As governments across the country begin rolling out an impressive amount of infrastructure investment, Canadian general contractors are presented with opportunity, alongside mounting risk, ongoing labour pressures and increasing project complexity.
Momentum builds at North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in Vancouver, British Columbia – an incredibly complex project that’s due to be completed by June 2031. Image courtesy of PCL Construction.
For much of Canada’s history, major construction pushes have emerged during moments of national transformation. From railways and highways to energy systems and urban transit networks, infrastructure has often served as both an economic catalyst and a nation-building tool. Today, Canada’s Top Contractors argue that the country is entering another such period.
Canada’s construction sector, having weathered pandemic disruptions, inflationary shocks and supply chain turmoil, now finds itself at the centre of an ambitious agenda involving transportation infrastructure, energy security, defence investments, healthcare facilities, data centres and community development. Yet, while the pipeline of work appears stronger than it has in decades, the challenges associated with delivering that work have become equally significant.
Considering these factors, Mike Wieninger, COO, Canadian Operations at PCL Construction – Canada’s 2026 Top Contractor in Canada – believes the industry has demonstrated incredible resilience while positioning itself for long-term growth.
“The Canadian construction industry remains resilient and continues to play a critical role in supporting economic activity, national infrastructure priorities and long-term competitiveness,” he says.
While labour availability, supply chain volatility, regulatory complexity and cost escalation remain ongoing challenges, he notes that “there is also significant opportunity emerging across several high growth sectors.”
For general contractors operating in Canada’s heavy civil sector, success is being realized increasingly by not only building out projects, but by effectively navigating risk, securing labour, managing complexity and adapting to a rapidly changing procurement environment.
“The construction industry was the only thing that kept Canada together and created any kind of economic growth during COVID, which shows how critical this industry is to the country’s resilience,” says Rodrigue Gilbert, President of the Canadian Construction Association.
And the industry’s importance is becoming even more clear as governments once again look to construction to drive economic growth and long-term competitiveness.
“Government again is turning back to construction to be the driver of the future of the country, just as it has during other pivotal moments in Canadian history,’ Gilbert adds.
A generational pipeline
Following several years of uncertainty, many industry leaders believe that the market is entering a period that’s becoming increasingly defined by visibility and long-term opportunity.
Teri McKibbon, CEO of Bird Construction, says construction has largely emerged from the disruption that’s been plaguing the industry recently.
“The Canadian construction market has undergone a meaningful shift since the inflation and supply chain disruptions of 2021 through 2024,” he says. “As we moved through 2025, we saw several important shifts across the broader market. Supply chains largely stabilized, cost visibility improved and there was a continued move toward more collaborative delivery models that better align expectations across owners and contractors.”
At the same time, governments have advanced major capital programs tied to infrastructure, energy, security and defence, helping to create a clearer view into future project flow. It’s also resulting in an incredible amount of opportunity available to general contractors operating across the country, with investment being poured into just about every major infrastructure category, including nuclear energy, renewables, oil and gas, LNG, mining, healthcare, education, transportation and data centre construction.
“It’s a very exciting time to be in the construction industry with what feels like a generational pipeline of long-cycle opportunities for the industry over the next several years,” McKibbon says.
Those opportunities, however, are being driven by a number of powerful and significantly meaningful forcing functions. Canada’s infrastructure deficit is substantial. Electrification initiatives require new transmission systems and generation assets. Defence spending is rising. And population growth continues to place pressure on transportation, healthcare and housing infrastructure. Meanwhile, digital transformation is fueling demand for the development of data centres and related facilities.
Construction of BHP Raw Ore and Product
Storage foundations in Saskatchewan. Image courtesy of Bird Construction.
Capacity constraints become the central challenge
As a result of this demand, for many contractors, the question is no longer whether work will be available, but whether the industry has sufficient capacity to deliver it, making the availability of labour the defining current constraint. From PCL’s perspective, in order to execute, collaboration will need to support every decision made.
“Canada has a substantial infrastructure deficit and ambitious pipeline of nation-building projects ahead,” says Wieninger. “Success will depend on continued collaboration between government, industry and trade partners to build workforce capacity, improve productivity and deliver the infrastructure needed to support Canada’s future growth.”
