Bruce Knight Dear V alued Customers The latest employment pictur e shows a rise in the number of overall jobs and a slight decline in the overall jobless rate to 66 per cent The lowest unemployment rates come fr om W estern Canada led by Saskatchewans 43 per cent and Albertas 46 per cent Alberta also leads in year over year gains with a 32 per cent jobscr eated incr ease Unfortunately constr uction unemployment r emains nearly double the national rate due in part to r esidential fgur es that show total starts down 32 per cent in terms of squar e footage despite dollar volume being up 2 per cent Institutional commer cial and industrial sectors wer e all down in 2013 but CanaData For ecaster sees an incr ease in all sectors this year as well as in the next two years T wo Langley British Columbia companies that have seen steady constr uction gr owth ar e T ybo Contracting and GEMCO Constr uction T ybo Contracting CoOwners Spencer Lauriente and Shane ODonnell built their company fr om a small business to one that completes complex heavy civil pr ojects on time or ahead of schedule GEMCO Constr uctions emphasis is on privatesector work including r esidential subdivisions and multifamily housing as well as business parks Y ou can r ead about these companies in this issue of your SMS Equipment Solutions Magazine Another featur e spotlights Les Entr eprises For estier es Ser ge Bur eau The Stoneham Quebec company of fers harvesting and transportation of wood to mills for estry r oad building r oad maintenance and loggingcamp management Owner Ser ge Bur eau has built a solid company with a sterling r eputation for quality work W e also have articles on two of the lar gest mining operations in Canada T eck Resour ces and T asekos Gibraltar Mine During the past decade T asekos Gibraltar Mine in British Columbia completed a thr eephase plan that br ought a pr eviously shutdown mine back to life in a big way Its now the secondlar gest openpit copper mine in Canada V ancouver based T eck Resour ces pr oduces copper but its main r esour ce is coal Fr om fve mines T eck pr oduced about 24 million tonnes of highquality metallur gicalgrade coal last year and is the worlds secondlar gest exporter of seaborne steelmaking coal W e hope you enjoy r eading about these companies and the equipment they use to complete their work As always we invite you to call us or stop by any of our branch locations to fnd out mor e about our wide range of pr oducts and services Sincer ely Br uce Knight Pr esident and CEO