Seven months of publication: Ontario Construction News achieves another milestone

May 1 2019 ocn d cover
The cover of the first issue of Ontario Construction News on May 1, 2019, the day OCN become a daily construction trade newspaper

By Mark Buckshon

Publisher, Ontario Construction News

Just a little more than half a year ago, on May 1, we switched on Ontario Construction News as a daily construction trade newspaper. I’m happy to say that we’ve achieved our goal to deliver timely construction data, news and information, while saving advertisers thousands of dollars in mandatory Certificate of Substantial Performance (CSP) and other notices mandated by the Ontario Construction Act.

We’re looking forward to the next months with further improvements both in news coverage and in delivering the legal notices in the most rapid manner possible, in a format that complies both with the Ontario Construction Act and the Legislation Act (2006) – the underlying provincial law that defines a “newspaper”, suitable for publishing legal notices under all of the Ontario’s statutes and regulations.

See the first issue of Ontario Construction News as a daily construction trade newspaper.

As it is, in many cases, we can publish a legal notice submitted to us in the afternoon of the day before publication and publish it – and deliver the Certificate of Publication – in less than 24 hours.

And we do this with a full review and proofing process, important since errors can quite easily creep into the notices. The key to speed is for us to generate, and the advertiser to return, a signed off advertising proof early enough so that we can complete the layout and production in the evening just before we publish the next day’s issue.

We’re developing new automated resources to speed things up even more – but I think our advertisers appreciate the personalized touch and care that goes into ensuring the certificates are published accurately. The new system will allow users to key in the data themselves, but if you’ve got a lot on your hands you may find it easier just to email us your notices and let us do all of the work.

One new feature that will be of real value will be the ability for viewers to see the actual original certificate upon publication. We’ll also provide a tool that will automatically notify any of your clients, subtrades or others you wish to advise that the notice has been published.

On the editorial side, we’re continuing to provide a significant volume of daily content and construction business leads, all freely accessible to all readers. (For DataBid.com data on the day of publication, we ask readers to register for a free subscription.)

Full access to all of our back issues and content is available for Gold subscribers. These subscriptions, valued at $500 per year – are free for anyone who places CSP or other advertisements with us, and we’re happy to extend the free subscriptions to five employees or colleagues of your choosing.

What can you expect as we prepare for the New Year and during our second six months of publication?

Look for additional editorial resources, guest columns and features, and plenty of opportunities for interaction and communication about the topics that concern you the most. We’ll be especially watching how the new adjudication and prompt payment rules under the Ontario Construction Act are implemented.

We’ll of course be at the Buildings Show/Construct Canada, from Dec. 4 to 6 and are planning some daily news updates as the show progresses. If you want to see me, check at the Ontario Construction News booth (3027) on Wednesday or Friday. On Thursday (Dec.5), I need to return home to Ottawa for a family obligation. However, Chase should be around through most of the show.

Also, I always welcome your feedback and observations. You can email us at insights@ontarioconstructionnews.com and we’ll do our best to respond within a business day.

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