MARCH 14, 2025
Last week the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) hosted its 25th Annual State of the Industry & Outlook Conference on Thursday, March 6. It was certainly an interesting time for an economic outlook conference with all that is currently going on in the world.
Hosted at the International Centre in Mississauga the conference brought together over 230 industry professionals to hear from a variety of economic, industry, and political speakers. We also had a record number of first-time attendees register for the event which was very exciting to see.
Recently appointed Chief Executive Officer, Brian Barron, welcomed everyone to the conference and gave thanks to all our wonderful event sponsors for their support.
Robert Kavcic, Senior Economist & Director at BMO Canada, presented the bank’s latest economic forecast. The outlook featured in-depth analysis on the impacts of U.S. tariffs and the Canadian government’s response. Although select incoming tariffs from the U.S. have been paused, the overall threat remains and thus the outlook remains accurate.
Unfortunately for Canada’s economy, the outlook is unfavourable for the next year or so with GDP expected to dip into the negatives in Ontario, as potential tariffs are likely to hit the province considerably hard. However, Kavcic did reveal some silver lining, in that capital spending and investment in infrastructure are expected to continue to rise. This is especially important for the construction industry as it’s possible that private investment may pull back with the looming threat of tariffs.
The 2025 Contractor Survey would concur with that view of the industry as 67% of contractors indicated they have a positive outlook for the sector. Katherine Jacobs, OCS Director of Research, summarized the findings from the survey, which found that the reason for this positive outlook relied largely upon the government’s investment in infrastructure projects and the significant work opportunities that this investment provides. This enthusiasm is tempered though as the survey also found that contractors are concerned about project cancellations and rising costs.
The survey was conducted in January, prior to the Canada – U.S. trade war, given these new developments the OCS plans to go back out to the industry to seek additional information.
Bob Collins, Senior Economist at BuildForce Canada, drilled down into a forecast focused on construction in Ontario specifically. One of the key takeaways from his presentation was that non-residential construction investment has been increasing since 2021 and is projected to peak in 2027. Collins went region by region highlighting the major projects that are planned.
Collins then shifted gears, moderating a panel discussion with the following industry leaders:
- John Baker, Millwright Local 2309
- Tomi Hulkkonen, Carpenters Regional Council
- Dean Walker, Eastern Construction
- Julie Zulich, TESC Contracting
The panel addressed some of the potential challenges the industry faces and discussed how we can continue to be resilient. Although, tariffs, materials cost, and labour supply can be challenges at times the panel believed that with the significant amount of projects in the pipeline there is reason to be positive.
Finally, to wrap up the day we heard from Canadian icon, Steve Paikin. Steve is the Host & Senior Editor of TVO’s The Agenda, and had lots to discuss given Canada’s current political situation. As always Steve was very well received and provided keen insight into the tariff situation as well as provincial politics in Ontario and our upcoming federal election.
If you attended the conference and have not yet already, we ask that you complete the post-event survey by clicking here.
Conference presentations, as well as event pictures can be found on our website here.
Please direct any requests, questions, or concerns to aidanj@iciconstruction.com.