Canada's construction industry is being pushed to its limits, a new report says.

And the pressure is only going to get worse before it gets better, with 162,000 workers needed to replace retiring Baby Boomers, according to an assessment of Canada's construction labour markets from 2008 to 2016 by the Ottawa-based Construction Sector Council (CSC).

Another 94,000 construction workers will be needed over the next eight years just to keep pace with new projects. These numbers are above and beyond the 42,000 workers hired last year, a figure the CSC calls unprecedented.

"From 2007 to 2016, that's close to 300,000 construction workers. The magnitude of that should be a call to action," says CSC executive director George Gritziotis.

Despite economic uncertainty in the U.S., construction has been a leading industry in terms of growth and employment in Canada over the past decade. CSC figures show that national employment across the construction industry has risen by a record 39 per cent over the past five years.

The years 1995 to 2006 also saw a significant jump in construction investment in Canada. "Adjusted for inflation, it's close to a 45- to 50-per-cent increase in construction investment," says Gritziotis. "That's put a tremendous amount of pressure on workforce needs at all levels."

"What we're experiencing right now is a prolonged peak; it's flattening out but not dropping. We're increasing at a decreasing rate - construction is still increasing, but at a slower pace."

While the national forecast shows Alberta and British Columbia are the pacesetters - with oilsands projects spurring growth across the Wild Rose Province and infrastructure around the Asia Pacific gateway and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in B.C - they won't be alone at the front of the pack for much longer.

The CSC says "dramatic increases in employment" will soon follow in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and New Brunswick.

Even the laggards - Ontario and Quebec - are still moving forward, with growth expected in the industrial and engineering trades.

"We have a growing economy, record new projects and record employment," says Michael Fougere, president of the Saskatchewan Construction Association. "Saskatchewan is now a major draw in the fierce Canadawide competition for skilled labour."

Manufacturing investment in Saskatchewan is at an all-time high. Several projects are underway or scheduled, including ethanol and food-processing plants, potash and uranium mine expansions. Other work is tied to oil and gas.

A $4-billion polygeneration plant near Belle Plaine, Sask., is also on the drawing board. The facility, which would be owned and operated by TransCanada Corp., would use petroleum coke as feedstock to produce hydrogen, nitrogen, steam and carbon dioxide for fertilizer production and enhanced oil recovery.

But it's not just industrial or commercial development that's pushing the industry in Saskatchewan or the rest of the country. Last year, residential projects accounted for 40 per cent of all Canadian construction.

"In many ways, we're competing with and surpassing Alberta in the pace of growth. We're certainly rivalling Alberta, if not passing it," says Fougere. "But if we don't have more workers, we will begin to see trouble. We are working flat-out right now, but if we don't address this in a comprehensive way (in Saskatchewan) it will stifle growth and no one wants that."

As with the other provinces, Saskatchewan does not have the luxury of importing workers from other parts of Canada - even though some Saskatchewan workers have returned home because of its rebounding economy.

"Mobility has been a big part of addressing workforce needs in construction but it's going to be harder and harder because of retirements and work everywhere," says Gritziotis. "There's a lot of work taking off in the Atlantic provinces in the next little while, they're going to be trying to lure their workers back.

"So mobility, which was a part of responding to our workforce needs, may not be part of the solution."

According to the CSC, there is no silver bullet when it comes to filling construction jobs anywhere in Canada.

"There is no one single solution for construction," says Gritziotis. "It's a number of different solutions: Better utilizing our current workforce, bringing women into the industry and retaining older workers by redesigning jobs so we can hold onto them even longer."

Other avenues being explored include getting more young people interested in construction, turning to immigration and tapping into Aboriginal communities.

Kelly Lendsay, president and CEO of the Saskatoon-based Aboriginal Human Resource Council (AHRC), says it is working with the private sector and Aboriginal employment groups to create more career opportunities for Aboriginals, which she describes as "an upwardly mobile" workforce.

"They need and want work, and like every Canadian, they need opportunities," says Lendsay, noting that 50 per cent of the Aboriginal workforce is under 25 years of age. "There is close to half a million Aboriginal people coming into the workforce."

"We need to awaken employers to show them the business case and then design and execute an Aboriginal inclusion strategy," he adds.

Construction-related challenges were a topic at the recent National Aboriginal Trades Symposium hosted by the AHRC in Victoria in mid-June.

At the event, contractor Mike Holmes of HGTV's Holmes on Homes delivered a message of support for recruiting, retaining and advancing Aboriginal trades and apprenticeship workers.

The symposium also allowed attending employers to connect directly with the Aboriginal community to discuss opportunities for collaboration.

However, no one group can address all the issues, notes Gritziotis.

"All our stakeholders have to work on this. Our job is to identify where the best practices are and be able to adapt and modify - to move these to other parts of the country to address workforce issues when they arise," he says.

Prairie Outlook

* In Manitoba, there are not enough local workers to fill jobs. A significant drop in employment is predicted for 2010 as several projects are scheduled to end.

* This scenario would provide recruiting opportunities for out-of-province employers, as labour markets in many other provinces remain tight.

* Construction activity should resume in 2011 in Manitoba and continue for several years.

* Since 2003, construction in both residential and non-residential sectors in Saskatchewan has been expanding.

* In Saskatchewan, the focus is now shifting to include big resource-based industrial and engineering projects. Work on a long list of major non-residential projects has begun, or is planned for the next few years.

* Between 2008 and 2010, construction employment in Saskatchewan will increase by more than 14 per cent, or 3,800 new workers. This is in addition to a similar increase in employment estimated for 2007 alone.

* Industrial and engineering construction activity is expected to peak in 2010 and then begin a gradual decline with the completion of known major projects.

* Employment declines at a modest pace from 2011 to 2016.

* There will be a need to replace more than 4,000 retiring Saskatchewan workers over the next nine years.

Source: Construction Sector Council (Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)