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At the Annual General Meeting of the Toronto Construction Association held on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, Attorney General Doug Downey announced that the Government has engaged construction lawyer Duncan Glaholt to conduct a review of the Construction Act.
Glaholt is arguably the foremost authority on construction law in Canada, considered the unofficial Dean of construction law who literally wrote THE BOOK on construction law. He has been recognized with virtually every award available to construction lawyers in the country. In our opinion, the government could not have selected a better reviewer.
Glaholt’s appointment is the result of persistent lobbying by COCA and others that began with a meeting with AG Downey and COCA representatives Romeo Milano, Ted Dreyer and Glenn Ackerley in November 2022. In that meeting, Attorney General Downey asked for a report summarizing all the bugs and glitches that have become apparent in the time since the former Construction Lien Act was overhauled and renamed the Construction Act. After that meeting, Ackerley consulted widely with stakeholders and took six months to draft a comprehensive report of some 200 pages that makes more than 80 recommendations to improve the workings of the statute. That report was submitted to the Attorney General’s Office in early July of 2023. Since that time, Akerley has been working with the AG’s Office to move things forward.
The meeting with AG Downey in November 2022 was supported by meetings with officials in the Premier’s Office, with key Ministers, Opposition leaders and AG Critics and by COCA’s Lobby Day in October 2023.
Although details of the review are scant, it’s our understanding it will have two phases before Glaholt makes his recommendations to the Attorney General: 1) a problem identification phase in which Glaholt will review all available documentation and perhaps have informal discussions with selected individuals; 2) a consultation phase in which selected stakeholders will be invited to make submissions and/or meet with the reviewer. COCA expects to be fully engaged in the process.