Canadian federal and provincial governments need to adopt four principles to ensure the construction sector can have better access to foreign skilled workers, a BuildForce Canada report says.

The report says that changes are required for the construction sector to deliver on key public-policy priorities such as building new housing and greening infrastructure.

“Construction activity is projected to grow across the country over the next decade, driven by more than $450 billion worth of non-residential projects that are taking place across the country and renewed growth in the residential sector in the middle and later years of the 2020s,” says Bill Ferreira, Executive Director of BuildForce Canada.

“Our labour market information models, which do not take into account additional labour demands created by the impetus to build millions of new housing units or to meet Canada’s net-zero targets, suggest that the industry could face a recruiting gap of more than 85,000 workers by 2033.”

“Closing this gap will require the industry to hire from a variety of sources, including from among the hundreds of thousands of new permanent and non-permanent residents that are projected to be admitted to Canada in the coming years. 

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“The difficulty is, the system does not currently support this objective.”

According to BuildForce, Canada’s immigration system favors university-educated applicants, which may create challenges for Canada construction without change, as many people with trade certificates or other competencies are currently being ignored.

In particular demand are technical trades and transportation officers and controllers (NOC Category 7), which account for upwards of three-quarters of the total construction force.

They have also struggled to obtain entry to Canada under the Express Entry system.

The four guiding principles highlighted in the report are:

1. Addressing educational bias in the Express Entry selection system

The system, as per the report, disproportionately favors applicants with high education levels, while excluding others who hold the valuable skills or the willingness to learn. The system should be reformed to better reflect domestic labour needs, and award more points based on those needs.

2. Better aligning federal and provincial immigration policies, and increase transparency

All levels of government treat immigration as a shared responsibility among them. Now that the provinces and territories comprise more than half of the total immigration selections annually, greater coordination is needed among these programs and with the federal system to make sure that goals are transparent and aligned.

3. Ensuring industry involvement in labour market planning, analysis and recruitment

Ottawa should consult more broadly with Canadian industries, including the construction sector, when setting immigration targets. This will help ensure that selection policies and priorities are in more apt alignment with domestic labour market requirements.

4. Supporting competency-based skills assessments for foreign credential recognition

Even though credential recognition is within the purview of the provinces and territories, the federal government can – and should – play a role in ensuring that the provinces and territories adopt competencies-based skills assessments of foreign credentials.

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This can help ensure individuals with foreign credentials are matched to opportunities aligning with their skills.

“While the construction industry will always prioritize the recruitment of domestic workers, the changing career preferences of Canadian youth and rising retirement levels have made it more challenging for the industry to keep pace with accelerating construction demands,” says Sean Strickland, Chair of BuildForce Canada.

“Aligning immigration priorities more closely with the current and future needs of Canadian industries is therefore imperative.”