While various government levels announce significant investments in building housing to facilitate people's access to it, the shortage of skilled labor in the construction sector is hindering the aspirations of those seeking housing in several provinces, including Alberta in the west of the country.

According to Statistics Canada, there is currently a shortfall of around 75,000 full-time workers in the construction sector in the country. Among this number, there are between 2,500 and 4,000 job vacancies in Calgary alone, as explained by Frano Kavar, the government relations director at the Calgary Construction Association (CCA), Alberta's largest city.

According to Kavar, the shortage of skilled workers has not yet caused delays that threaten construction projects, but the situation may change.

The average age of construction workers is currently 57 years. "We can expect these individuals to retire from work in the next ten years," Kavar said.

The investments being made by different levels of government to cool the real estate market can have a counterproductive effect, according to Benjamin Heininger, owner of Groon Construction in Calgary.

Heininger believes that if more money is available for construction projects, it will increase pressure on the workforce, which will lead to rising production costs.

However, the dean of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary, Jim Sutton, has a more positive outlook. According to him, enrollment rates in construction-related programs have increased since 2021. For the second consecutive year, the institute is opening more spots in training programs.

Sutton attributes this renewed enthusiasm to several reasons, the most notable of which is that the employment rate for graduates in construction professions ranges from 90% to 100%.

However, Heininger believes that these new workers also need on-the-job training, which incurs financial costs and delays. "If you have too many trainees compared to skilled workers, it reduces the quality of work and requires redoing (some) work," said the owner of Groon Construction.

Moreover, demographic pressure on Calgary has increased significantly in recent months. Frano Kavar, the government relations director at the Calgary Construction Association, stated that 40,000 people move to the city to live there every year.

Kavar notes that "these are last year's figures, which are 20,000 to 25,000 more than what the city usually receives."