Sarnia-Lambton's Skilled Trades Ready.

Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer.

As Nova Chemicals gears up for $2-billion in construction in St. Clair Township, the president of the Sarnia-Lambton Building and Construction Trades Council says its members are ready to supply the skilled workforce the project needs.

Nova has begun preparing the site of a new polyethylene plant to be built over the next three years on Rokeby Line, next to its Corunna plant where work is also planned to double its production.

Nova has said 800 to 1,000 construction workers are expected to be on the site at the peak of activity on the projects.

“We’ve got lots of folks,” council president John Swart said about the approximately 5,000 skilled trades workers its members have in Sarnia-Lambton.

“And, we can still draw from the rest of Ontario.”

Swart added local unions “are actively” maintaining their ranks of apprentices and “constantly making sure we have the journeymen in place into the next three or four years.”

Maintenance turnarounds were completed recently at local Suncor and Shell sites and currently there is some unemployment among skilled construction trades in the area, Swart said.

“That’s the nature of our business.”

Nova Chemicals held an open house in Corunna this week to provide the public with an update on its projects.

The company said site preparations for the new plant are underway, with approximately 50 local tradespeople currently on the site.

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