b'FROM OUR PRESIDENTFrom Puzzle to Progress: Modernizing Manitobas Builders Liens ActPrompt payment legislation is now firmly in place in Manitoba, managed by the Manitoba Prompt Payment Adjudication Authority (MPPAA) under a new Board of Directors. The board is currently working to develop a suitable training program for adjudicators, and once that is confirmed, they will issue a call for prospective adjudicators. The MPPAAs website is up and running at mppaa.ca and provides a link to the forms required to start an adjudication process. The prompt payment scheme is embedded in the Builders Liens Act, and a commitment was made by government to review this entire Act during the development of the prompt payment amendments. The Act itself has not seen a major review since 1981, with only minor amendments in 1985. In 2018, the Manitoba Law Reform Commission (MLRC) conducted a comprehensive consultation process and issued a report with 87 recommendations for change. That report has been widely acknowledged as the path forward, but it has sat on the shelf until now.It has been suggested that the Act is a bit of a mash-up of unrelated parts. A favourite quote by Manitoba Justice David Kroft suggested, It might be better described as a jigsaw puzzle which not only has a few pieces missing but, to complicate matters further, includes additional pieces from other puzzles. And I have heard a local lawyer add to this by suggesting that they mixed in a few pieces of LEGO as well!In mid-2024, the Minister of Consumer Protection and Government Services, the Honourable Lisa Naylor, appointed a Manitoba Builders Lien Modernization Advisory Council to undertake a review of the MLRC report and recommend changes. Chaired by Jon Woolley of TDS Law and populated with industry representatives, this group has started meeting and working through the issues with an ultimate deadline of July 2026. I am a member of this group, and the complexities of the lien and trust provisions are already clear. We will be discussing release of holdback, notice of substantial completion and studying how the three remedies for payment (lien, trust and prompt payment) work together. Its heady stuff! Fortunately, the MLRC consultations and the resulting report are extremely thorough, and we also have the benefit of a similar review process that led to the Ontario Construction Act just a few years ago. We all look forward to concluding this review and to introducing a modern new construction act in Manitoba.Ron Hambley6 BUILD MANITOBAwinnipegconstruction.ca'