b'CONSTRUCTION PRIORITIES, QUARTER 3CONSTRUCTION PRIORITIESTHIS SECTION INCLUDES CONTENT ON TCAS STRATEGIC GOALS THAT HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIEDBY MEMBERS AS ESSENTIAL TO THE FUTURE SUCCESS OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY:ADDRESSING THE LABOUR SHORTAGE, EMBRACING NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND THEINCREASING ROLE OF WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION.BALANCINGCONSTRUCTION PRIORITIESWHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO SAFEGUARD FUTURE INDUSTRY CHALLENGES By Sarah B. HoodITS A CATCH-22 SITUATION: Canada is suffering fromWith the CMHC target of an additional 1.5 million homes in a severe housing shortage, and the constructionOntario by 2030, we would need to be able to nearly double industry is facing an equally severe labour shortage. To buildthe existing workforce, and, based on domestic recruitment more homes, the construction industry needs more workers,alone, thats just not going to be achievable, he says.particularly those from outside the country. But increased immigration will create greater demand for housing, andWhen it comes to the labour shortage in the industry, despite much public discussion, this year has shown littlesometimes its hard to see the forest for the trees, says progress on a complex issue. TCA president and CEO John Mollenhauer. The BuildForce numbers are real; it is fast becoming a crisis, and it will grow in As previously reported in Builders Digest, recent reports fromseverity with time. What confuses that issue in the near term, BuildForce Canada, the national organization committed to theparticularly in southern Ontario, and more particularly in the development of a highly skilled construction workforce, haveGTA, is that we actually have quite a work slowdown.explored the connections between immigration and skilledWhile large infrastructure projects like the Ontario Line labour supply in detail. continue to keep construction companies busy, a lull in high-We estimate that over the next 10 years, approximately 22 perrise residential construction is taking a toll. If youre looking at the market just at the moment, and a lot of your market is high-cent of the construction workforce in the Greater Toronto Arearise residential, youre not actually thinking about the labour will retire, says Bill Ferreira, executive director of BuildForcecrisis. Employers have people on standby, particularly some of Canada, pointing out that the Toronto region has the oldestthe early trades like excavators and form work, who are not as overall workforce in the country. busy as they would like to be, Mollenhauer points out.20Quarter 32024 BUILDERSDIGEST'