Good morning.
My name is Jasmin Guénette, and I am vice-president, national affairs, of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. I am joined by my colleague Christina Santini.
As I'm sure you know, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the CFIB, represents 97,000 owners of small and medium-sized businesses, or SMBs, in all economic sectors across the country. We have more than 9,000 members in the construction industry alone.
I want to thank the members of the committee for inviting us to attend this meeting.
It goes without saying that most of our members support any measure that can increase the available housing supply for Canadians, particularly for workers.
Some of our members tell us stories about how hard it is for their employees to find housing near their workplaces, in major urban centres, for example.
Some members of Parliament have also told us about similar problems in their constituencies, where businesses lack workers, particularly because there is a lack of available housing near their workplaces.
Today we want to focus on two issues that slow down housing construction. The first is the labour shortage in the construction industry, and the second is rising interest rates.
Seventy-three per cent of our construction industry members cite the skilled labour shortage as the main factor limiting production and sales, while 39% of CFIB members in the construction industry also feel that the shortage of unskilled and semi-skilled labour is one of the main factors limiting production growth and sales.
Most people obviously acknowledge that we have to build more housing faster, but I would ask committee members not to forget that the low construction rate can't be attributed to a single phenomenon, such as excessive and complex regulation. We also have to keep in mind the impact that the labour shortage is having in the various construction sectors.
To build homes, we need people in all trades, tinsmiths, electricians and many others. At the moment, it's very hard for businesses to recruit and hire all the necessary workers to complete projects promptly and start new ones.
This labour shortage has a cost. We estimate that the labour shortage in the construction industry has resulted in a revenue shortfall of $9.6 billion for SMEs, $1.5 billion for the residential construction sector alone.
To build more homes, we will obviously need more tradespeople in our construction businesses.
Another factor currently limiting new housing construction is rising interest rates. My colleague Ms. Santini will tell you more about that.