The National Infrastructure Assessment validates industry recommendations and underscores the urgent need for workforce, procurement, supply-chain, and internal trade reforms.
OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 27, 2025 /CNW/ - The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) welcomes today's release of the National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA), noting that its findings strongly substantiate CCA's long-standing recommendations for long-term planning, modernized delivery systems, and the core infrastructure required to support Canada's housing ambitions.
CCA President Rodrigue Gilbert said the assessment reinforces a message the industry has long emphasized: Canada cannot build more homes without the enabling infrastructure required to support them. "We are pleased to see the NIA clearly recognize that housing cannot accelerate without major improvements to water and wastewater capacity, solid waste management, and public transit access," said Gilbert. "These are the foundational systems that determine whether communities can grow."
By providing a detailed snapshot of Canada's housing-enabling infrastructure, the NIA reinforces the challenges CCA has consistently raised. The assessment shows that over $126 billion of infrastructure is in 'poor or very poor condition,' with 11% of water and wastewater assets and more than 13% of public transit assets at risk, and solid waste infrastructure approaching capacity limits. This re-emphasizes the need for governments to act decisively to support safe, resilient, and growing communities.
While the NIA provides an important national roadmap, CCA notes several areas where further action is needed:
- Workforce gaps: The report focuses primarily on engineering students, without addressing the broader construction trades, vocational training, and apprenticeships critical to meeting labour demand.
- Data limitations: The NIA provides a snapshot of infrastructure conditions using 2022-2023 data but lacks a plan for regularly updated, comprehensive information to guide evidence-based decisions.
- Annual publication and stakeholder engagement: CCA recommends an NIA be published annually, developed with extensive engagement of relevant stakeholders, reflecting diverse perspectives, and using evidence from infrastructure, economic, and growth data to support long-term asset management planning.
- Future scope: While the current NIA focuses on housing-enabling infrastructure, future assessments should also address transport and trade-enabling infrastructure to strengthen economic resilience and bolster our supply chains.
"The assessment provides a clear national vision, but delivery depends on coherent policy frameworks that support it," said Gilbert. "To turn these findings into action, we need a workforce strategy that reflects real labour-market needs, fair, open, and transparent procurement policies, supply chains that remain resilient under new domestic sourcing rules, and internal trade policies that break down barriers between provinces. Without these elements, even the strongest infrastructure plan risks stalling on implementation."
CCA looks forward to working with the federal government to ensure the NIA leads to measurable improvements in project delivery and economic growth.
About CCA:
CCA represents more than 18,000 member firms drawn from 57 local and provincial integrated partner associations across Canada. CCA gives voice to the public policy, legal and standards development goals of contractors, suppliers and allied business professionals working in, or with, Canada's institutional, commercial, industrial, civil and multi-residential construction industry.
The construction sector is one of Canada's largest employers and a major contributor to the country's economic success. The industry, 99.9 per cent of which is made up of small and medium enterprises, employs more than 1.6 million Canadians and contributes 7.3 per cent of Canada's Gross Domestic Product.
SOURCE Canadian Construction Association
For more information: Anthony Valenti, Manager, Media Relations, Canadian Construction Association, 613-608-2716, [email protected]
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