Diane Murray being presented her Hall of Fame award by Vince Molinaro.
When the members of the Home Builders Association met as people all in the same room – it was something they had not done for two years.
To make it a memorable occasion they had the Minister of Municipal AffaIrs and Housing in as the speaker – he did not let them down, said everything they wanted to hear.
They did something else that was a first for the development/construction industry that now has 330+ member in the West End Home Builders Association. They made a woman a member of the Hall of Fame.
Diane Murray was not only the first woman to be added to the Hall of Fame but she was also the first person who did not come from the industry. All of Murray’s career was with Union Gas (now Enbridge) where she worked with developers getting them through some of the regulatory issues and putting pipes in the ground to move gas.
Diane Murray – centre rear row – with a Union Gas (new Enbridge) crew on a construction site.
Now retired Diane Murray will tell you that it is a much different industry now then it was the day she first put on a hard hat 30 years ago.
“The developers are different, the size of developments are much bigger and the make-up of the work force has changed. It was a tough go for women in an industry that was very male dominated. None of us had executive level jobs.”
Now there are women who are the daughters of developers and they didn’t join the family firm to take dictation.
Are they there yet? Not yet, claims Diane, but on this the day that women pause to celebrate the positive changes that have taken place, Diane Murray looks back on an industry, of which she was part, and is content with the changes that have been made knowing that it isn’t over yet – that a better day is not too far ahead.