Despite the need to collaborate, however, owners are increasingly competing for the same skilled labour pools, equipment fleets and specialized contractors. As a result, industry leaders warn that without greater coordination, project schedules and budgets could come under increasing pressure.
“We need to make sure projects are not fighting with each other,” Gilbert asserts. “You can see two or three major projects in the same area creating workforce and capacity issues that delay delivery.”
However, the current labour challenge extends well beyond simple headcount shortages. Many contractors point to a growing shortage of experienced personnel capable of managing increasingly complex infrastructure projects. In fact, Angelo Grassa, President and Chief Operating Officer at Grascan Construction, believes the industry faces a significant experience gap as major infrastructure programs accelerate.
“There’s not enough people to do the work that’s coming up,” he says. “Nobody wants to work building rail lines and bridges. It’s hard work.”
That concern is particularly acute within the specialized sectors, where decades of accumulated knowledge often separate successful delivery from costly delays.
In fact, Grassa argues that many of the industry’s future challenges will stem not only from labour shortages but from a shortage of experienced decision-makers on the jobsite.
“The biggest downfall for the industry is going to be when the people that are currently managing projects leave,” he says, pointing to the retirement of veteran professionals and the steep learning curve facing newer entrants.
Contractors are responding, however, through a combination of workforce planning, training investments and partnerships.
Bird Construction, for example, has focused on aligning workforce planning with its long-term backlog while investing in apprenticeship programs, Indigenous partnerships and initiatives aimed at attracting women and young people into the trades.
“We support workforce development through long-standing Indigenous partnerships, targeted training initiatives and a focus on building diverse, sustainable talent pipelines,” McKibbon says.
PCL’s Wieninger agrees that workforce capacity has become the defining execution challenge facing the industry. However, as investment accelerates across multiple sectors simultaneously, he argues that contractors must be strategic about growth and resource allocation.
“Contractors must remain disciplined in managing their backlog and avoid overextending their capacity,” he warns. “Equally important is ensuring that trade partners, suppliers and the broader construction ecosystem have the capacity to support project demands.”
Grascan’s rehabilitation of Toronto’s
Gardiner Expressway, which was completed significantly ahead of schedule. Image courtesy of Grascan Construction.
The risk revolution
While labour shortages might dominate headlines, many contractors identify another issue as the industry’s most significant structural change.
“The big word is risk” says Grassa.
Historically, owners and consultants carried a larger share of project risk, supported by detailed designs and extensive project information before tender. Today, many contractors argue that risk allocation has shifted dramatically toward builders.
In fact, according to Grassa, increasingly complex projects are often tendered with incomplete information, forcing contractors to identify design deficiencies, assess constructability concerns and absorb significant uncertainty during the bidding process.
“Owners are risk averse,” he says. “The shift in the industry is that the tenders are not being managed properly.”
The result is an environment where contractors are being asked to manage not only construction risk but also elements of design, coordination and project development that were previously handled elsewhere, creating ripple effects through the project lifecycle.
Procurement models evolving
As risk has increased, traditional procurement models have come under increasing scrutiny, with industry leaders arguing that conventional design-bid-build approaches are poorly suited to today’s complex infrastructure projects.
“The world is changing so fast,” says Gilbert. “We need procurement models where all the players are at the table when you plan the project and remain involved through delivery.”
That philosophy is driving growing adoption of collaborative delivery models, including progressive design-build, integrated project delivery (IPD), construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) and other approaches that emphasize early contractor involvement.
“The industry is evolving quickly in response to growing expectations around safety, Indigenous partnerships, productivity and technology adoption,” says Wieninger. “More owners and contractors are embracing collaborative delivery models, digital construction tools, prefabrication and AI-enabled solutions to improve certainty, efficiency and project outcomes.”
Kent Peters, President of American Global, sees the same trend from the perspective of risk management and surety.
“We’re seeing a lot more collaborative contractual models – IPD, progressive design-build, cost reimbursable – because contractors can’t simply price in steel risk, or supply chain volatility anymore,” he says. “Owners are increasingly sharing those risks instead of downloading them entirely to the contractor.”
The shift reflects a broader recognition that modern infrastructure projects involve uncertainties that are difficult for any single participant to manage alone.
