their cars. We told them they can’t do that it, it was an invasion of privacy. Well as it happened, one of the vehicles was a police officers personal car. Turns out the female enforcer was previously an OPP cop and she used her connections to have a friend run all the plates and provide her with all the owners info. She was caught for doing this because when they called the owner of a vehicle (cop) he wanted to know how she got the info, an investigation ensued and the pair of them were fired, with her getting criminally charged as well as the cop who helped her.

Sorry for the long comment but this just shows how far and wide the damage was done by OCOT when they had no real mandate!

By: Lee Campbell

Lee Campbell — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 02:26:35 +0000

OCOT held us at ransom and forced us to pay to be allowed to work. It was a government operation sold off to the highest bidder by the Liberal government. They never gave scope of trade for many. They ruled from the most expensive rental real estate in Ontario – Bay Street of all places. They increased our fees from $20 a year to $120 plus tax per year.
The inspectors were plumbers inspecting automotive shops, or HVAC techs inspecting welders. It was a complete joke at the expense of tradespeople

By: Benni Steger

Benni Steger — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 16:58:16 +0000

The College of Trades never got enough time to iron matters out, it takes more than five years to have a skilled trades workers competent, why would one expect a new organization to be perfect in five years? The past minister Kevin Flynn did not take care of matters properly and was the weak section of iron supporting the College. There is a trades shortage, and there is no excuse to start letting unlicensed C of Q workers do the vital and dangerous skilled work in Ontario.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 10:16:17 +0000

No thanks Pat Dillon your input is not welcome. You’ve done enough already.

By: Greg Hunter

Greg Hunter — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 03:00:05 +0000

As a tradesman, I found they did nothing for us except take money. Look on their website. It is useless to us. The “enforcers” enter our workplace like they owned it and acted like a police force and they couldn’t even define their own role when asked each time. Look to Alberta’s Tradesecrets website as a model. The tradesmen pay no dues and the apprenticeships still have provincial and inter-provincial certificates which is the way it should always be. You should only need 60% for a provincial ticket not just 75%. It is ridiculous to make people failures when other vocations accept a 50% pass mark.