b'KEY ISSUES IN CONSTRUCTIONconstruction industries rely heavilyOn Site magazine, in their article Top 1025 per cent this year. Throughout the on free-flowing supplies of essentialCanadian construction trends to watchsector, companies and clients are moving construction materials. These needlessin 2025, echoed the CBC News articletowards sustainable practices, including tariffs will decrease productivity, harmon the housing and labour shortage.green materials, energy efficiency and economic growth and put critical projectsThe article states, Canada continuesreduction of waste.and countless construction jobs at riskto face a crippling labour crisis acrosson both sides of the border, says CCAseveral industries. Without a long-termThe other area of concern is effects president Rodrigue Gilbert.plan to secure the workforce we need,of climate change and the growing the construction sector will not be ableprevalence of unusual weather events. CCA notes that the tariffs will increaseto meet the needs of Canadians. It thenThis has caused the industry to start homebuilding and infrastructure costspoints to the need for an immigrationlooking at building to be resilient to these as well as impact the supply chain andpolicy that takes another look at theclimate change realities.weaken economic development andcurrent points system and takes into productivity. The organization also account the labour shortage when called for government support ofprioritizing industry sectors On the issue of sustainability over the Canadian businesses. for immigration. last 20 years, the construction industry in Canada has decreased its construction The inconsistent approach to tariffs byThe CBC article also included a statementenergy emissions by about 16.5 per cent the Trump administration is not a threatfrom Immigration, Refugees andand GHG emissions for the production of to the Canadian construction industry,Citizenship Canada of its plans to convenealuminum, cement and steel by 43.5 per says TCA president and CEO Johnan advisory council to assess thecent, 41.6 per cent and 26.5 per cent, Mollenhauer. The difficulty our industryneeds in the industry and advise on newrespectively. More will have to be done is having is that construction companiespathways to bring in the skilled workersto comply with new building codes and are not sure how to price bids on projectswe need, a regularization pathway forgreen standards in the future.because of the uncertainty of the futureout-of-status construction workers and tariff situation. support for foreign apprentices. TheIt has been predicted by insurance article also included CMHCs statementexperts that climate-related damages THE HOUSING AND LABOURon addressing the housing shortage, incould reach more than $139 billion SHORTAGE which they stated that 5.8 million homesby 2030. Because of this, the industry These two issues are intermingledneed to be built to restore affordability tocan expect tougher building codes and because being able to resolve the housinglevels seen in 2000. increased government focus on climate-crisis depends, to a large extent, onBUILDING FOR THE FUTURE adaptive projects. The construction the industrys ability to find skilled andWhen the construction industry looksindustry sees this as a trigger to increase non-skilled workers needed to increaseinto the future, the most prevalentinnovation and funding for resilient annual housing starts. Not having theterms for the sector to consider areconstruction methods.necessary human resources to build thesustainability and resilience to climate homes needed will also have a negativechange. Sustainability is becoming anBoth of these concerns will be what effect on building affordable housing. important part of new construction. Itconstruction companies will have to deal CBC News reported in April of 2025is predicted that green constructionwith and possibly get ahead of in their about how the construction industrywithin the residential market will reachplanning for the future.is concerned about the affordability of housing if the federal government fails to change the immigration rules and if more skilled and non-skilled construction workers are allowed into Canada. Housing constructors have voiced their concern that finding the right type of workers is becoming a serious problem. For example, there is a shortage of construction labourers who have no specific skills or training, and the current immigration rules put these types of workers in a difficult position. The rules put a premium on university education, which puts this type of worker way down the immigration priority list. When the retirement of 22 per cent of construction workers is forecast in the next eight years, the increased housing targets under the current immigration rules will make the cost of housing simply out of reachfor Canadians.BUILDERSDIGEST Quarter 2202529'