“Contractors have adjusted to inflation, labour shortages and project complexity by changing how risk is allocated,” Peters continues. “The industry is moving toward procurement models built around transparency, collaboration and shared responsibility rather than fixed-price contracts carrying all the risk.”
Complexity is redefining competition
As procurement evolves, the profile of successful contractors is changing as well.
Large infrastructure projects have become more technically demanding, involving extensive stakeholder engagement, environmental requirements, digital systems integration and increasingly sophisticated contract structures.
“Project complexity has expanded rapidly, both in size and scope,” Peters says. “Contractors now need to be far more sophisticated technically, contractually and operationally.”
However, that sophistication extends beyond traditional construction expertise. Contractors must now demonstrate strong safety systems, strong financial controls, advanced project management capabilities, effective design coordination and comprehensive risk management processes.
“The contractors best positioned to succeed today are no longer just the lowest-cost bidders,” Peters says. “Success is increasingly dependent on innovative approaches.”
The insurance and surety markets are reinforcing that trend, as Peters notes that underwriters now demand significantly more detailed information about project controls, technical capabilities and operational maturity before extending support.
For contractors, this means competitive advantage increasingly comes from organizational capability rather than simply pricing effectively.
And from Wieninger’s perspective, this includes the adoption of today’s latest tools.
“Advancements in technology, including AI, automation, digital project delivery and advanced construction methods, are creating opportunities to improve productivity, reduce risk and deliver more predictable project outcomes,” he asserts.
Trade uncertainty and supply chain resilience
Although supply chain conditions have improved substantially since the height of pandemic disruption, new uncertainties are emerging.
“Material cost fluctuations, tariffs and global supply chain disruptions continue to create uncertainty between bid and delivery, putting pressure on both budgets and schedules,” says Wieninger.
He goes on to explain that he believes the contractors that succeed in the coming years will be those that “maintain strong relationships with trade partners, strengthen supply chain resilience and leverage technology to improve productivity and predictability throughout project execution.”
Because many of Canada’s largest infrastructure programs are closely tied to national priorities like energy security, critical infrastructure resilience and domestic industrial development, contractors are beginning to place greater emphasis on the long-term supplier relationships that Wieninger references, as well as early procurement planning and localized sourcing strategies.
And the goal is not simply to reduce costs, but to reduce vulnerability as well. By involving suppliers earlier and improving visibility across project lifecycles, contractors can better manage volatility while improving schedule certainty.
Delivering faster in an era of urgency
One of the industry’s greatest paradoxes is the fact that projects are becoming more complex at precisely the moment society demands faster delivery. Across Canada, aging infrastructure systems require urgent renewal. In light of this, transit expansion, climate adaptation projects and energy investments can’t wait decades to materialize.
“We live in a world now where we just don’t have time to waste, especially when critical infrastructure is already failing in communities across Canada,” asserts Gilbert.
Yet many contractors argue that project delivery remains hindered by lengthy approvals, fragmented decision-making and procurement processes that prioritize risk avoidance over outcomes. Grassa believes one of the most important lessons from successful projects is the importance of removing barriers and empowering experienced teams. Reflecting on Grascan’s rehabilitation of Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway, which was completed significantly ahead of schedule, he credits collaboration and timely decision-making.
“The key was in allowing us to work,” he says.
The road ahead
Few industries are more closely tied to Canada’s economic future than construction. Governments are counting on infrastructure investment to drive growth, improve productivity and strengthen national competitiveness. Communities are counting on new transit systems, hospitals, energy facilities and transportation networks. And contractors are preparing to deliver some of the largest and most complex projects in the country’s history.
And, while industry leaders are by and large optimistic about the opportunities ahead, Wieninger cautions that execution remains in the balance.
“The greatest risk remains the industry’s ability to execute,” he asserts. “Specifically, delivering projects on time and on budget in an environment defined by labour shortages, supply chain disruptions, cost volatility and an unprecedented volume of work entering the market simultaneously.”
Having said this, however, for firms capable of scaling their operations, workforce and technical capabilities effectively, he believes “the years ahead represent one of the strongest construction markets Canada has seen in decades.”
And as the next generation of nation-building projects moves from planning to construction, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Canada’s infrastructure ambitions will depend as much on how projects are delivered as on what gets built.
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