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President’s message – A look around

After what was a very slow start to the season in almost all of the country, business activity has sharply improved and most of us are doing our best to keep up with what can only be construed as a release of pent-up demand. Starting with our annual general meeting held in Winnipeg this year, Fenestration Canada, its board and committees have been diligently preparing for Windoor, education sessions and seminars, website improvement and building code compliance and guideline documents. Here is what the various committees have been up to.

Extremely important initiatives on labelling have come to fruition and are available to all window and door fabricators thanks to the hard work of our Fabricator Council. Labelling guideline documents for both single and mulled units are now available for download from fenestrationcanada.ca. These documents are proving to be a tremendous time-saver for fabricator members. A subcommittee lead by Greg Dickie of Atlantic Windows continues to gather information to help navigate through and streamline the window and door testing process.  An independent contractor, Morgan Hanam, has been tasked with interviewing test lab and certifying agencies to help clarify interpretation of the North American Fenestration Standard and building code compliance. This initiative should go a long way to assisting fabricators in the testing of their fenestration products as well helping the Council and Fenestration Canada get a better understanding of where to focus their priorities.

A new membership advantages brochure has been developed by Marketing and will soon be available for general use. Emphasizing the four key pillars of membership value (networking, resources, education and government relations), this pamphlet should be a valuable recruitment tool and go a long way toward promoting the value of membership in the association. Along with this initiative, website remodeling and restructuring is underway with the emphasis on becoming a more user-friendly information portal.

With its mandate firmly entrenched in protecting the interests of fenestration manufacturers, the Technical Committee continues to support codes, regulations and standards activities in Canada, communicating technical issues to membership and other stakeholders. While developing content for technical and informational bulletins, the committee continues to collaborate with partner associations for local and regional input on provincial issues.

New chair Rick Pries and the Windoor show committee have done an excellent job of presenting a vibrant program for this year’s show.  Look for details on the Fenestration Canada website. The committee has managed to provide a forum for education, new product introduction and networking possibilities for all that is fenestration. Tuesday’s opening night will be capped off by some rousing entertainment by the Blus Brothers. Make sure you are in attendance to help us celebrate our 20th anniversary as Canada’s window and door showcase.

The Education Committee broadcast three webinars updating companies dealing with compliance of fenestration products to provincial building codes referencing NAFS-08. Over 600 individuals representing fabricators, builders, specifiers, architects and code officials registered for the three webinars in September, which were offered in both French and English. Fenestration Canada members can now access the recorded webinars and download the presentation slides from the association’s website in the Member Resource Centre using their login information.  A big shout out to the Technical Committee and our technical consultant, Jeff Baker of WestLab, for all the help.