MEMBER Q&A
MEMBER Q&A:
What Does SHCA Do for You?
Trevor Nabe with AECON says that SHCA is an advocate like no other
Business owners and representatives make difficult decisions
every day on where to invest company dollars. In this new
section of Think BIG, current SHCA members sound off
about the ways in which being a part of the association has specifically benefitted
them.
Trevor Nabe is a big believer in the value that a membership in SHCA
can provide. A former member of the SHCA Board, Nabe is the current
contracts manager for the Highways division of AECON, Canada’s largest
publicly traded construction company. In Saskatchewan, the company
considers itself to be an innovative leader in asphalt paving and aggregates
production; however, despite its large presence in Western Canada,
AECON still believes in the power of a collective voice.
“The reason we decided to join SHCA is because we knew it was the
voice of the industry,” said Nabe. “We like to take an active role in how our
industry is represented, and so you could say it was an easy decision for us.”
Nabe spoke to Think BIG about the value that he believes AECON receives
in exchange for its membership in SHCA.
What makes AECON Canada renew its SHCA
membership each year?
Trevor Nabe: SHCA is such a strong voice for the industry; if you’re experiencing
some sort of difficulty or adversity as a result of interference,
red tape or specification issues, if SHCA can’t provide an answer for you,
Shantel Lipp will get you in a room or on the phone with the people or
committees that can help make life easier. You may not always get your way
in the end, but you get the opportunity to have your concerns dealt with.
In general, SHCA is a great advocate with a comprehensive understanding
of the challenges faced by its membership.
And where I think SHCA excels most is dealing with government. At the
SHCA convention, prior to the leadership vote of the Saskatchewan Party
two years ago, Shantel had all five or six candidates for leadership in one
room. The government access and advocacy that she provides is unprecedented
in our sector.
Can you think of a specific instance where you
were able to solve a challenge relating to any
aspect of business directly due to your participation
in SHCA?
TN: How much time do you have? I can think of a lot of examples.
One of the most significant issues in recent recollection was the carbon
tax levy when the federal government imposed the carbon tax. As a
contractor, we rely heavily on fuels in multiple aspects of our business.
SHCA went and really fought on behalf of all the contractors to say, “You
just imposed this tax on a lot of our members who are heavy fuel consumers.
These contracts have fixed prices; when they were let out for bid, these
contractors had no knowledge of the existence of this tax that was going
to come in. The government needs to compensate those contractors for
those contracts.”
Shantel went and fought; the government pushed back but we ended
up getting compensated fairly. Other provincial associations did
no such thing, and we basically just had to absorb those costs in those
jurisdictions.
Can you think of anything that you may have
missed out on if you were never an active member
of SHCA?
TN: First, the networking opportunities and the opportunity to grow our
name in the industry, both on an individual and corporate level. I wouldn’t
have achieved the amount of professional growth that I have. SHCA also
helped teach our company more about the workings of dealing with governments.
Nothing with government ever moves fast. You have to understand
there’s a specific way to do things and you have to be patient.
KANTVER/123RF
thinkbigmagazine.ca | Quarter 1 2020 | Think BIG 9
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