Ontario Construction News staff writer
The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) is calling on the federal government to welcome more construction workers to Canada through immigration reforms.
In a pre-budget submission, RCCAO identified three priorities for feds, focused on labour, funding and approvals processes with changes to stimulate infrastructure growth.
The pre-budget consultation was submitted to the House of Common’s Standing Committee on Finance last week.
Along with attracting more construction workers, the government must fill municipal funding gaps caused by the pandemic and streamline regulatory processes to shorten the development approvals process while lowering compliance costs, RCCAO suggests.
Measures would boost the labour pool, ensure stable funding to complete capital projects and repairs and reduce costly delays that hold up projects.
“These three priorities are crucial to addressing long-term critical infrastructure needs that will serve Canadians and the economy well into the future,” RCCAO executive director Nadia Todorova said in a statement. “They will enhance the ability of industry to build critical infrastructure projects on-time and on-budget, while ensuring the needed infrastructure is in place to serve Canadians for years to come.”
Considering population projections for Canada and Ontario – 57 million by 2068 and 21 million by 2043, respectively – and the current infrastructure deficit topping $270 billion, Todorova says it is imperative that investment decisions “carefully consider where we may be tomorrow”.
“The ongoing collaboration of all three levels of government is needed to ensure critical infrastructure keeps up with the long-term demands of our growing country,” she said. “Even with economic headwinds creating challenges, renewing and expanding critical infrastructure is a great investment in the long-term prosperity of all Canadians.”