More inspections on construction sites, with a new bill coming this fall in Quebec

Labour Minister Jean Boulet will be tabling a bill in the coming weeks that will address construction quality, public protection and contractor qualification.

“We’re going to be looking at construction quality, the safety of Quebecers and the qualification of contractors. So, in the long term, this will help us build better,” summarized Boulet, who was speaking in Montreal on Tuesday before the construction industry and organizations.

On the same occasion, the Garantie de construction résidentielle (GCR) organization announced that, according to its five-year plan, by 2029, it will progressively inspect new homes under its jurisdiction not once, but three times, including once before the walls are closed.

GCR administers the New Residential Building Warranty Plan, covering buildings of four storeys or less.

The organization currently employs some 20 inspectors, and expects to employ close to 100 by the end of its plan in 2029.

François-William Simard, vice-president of communications at GCR, assures us that there are no problems with inspector training or the tools made available to them to carry out their inspections.

“There’s a series of tools available to the inspectors, and they have access to all the tools they need, for example if there’s (sic) something that requires (…) further investigation. So there’s nothing at stake here. As for the training of DGC inspectors, it’s important to mention that they’re all members of a professional order, so they’re either architects, technologists or engineers, so the training is there, that’s very clear,” he asserted.

Minister Boulet’s future bill will go further than residential construction, for example. It will review the inspection and monitoring model, and will also look at attestations of conformity, the Minister of Labour announced at a subsequent meeting with the press.

He has already mandated the Régie du bâtiment du Québec to review the current inspection model with industry partners.

The Minister recalled that beyond residential construction, “the needs are immense” in the construction of day-care centers, schools, hospitals, roads and industrial projects.

“We have a challenge in Quebec to build more, but that also means building better,” said Boulet.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews