Friday, March 21, 2025
The future of the Canadian construction sector was always at the forefront of all discussions during the first day of sessions at the annual Canadian Construction Association conference in Quebec City.
Freelance political journalist Chantal Hébert kicked things off with an insightful keynote address exploring the evolving Canadian political scene.
With a new Liberal Party leader expected to be at the helm, Hébert examined the challenges and opportunities facing Canada’s new leadership, including potential shifts in policy direction and the upcoming federal election, likely to be called as soon as Parliament returns.
Hébert discussed how this election could reshape the political landscape, and on the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs, she stated: “There are no wars that make no casualties.”
The first panel discussion of the day focused on cutting-edge approaches to designing disaster-resilient infrastructure and the role of the construction industry in emergency response.
“Change and mitigate before the response,” said Ken McMullen, chief of emergency services for the City of Red Deer and president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, in explaining how in Europe the emphasis is on prevention, with 90 per cent of every dollar is spent on prevention, “the exact opposite of what happens here in North America.”
Jason Lum, a city councillor with the City of Chilliwack, cautioned the audience about municipalities putting “all their eggs in one basket” when it comes to protecting their communities.
“We must be more agile in how we plan and how we build.”
Melanie Pigeon, senior director, Expertise, Engineering and Standardization with Hydro-Quebec discussed how the increase in electricity demand in her province will see capacity tripled, with 60 new substations and 5,000 kilometres of new transmission lines built to transfer the required power from northern Quebec to the power-consuming southern region.
Another panel on day one discussed Canada’s ambition to diversify its trade partnerships, which will demand world-class infrastructure and logistics, and the role Canada’s construction sector can play in building trade enabling infrastructure that supports global market access.
The threat and reality of U.S. tariffs will mean more scrutiny of foreign capital, including from the U.S., said Dr. Neil Campbell, partner with McMillan LLP. “They may no longer be looked on as a good source of capital as they once were in the past.”
For Julie White, chief human resources and strategy officer, with the Montreal Port Authority, the idea of trade-enabling infrastructure needs to become a top-of-mind topic over the next months, and years, adding to get these projects built, “cutting red tape needs to be a priority for the next federal government.”
The expansion of the Port Montreal with the construction of a new facility upriver at Contrecoeur is kind of trade infrastructure we need more of said Julie White, vice president of the Quebec Manufacturers and Exporters.
She pointed out that if only six per cent of the trade currently coming from the U.S. was returned, the Port of Montreal would be full, necessitating Canadian exporters to use U.S. ports.
A lot of discussion has been centred on reducing inter-provincial trade barriers as a way to blunt the effects of U.S. tariffs, but according to Campbell, “because of the size of our market, diversification is the real way to fight tariffs.”
Featured image: (CCA)
