I pretty much fell over when I heard that myself

And...I think I unintentionally hit a nerve with my last post

Well I keep forgetting Dennis is in Canada. Probably not hit as bad as the rest of the world. I think they were smart enough to not buy inot our bad mortgage fiasco.

Naw no nerves here to hit, lol.
The three largest builders we work for have the following digs scheduled for this year:
Monarch homes, five sites totalling 800 houses approx. hardwood on main floor is standard, They use Superior as the standard, Mirage as the upgrade, most purchasers go with the upgrade, plus upper levels as well. Note that these range from multi-million dollar homes at two sites, two sites are mid-range, one is entry level townhomes.
Heathwood (Heron Homes) three sites this year (4 last year) approx. 350 houses at two sites, 80 upscale units at the other. All with hardwood in great room as standard, most upgrade to all main level, including kitchen. Superior floor is the only offer.
Minto Homes (Ottawa based, but dabble in the Toronto market) two sites both about 200 units each, both sites are large homes, hardwood on main floor standard, lots of second floor upgrades, all are Mirage, or custom.
And ya, seems our banking industry is set up differently than yours in the States. We are generally a lot more conservative, and thus more cautious when it comes to investing, both on personal levels as well as corporate.
Hey!!!!!!! Go Canada Go!!!! How 'bout that hockey game??? Oops was that me being less than conservative? Lol

Dennis. I have a general question about the labor force in Toronto. Here in the US, for the last 20 years or so, many of "the trades" have been performed by immigrant hispanics. At first, it was typically framing, some painting, roofing, landscape. Electrical, plumbing, flooring (except tile ) and HVAC were still mostly done by local, native born tradesmen. But today, almost all trades are performed by mostly hispanic tradesmen. I'm not saying whether this is good or bad. That would depend on what side of the labor issue you are on; employer or tradesman. Nor will I comment on quality of workmanship. I am just wondering if up there in Toronto, has Canada's trades given way to mostly immigrant hispanic tradesmen?

Hi Gary, here is my take on the work-force in Canada.
Most trades are ethnic in background, i.e., bricklayers are generally from Italy, painters originally from Spain, Portugal, etc., the hardwood flooring industry is mostly Polish or other Eastern European country. Here is what seems to have happened: back when Canada was first developing, certain ethnic groups would immigrate to Canada along with the skills they developed at home, and as time progressed, (over many years) they would invite their friends and/or relatives here due to our gererally open door policy, and set them up with work or refer them to their employer.
So what has happened is the building trades are usually handled by the same ethnic group of people. Now, this is just a generalization but holds true in the majority of cases.
For some reason, there is not a big Hispanic population, although one of our competitors uses mostly South American employees (Bolivian?) due to the same principle I mentioned above. Started with one guy, and along came his friends. Nice guys by the way, but slow as molasses on the job.