Report stresses that no single actor can solve the looming labour crunch
Canada’s push to build more homes and speed up infrastructure is hitting a major roadblock: there aren’t enough skilled workers. A new Deloitte report warned that, unless the country finds up to half a million more tradespeople by 2030, projects could face delays and rising costs.
The federal government’s “Build, Baby, Build” agenda, unveiled by Prime Minister Mark Carney in September, promises a new era of nation-building. Five flagship projects are already under review, with the first phase of the Build Canada Homes program aiming to deliver 4,000 units on federal land as a first step toward doubling national home construction. However, as Deloitte’s analysis makes clear, the real test isn’t just regulatory or financial, it’s whether Canada can mobilize enough people to build at scale.
How big is the gap?
Deloitte’s modelling, authored by Trevin Stratton, Alicia Macdonald and Theo Argitis, estimates that meeting federal housing and infrastructure goals would require between 410,000 and 520,000 additional construction workers by 2030.
The report flags that these figures don’t account for retirements—BuildForce Canada projects more than 270,000 construction workers will retire by 2034—pushing gross recruiting needs well above 800,000 over the next decade.
The risks are not hypothetical. “We’ve seen what that looks like in practice,” the report noted, pointing to British Columbia’s 2022–23 “perfect storm,” when four megaprojects — the Coastal GasLink pipeline, Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, LNG Canada export terminal and Site C dam — peaked at once.
"The result was bidding wars for electricians, welders, crane operators and concrete crews, schedule delays, and spiralling costs," the report said.
What’s the fix?
Deloitte’s report stresses that no single actor can solve the looming labour crunch.
“It will take a coordinated, sustained effort by federal and provincial governments, employers and project owners, colleges and training providers, apprenticeship authorities and unions (and, depending on where projects are located, Indigenous partners),” the authors wrote.
The strategy must include recruiting more women, racialized Canadians, and youth into the trades, as well as streamlining credential recognition and prioritizing skilled trades in immigration programs.
The report also calls for a renewed focus on productivity. While Carney has championed prefabricated and modular construction, Deloitte cautioned that even a 10% productivity gain would still leave a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of workers.
Meanwhile, Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) chief executive officer Kevin Lee has said that major changes are needed to address Canada’s housing crisis.
“We know municipalities need funding to support the things that they’ve been trying to cover with the development charges,” Lee told Canadian Mortgage Professional. “So there’s no question that we need alternative funding and financing models that the municipalities can make use of. Some of that can come from the federal government and the provincial government.
“But there are also other ways for municipalities to spread those things across the tax base in a better way. There are property taxes, which nobody likes to see go up, but they’re a more appropriate way to fund a lot of these infrastructure needs of entire communities and cities.”
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