You often hear the importance of a sector described in terms of annual revenue, contribution to the GDP, the investment it attracts, or the jobs it is responsible for, but those metrics only scratch the surface of their contributions. A more complete picture of the value of an industry includes its impact on household incomes, in the public services communities can afford through tax revenues, its linkages to other local and global suppliers and partners, and its broader contributions to the everyday patterns of life. Construction is one such example: an industry that has long anchored Ontario’s economy and employs nearly 600,000 people today. It has the potential to shape a more vibrant future if we consider its role more widely and choose to harness it.
What if the housing push had an impact bigger than just new homes?
Our communities are growing, and municipalities across the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area (GTHA) are pursuing ambitious targets to meet Ontario’s goal of building 1.5 million new homes, not to mention the transportation, electricity, water and waste management infrastructure they need. At the national level, the newly formed Build Canada Homes has $13 billion to accelerate housing construction, amid historic lows in sales and high construction costs.
Our existing building stock also requires attention. Across Ontario, more than 1.8 million homes, including apartments, were built before 1980, before modern energy codes. They need to be renovated and upgraded to continue to provide comfortable and efficient places for people to live and work.
Despite the global nature of technologies and materials, construction work remains inherently local. The work gets done in-place, on-site, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. That creates a pivotal opportunity, with housing targets, aging building stocks, shifting trade realities, and political attention aligned, to turn today’s housing challenges into long‑term economic and community benefits. But only if we act with coordination and intention.
A homegrown opportunity for jobs, the economy and a healthy, green future
It surprised me to learn that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up more than 99% of Ontario construction-related firms. Initial research by BDC, indicates that it’s also a far-reaching sector as you look at it more closely. It includes freight companies that keep materials moving; companies that employ labourers and tradespeople; contractors building and renovating homes for families and commerce; suppliers and innovators of materials, equipment and technology; maintenance and repair technicians looking after the buildings where Ontarians live and work; and many more.
These businesses are the kinds of job creators and community anchors targeted in recent provincial and federal workforce development programs to attract people to the sector and supporting up-skilling. However, they are largely limited to supporting workers – not the workplace, employers, and industries who need to be ready to hire people and support their careers. The strategic supports which GTHA SMEs in the construction industry need for growth and modernization remain fragmented and unmet.
A construction ecosystem already exists in the GTHA. It is made up of longstanding players, new entrants, local leaders and global networks. This includes companies like Rockwool, the Canadian subsidiary of a Danish company, located in Milton for over 35 years and employing over 270 people, to newer businesses like Assembly Corps and Goldfinch Energy bringing industrialized construction innovation, electrification and efficiency services and products, new jobs and skilled trades, and advanced building technology to the market.
Turning development demand into local prosperity
A regional economic development strategy would be a very powerful tool at this time. Such a strategy could connect disparate efforts and navigate significant forces both driving and slowing us, with a goal of supporting the Ontario construction sector to deliver the sustainable and prosperous communities we seek.
It could include tactics that would ensure that local companies win local work and support competitive opportunities for GTHA businesses to serve wider markets. Our SMEs could immediately benefit from dedicated supports for business growth like financing and advisory services, that are needed now. It could emphasize renovation and retrofit strategies for existing buildings like Building Performance Standards to help sustain the construction sector at a time when new development is slow. It could reduce red tape for rapidly expanding technologies like heat pumps, develop interprovincial and global export pathways for locally grown solutions, and offer incentives to attract business and create strategic trade partnerships where we have gaps.
Last year, TAF held several conversations and roundtables with the GTHA’s economic development leaders, industry associations, and government partners to explore these observations more deeply. Participants quickly highlighted the fit with their priorities, as well as the need for shared data, a unified understanding of the region’s economic opportunity and coordinated tools to support local economic development as well as foreign partnerships.
As the GTHA’s climate agency, TAF understands that buildings are the largest source of fossil fuel use today and that transforming them is essential to ensuring healthy, resilient, and sustainable communities across Ontario. Meeting this challenge is not only about keeping pace with construction needs; it’s about doing so with a Made-in-Ontario approach that strengthens our entrepreneurs, businesses, and workforce for decades to come. All orders of government have a pivotal role to play in enabling this shift. By aligning behind a regional strategy, governments can help enable the construction sector’s future, including its continued contribution to local economies, and position Ontario as a leader in clean growth.
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