About Us

Who We Are

The Canadian Electrical Contractors Association is a federation of provincial and territorial electrical contractor groups and undertakes to represent electrical contractors at the national level. Each member ECA appoints one representative to the Association’s Board of Directors. In jurisdictions with no provincial ECA, direct sustaining membership is permitted.

The Association was chartered on November 9, 1955 and its first elected President was Lucien Tremblay of Quebec. The early years were difficult ones for CECA and it wasn’t until 1973 that we actually became a viable and active national body. Since that time, CECA has become the recognized national voice of electrical contractors.

Today, CECA represents the interests of more than 8,000 electrical contractors across Canada who generate over $5 billion in revenues and who directly employ 70,000 persons.

What We Do

The Canadian Electrical Contractors Association (CECA) facilitates the sharing of Provincial best practices and products; advances the interests and image of electrical contractors by developing contractor capacity and competency; influences public policy affecting our industry and; influences the creation of nationally consistent, safe, and efficient electrical codes and standards. CECA works directly with National and Provincial Associations to ensure that the views we express are truly representative.

We focus on four key results areas. Each key results area contains our target objectives.

  1. Training, Human Resources and Contractor Development
  2. Commercial and Industry Practices
  3. Electrical Codes and Standards
  4. Member Engagement, Communications and External Relationships

Key results areas and objectives can be found in our Strategic Planning document.

Involvement with other Associations and Coalitions

Over the years, CECA has built strong relationships with other associations and coalitions. These relationships are important because they strengthen our advocacy position.

Some of our relationships are listed below.

National Electrical Contractors Association (International Chapter)

One of our most rewarding affiliations is with the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) in the U.S.A. CECA is the first, and foremost, International Chapter of NECA and holds exclusive Canadian distribution rights for NECA documents, courses, manuals and seminars. Any provincial ECA member or direct sustaining CECA member may purchase NECA products from CECA at member prices. A catalogue of the most popular CECA/NECA publications is available on the Publications page of this website.

Canadian Standards Association (Sustaining Member) CSA Group

CECA appoints and supports representatives to major CSA CE Code committees. The Part I Code is the basis for all provincial and territorial codes governing electrical installation practices. Our representative on the Part I Committee oversees contractor interests in this vital area. CECA also appoints representatives to the Strategic Resources Group and to various CE Code sub-committees. They deal with policy and Code matters prior to their consideration by the main Committee or Board of Directors.

National Trade Contractors Coalition of Canada (NTCCC)

The National Trade Contractors Coalition of Canada (NTCCC) is a group of like-minded national trade associations who have come together to identify issues of common interest. The members of the NTCCC are actively involved in several projects to assist not only the constituent membership of each association, but the industry as a whole.

The Coalition has identified several key projects which they will focus on including:

  • Prompt Payment both Federally and provincially
  • Supporting the use of unaltered forms of industry accepted standard forms of contracts
  • Support for industry-wide acceptance (eg: owners, designers, engineers, general and trade contractors) of a national change order standard combined with a national education/awareness program

Management education is another topic that is of paramount interest to trade contractors and an agreement to share programs among constituent member associations has been established.

NTCCC is currently made up of 10 trade organizations including:

Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada
Canadian Electrical Contractors Association
Canadian Masonry Contractors Association
Canadian Automatic Sprinkler Association
Canadian Roofing Contractors Association
Ontario Sheet Metal Contractors Association
Thermal Insulation Association of Canada
Interior Systems Contractors Association of Ontario
Canadian Institute of Steel Construction
Contractors Division of the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors of Canada

National Electrical Trade Council (NETCO)

NETCO is an alliance of the Canadian Electrical Contractors Association (CECA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in Canada.

NETCO is the authoritative, pan-Canadian voice of electrical contractors and IBEW local unions representing apprentices and journeypersons in every province and territory.

NETCO’s mandate is to promote national standards in electrical skills training and to advocate on policy issues of importance to our partner organizations.

NETCO works to develop training standards for new technologies — for example Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and PV Solar — that are used across Canada.

NETCO is a robust advocate for the electrical industry on pending changes to Canada’s Red Seal Program.

Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness

CECA is a member of the Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness.

More than 70 organizations from across the country have come together to form the Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness — a unified voice to oppose the federal government’s tax proposals that would dramatically change the way incorporated small businesses are taxed in Canada. These changes, announced in July 2017, would impose strict new regulations on tax measures that allow small business owners to invest in their business, save for retirement and support their families.

www.smallbiztaxfairness.ca/

Coordinating Group

Through CECA, Provincial associations are kept abreast of the programs and projects in other provinces. A recent example of this is the development of a CECA national policy paper on electrical utility deregulation. CECA also maintains a watch on other key issues such as communications cabling, trade regulation and labour market conditions (e.g. Labour Market Study). CECA may be called upon by its provincial members for research or policy support on a wide range of issues.

To sum up

The Canadian Electrical Contractors Association is the voice and representative of electrical contractors at the national and international level. We are involved in many national and international activities and programs and strive to advance the interests and image of electrical contractors. CECA works directly with National and Provincial Associations to ensure that the views we express are truly representative.

Board of Directors

David Mason
Member at Large
President

Vacant
Nova Scotia
Director

Sara Bergevin
Quebec
Director

Matt MacInnis
British Columbia
Director

Chad Leverick
Saskatchewan
Director

Jerry Roitelman
Manitoba
Director

Brad Mills
New Brunswick
Director, Treasurer

Simon Kragt
Yukon
Director

Terry Milot
Alberta
Director, Vice President

Imed Laouini
Quebec
CE Code Consultant