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FENESTRATION CANADA: FORGING AHEAD

Although the season is changing, it looks like there have been no changes to our industry struggle in 2021 and it is starting to look no different for 2022. I hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe. 

FenCan has been working on several tech talks and education topics over the last year virtually, which have been received well by our members. One advantage of being online is that we are able to target our sessions at specific regions of the country without having to travel to be there in person. We took advantage of this most recently with our Regional Week event in October. That event opened with a national presentation on supply chains featuring the former federal industry minister, the Hon. Tony Clement. Then we hosted four more sessions over the next two days, each concentrating on a particular region. The B.C. region heard about solar heat gain; the prairies heard about their local supply chain issues; Ontario got an installer training talk; Quebec learned about their special supply chain challenges; and Atlantic discussed building and installing heavy triple-glazed units. Recordings of all these presentations are available on our website and YouTube channel.

We look forward to continuing to provide the current method of delivering information to our members, but are extremely excited about WinDoor 2021 in Toronto, with an in-person and virtual experience and, of course, the much anticipated return of our Main Event and Hall of Fame night. The focus is going to be on our new Hall of Fame inductees, complete with an awards-show look and theme. Recognizing and honouring the amazing men and women who built this industry is one of my favourite things we do as an association – especially when you get them talking about the old days. 

We have seen an increase this year in our membership drive and look forward to continuing to strengthen our regional committees. This year, more than ever, the regional committees have played an integral part in our association and will continue to do so, as we continue to struggle with restrictions being imposed across the country. As things open up, we would like to have regional in-person meetings across the country so that we can ensure we deliver the best possible information to our members. Now, more than ever, the ability to share information from an association standpoint and from best practices shared among members is critical to anyone’s success. We are stronger together than alone.

Speaking of “together,” I want to remind everyone about our great partnership with the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses. Your Fenestration Canada membership gives you automatic membership in the CFIB and access to all their incredible resources and benefits. The CFIB now represents over 95,000 small and medium-sized businesses across the country, so this partnership definitely gives us some added clout! Did I mention that Fenestration Canada membership is free until the end of the year?

The spring conference was a great success, with over 250 registrations. All the presentations are available online in Marketplace by WinDoor. We also announced that WinDoor will be a hybrid event this year. It will take place in Toronto for the in-person event and also online for those that can’t join us. I am sure everyone is looking forward to the in-person show and, of course, to participating in the Main Event. You can buy tickets for the Main Event and reserve your booth for this event right now. Contact Laine Atkins at laine@fenestrationcanada.ca.