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Let’s Build Canada’s members include IBEW Canada; International Transitioning the country to a grid generated mainly by hydroelectric,
Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing new wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and nuclear power could result
Ironworkers - Ironworker Management Progressive Action in one million-plus jobs by 2050. Almost 22,000 could be created
Cooperative Trust; International Association of Heat and Frost by building small district energy systems in just half of Canadian
Insulators and Allied Workers; International Union of Painters and cities with populations above 100,000. By investing in net-zero
Allied Trades; LiUNA Canada; Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and emission building retrofits and new construction techniques for
Transportation Workers; and UA Canada. industrial, commercial and institutional buildings and by investing
$150 billion in building urban transit by 2050, more than two million
They represent cornerstone jobs like electricians, plumbers,
more jobs could be created.
ironworkers, insulators and glazers, and bring together diverse
regions, genders, races, ethnicities and faiths. Traditional Canadian energy can be part of the solution. Canada’s
building trades have worked on oil and gas infrastructure across
For the Let’s Build Canada coalition, modern challenges like climate
the country for decades. As new technologies become available,
change require modern infrastructure. That demands a new
Canadian workers can support traditional energy as the sector
approach to greener, resilient infrastructure, especially given that
modernizes to meet today’s challenges.
Canada’s climate is warming twice as fast as the global average.
Underpinning that massive infrastructure drive would be Canada’s
The effects of a changing climate include heat waves and smog
construction workforce.
days, more severe floods, intense windstorms, shrinking glaciers,
permafrost melts and invasive species. And they come with About 15 per cent of Canadian workers are already part of the
immense human and financial costs. From 2000 to 2015, the costs national construction workforce. It’s a sector that added $118
of extreme weather events in Canada were greater than all previous billion in value to the economy in 2015 alone. It represents 7.2 per
years combined. This burden will only worsen, rising from $5 billion cent of Canada’s GDP. LBC’s affiliates are the backbone of
per year in 2020 to between $21 and $43 billion per year by 2050. Canada’s economy, one that supports thousands of businesses
through installing, renovating and repairing billions of dollars in
Even if the entire world met all its climate commitments, some
infrastructure every year, from power lines and sewers to refineries
degree of continued warming is inevitable – and Canada’s
and wind turbines. The energy sector alone supported 250,000
infrastructure must be ready to face it. It’s why Let’s Build Canada
construction jobs in 2018.
is talking not only about green infrastructure, but adapting, and
putting Canadians to work building from coast to coast to coast. Let’s Build Canada supports good jobs for not just these
Canadians, but all Canadians – and that’s more important than ever
A recent Columbia Institute report commissioned by Canada's
in today’s economy.
Building Trades Unions explored the role of Canada’s construction
industry and potential for low-carbon economy job growth. That Canada is growing rapidly, creating housing and infrastructure
review found that meeting Canada’s climate goals could generate demand. As our population ages, the retirement rate in Canada’s
more than 3.3 million direct jobs in the building trades and 17 construction workforce is expected to greatly surpass the number
million total jobs, including induced, indirect and supply-chain jobs. of new recruits.

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