Good morning, and thank you very much for the opportunity to present here this morning.
To build P.E.I. and Canada together—between economic uncertainty, the high cost of living, a workforce shortage in essential industries including construction and a housing crisis—Canada is in dire need of a holistic and long-term strategy to get us on track to real growth and economic security.
While the federal government has recently announced various programs, such as the express entry program designed to target immigrants with high-demand skills and several initiatives under the national housing strategy to fast-track the building of new homes, these steps are short-term solutions to problems that require consultation, partnership and planning.
Construction employs 1.6 million people in Canada and contributes about $151 billion to the economy annually, accounting for 7.4% of Canada’s GDP. It creates a ripple effect of expansion in other sectors like engineering, manufacturing, agriculture, technology and retail. Construction builds infrastructure—water, electricity, telecommunications and transportation—which underpins economic growth, job creation and global trade.
We are calling on the federal and provincial governments to commit to comprehensive infrastructure investment. The federal government should advance the implementation of the national infrastructure assessment and develop, jointly with industry and all orders of government, a 25-year plan for infrastructure investment that includes housing and trade-enabling infrastructure.
It should address the workforce shortage. The federal government should quickly address ongoing industry-wide labour shortages by modernizing the existing immigration policy and points system to better reflect the workforce needs of the Canadian economy.
It should modernize procurement processes. Existing procurement processes need to be improved. They should be reviewed by the Auditor General, and industry should be engaged to ensure that practices better balance risk sharing between public contracts and the private sector, reduce red tape and accelerate approvals for critical projects.
The construction sector is essential to creating and maintaining the infrastructure Canadians use daily. This includes the foundational infrastructure at the heart of new homes and communities. Everything—from roads, power grids, water and sewer systems to schools, community centres and day care centres—is built and maintained by the construction industry. When Canada’s construction industry is strong, the country and its people are strong.
It’s time to build a strong foundation for growth. With construction as its partner, the federal government can build a stronger Canada through comprehensive infrastructure investment, workforce development and procurement modernization.
Canada’s construction industry is ready to become a leader in the transition to a net-zero economy and is optimistic about the promised investments in green building and innovation, including the clean technologies and clean hydrogen tax credits. However, the restrictive labour conditions attached to these incentives effectively discriminate against an important segment of the Canadian workforce: small and medium-sized companies. Equally concerning is that these restrictions were announced without proper consultation with industry stakeholders.
Now more than ever, the importance of including the people building Canada at the table on day one is key to the success of industry-related discussions and planning as we move forward building bigger and better communities. The Canadian construction industry is that strategic partner. Together we can build a strong foundation for a stronger Canada.
CCA—my partners across the country—will be hitting Ottawa for a national Hill day in early November. There will be hundreds of my colleagues campaigning and pushing forward our initiatives and mandates to work together with all levels of government to build a bigger and better Canada. There's no better time than the present to really bring industry to these tables.
Thank you for the opportunity to present here this morning. I look forward to questions.