B.C. Construction Workers Face Jobs Crisis Amid Housing Slowdown

British Columbia's construction industry is facing a potential jobs crisis due to a prolonged decline in homebuilding, according to industry experts. Chris Gardner, president and CEO of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, warned that the downturn is more than just an affordability story.

The housing shortfall has resulted in falling construction employment as projects stall, with Gardner pointing out that Canada will build roughly 237,000 homes this year, 12,000 fewer than in 1972. By 2027, CMHC projects just 220,000 homes. This decline could lead to layoffs among residential trades and potentially self-reinforcing as workers leave the sector or the province.

Proponents of major energy and export projects are pitching new construction work as a potential buffer to absorb displaced labour if housing starts remain weak. The Trans Mountain expansion is cited as an example, creating 67,423 full-time equivalent jobs alongside $11 billion in wages and $52.8 billion in total economic activity from 2018 to 2023.

Projects on the horizon include the Westcoast Energy's Sunrise Expansion Program, which will increase natural gas transmission capacity by about 300 million cubic feet per day. The Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also floated a new Alberta-to-coast oil pipeline as leverage if a Canadian option stalls, with Ottawa and Edmonton signing a memorandum of understanding backing a privately financed bitumen pipeline to a B.C. port.