Ed Power is new Eastern Canada IVP
THE INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE Council approved the nomination of Ed Power as International vice president of Eastern Canada, effective February 1st, 2006. Power was nominated by Pres. Newton B. Jones to take the position vacated by Alexander (Sandy) MacDonald, who retired January 31.

Power, a 31-year member of Local 128, Toronto, Ontario, began his career in 1974 as an apprentice construction Boilermaker. He held a variety of local lodge offices before being elected business manager in 1993, a position he held for 12 years. He was appointed as an International representative in 2003. Power was instrumental in setting up the first-ever tripartite conference in Canada, in 2004. He twice chaired the Canadian board of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, an educational body for pension plan trustees.

Two of the goals Power wants to address are safeguarding benefits and securing work for members. “Like other organizations, we have to stay on top of our pension and health & welfare plans, making sure they continue to be funded and keeping a close eye on the markets. I also want to grow the tripartite conference in Canada. We doubled the owner/client participation from the first year to the second. Of course, the Boilermakers tripartite experience in the U.S. has been a huge help for us.”

Upcoming work in Eastern Canada looks very good, Power noted. “Right across Eastern Canada, we’ve got a good mix of industries: steel, power plants, oil refineries and pulp and paper. We’re involved in a pretty good cross section of all these industries. In Ontario, they have a major power supply problem, so the [work outlook] is very good. They’re looking at building new co-generation facilities and nuclear plants in the province.”

Power said IVP Sandy MacDonald’s shoes will be tough to fill. “I’ve known Sandy for over 25 years. He has done a terrific job representing the membership of Eastern Canada. He’s developed great relationships with all our business partners, business managers, and membership, and is well respected throughout Eastern Canada. Certainly everybody in Eastern Canada wishes him all the best.”

Power noted that both he and MacDonald came up through the ranks, serving in various local lodge offices. This experience served both men well, he said. “Of course, as an International vice president we deal with business managers and their problems and concerns. Having spent as much time as I did as a business manager, I think that experience will be a big help to me.”


Sandy MacDonald retires after long, distinguished career
ALEXANDER C. “Sandy” MacDonald, a 37-year member of the Boilermakers, began his career in field construction in 1969 with Local 271, Montreal, Quebec. In 1973, he helped form Local 73 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and he was elected business manager and secretary-treasurer of that local in 1982.

MacDonald was appointed as an International representative for Eastern Canada in 1986 and a year later was elected International vice president for the Eastern Canadian Section. He was re-elected to that position at the three following Consolidated Conventions.

MacDonald serves as an International trustee, a trustee for the Boilermakers’ national health & welfare and pension funds, and chairman of the International Scholarship Committee. He is also co-chair of the National Construction Bargaining Committee. As chairman of the finance committee for the Canadian Federation of Labour, MacDonald helped institute a program that allows ordinary working people to invest in venture capital funds, and he sits on the board of two Growth Works funds. He also serves as vice president of the Quality Control Council of Canada.

“I’m proud to have ‘worked on the tools’ for 14 years,” MacDonald says. “My two sons are now Boilermakers. It has been a great life for me. I’ve enjoyed working with my peers; and (president emeritus) C.W. Jones and (president) Newton Jones have been awesome to me.

“I know Ed Power is going to serve the members well and take service to another level,” McDonald says of his successor. “He is well-rounded in all aspects of Boilermaker work in Eastern Canada, and he has been phenomenal to work with.”