Alison Casey Named Executive Director
of Mainland Nova Scotia Building Trades Council

June 12, 2025 – The Mainland Nova Scotia Building Trades Council is pleased to announce the appointment of Alison Casey as its new Executive Director, effective today, Thursday, June 12^th.

Ms. Casey replaces Brad Smith who is retiring after 13 years in the role. Alison has been the Council’s Marketing & Communications Manager for the past 12 years.

“Alison brings not only a great deal of experience to this role, she also brings a passion for the continued development of professional tradespersons,” noted Smith. “The safe and effective growth of our physical infrastructure is critical to our province and that work contributes significantly to the prosperity of our members’ families and the communities in which they live.”

“I look forward to building on the foundation that Brad has so ably built over the past decade”, said Ms. Casey, “strengthening and enhancing the relationships with our members, contractors, communities, and governments is critical to our future and the future of Industrial-Commercial-Institutional (ICI) construction in our province.”

About the Mainland Nova Scotia Building Trades Council

The Mainland Nova Scotia Building Trades Council, through its 13 affiliated unions, supplies highly-trained, safe-working Industrial-Commercial-Institutional (ICI) tradespeople to over 300 contractors in Nova Scotia’s construction industry. This means our training is directly connected to contractor requirements.

Building Trades Unions represent 11,000 of the 16,000 ICI trades professionals in the province, including the majority of construction apprentices.

Mainland Building Trades Unions are the largest source of privately funded skilled trades training in the region. Construction activity in the province is at an all-time high and Nova Scotia is facing an urgent demand for large numbers of skilled trades workers. The Building Trades are uniquely positioned with our network of seven training centres to respond to this need.

The Building Trades Advancement College of Nova Scotia, through its Direct Entry and Enhanced Direct Entry opportunities, provides the fastest and most effective way to begin a professional trades career.

Some unions operate Private Career Colleges offering standardized curriculum for apprentices and skills upgrading. Others have Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committees (JATCs) who administer apprenticeship programs and operate training centers funded by industry through Training Trust Funds. These programs are privately funded through contributions from the workers and our affiliated contractors. The training institutions are acknowledged as centers of excellence across the country.

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