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Aftab Ahmed on Canada's Labour Shortages in the Construction Industry | Policy Options

Published: 8 October 2024

October 7, 2024 | Alumnus Aftab Ahmed MPP'23 wrote an article on fixing the construction labour shortage in Canada on Policy Options. "The construction industry faces a twin problem: labour shortages and an impending wave of retirements. This is not a simple issue with an easy fix. It negatively affects four sequential components of the housing supply chain: workforce availability, the recruitment and retention of skilled labour, the development of housing projects, and the timely delivery of completed homes," write Aftab. 

Public pressure to tackle what many have deemed unrestrained immigration numbers has become a focus in today’s hostile and often cutthroat political discourse. Leveraging the temporary foreign worker channel no longer seems to be on the immediate agenda, with Ottawa cutting back on its preference for these workers due to concerns about exploitation within the construction industry, combined with political realities. At worst, these realities reflect a reactionary, knee-jerk response where newcomers are politically scapegoated to leverage financial anxiety, as has been done throughout history without much evidence, and at best, they represent a necessary pulse check on federal immigration policy.

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