of Ontario’s construction firms expect
to conduct more business this year
than last.

The indicator was released as part
of the OCS’s 17th annual State of the
Industry & Outlook Conference at the
Metro Toronto Convention Centre on
March 9.

“Increased construction activity is
always a good sign for the overall
economy and things are decidedly
looking better for Ontario in 2017,” said
OCS CEO Sean Strickland. “We’re see-
ing a couple of possible explanations
for the boost in optimism like invest-
ments in major infrastructure projects
across the province and an improved
economy south of the border.”
CONSTRUCTION CONFIDENCE SURVEY
2017 The annual Construction Confidence Survey, conducted by the Ontario
Construction Secretariat (OCS), measures the overall health of Ontario’s
construction economy and the industry’s outlook for 2017.

Here, based on 500 interviews with contractors across the province, is what you
need to know about the economic engine of growth that is construction in 2017.

CONSTRUCTION CONFIDENCE INDICATOR
Regional confidence scor
scores: es:
Eastern 59
Northern 57
2016 57
60 2017
GTA The Constru
ction Confidence Indicator reveals
r eveals
Construction contractors’ per
ceptions of business conditions for
perceptions the next 12 months. A r reading
eading above 50 indicates
that the number of contractors who expect to
conduct mor
gr eater than those
more e business is greater
expecting to conduct less business.

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK IN 2017
COMPARED TO LAST YEAR?
61 Southwestern
60 Central
62 SECTOR OUTLOOK
Percentage Per
centage of Contractors Expecting
Significant Gr
Growth owth Acr
Across oss Ontario
Same 27
Better 47
Worse W orse
43% 25
33% Don’t Know
2 45%
34% 26%
Optimism is highest in the GTA
GTA, , wher
where e
56% of contactors expect Ontario's
ction industry to gr grow.

ow. constru
construction 63 per cent of contractors in
Kitchener-Waterloo expect significant
owth in the high-rise residential
r esidential sector.

sector .

gr growth
Industrial Commercial
Commer cial
Institutional Engineering/
Civil High-Rise
Residential According to detailed regional data,
Central Ontario is the most confident
with a confidence score of 62, fol-
lowed closely by the GTA with a score
of 61. Northern Ontario reports the
lowest confidence with a score of 57,
however, optimism has nevertheless
improved since 2016. Significant in-
vestment is being made in post-sec-
ondary education facilities in Northern
Ontario including major projects at Lau-
rentian University, Canadore and Con-
federation College.

Dawn Desjardins, deputy chief
economist of RBC, who delivered the
conference’s keynote address, says
the findings aren’t surprising.

“Ontario’s economy beat the na-
tional average increase in real GDP
growth in both 2015 and 2016 and we
expect 2017 will mark the year Ontario
was the fastest growing province,”
said Desjardins. “Fiscal stimulus and
consumer spending will be key sup-
ports in 2017 and will likely lead busi-
nesses to pick up the pace of
investment activity as the year pro-
gresses.” The Construction Confidence Indica-
tor analyzes expectations of growth
across five construction sectors – in-
dustrial, commercial, engineering/civil,
institutional and high-rise residential.

The results show that across the
province in the non-residential sector,
contractors expect to see the most
growth in the engineering/civil cate-
gory with 43 per cent of respondents
anticipating “significant growth” in
2017. Expectations for “significant
growth” in this sector are highest in
Eastern Ontario at 57 per cent.

Contractors expect the high-rise res-
idential sector to be a stronger per-
former in 2017. Overall across Ontario,
45 per cent of contractors anticipate
“significant growth” in this sector.

Kitchener-Waterloo leads the province
in high-rise residential optimism with
63 per cent of contractors anticipating
“significant growth,” most likely a di-
rect spin-off from the construction of
new light rail transit.

Despite the boost in overall confi-
dence, nearly half of the 500 contrac-
tors surveyed report they expect the
Trump presidency to have a negative or
harmful effect on Ontario’s economy
and construction industry. This senti-
ment is most acute in Windsor-Sarnia
where 59 per cent of respondents be-
lieve Trump’s government will harm
Ontario’s economy.

Alternatively, opinion in Hamilton-Ni-
agara appears polarized with 40 per
cent of firms forecasting the Trump
presidency will have a positive impact
on Ontario’s economy and 44 per cent
predicting a negative effect. Three
common sources of concern include
increased construction material costs,
negative impact on the manufacturing
industry and decreasing investment in
projects due to economic uncertainty.

The confidence indicator also looks
at employment trends. This year’s sur-
vey shows an 11 per cent increase in
apprenticeship employment in the
unionized construction sector over the
past two years, while the non-union-
ized sector has only seen a three per
cent increase. Eighty-three per cent of
unionized firms employ apprentices
compared to 49 per cent of non-union
firms. Ottawa to begin discussions
on light rail link with Western
Quebec, ignoring MOOSE
initiative Ottawa City Council has started vi-
sualizing connecting the city’s Light
Rail Transit (LRT) system to Gatineau
across the Prince of Wales bridge,
though none of the public documenta-
tion about this process has made any
mention of the MOOSE Consortium’s
private sector initiative to turn that
bridge into the linchpin for a commer-
cially financed regional passenger rail
service connecting 16 Eastern Ontario
and Western Quebec municipalities.

Council approved a motion to “di-
rect staff to continue to work with their
counterparts in the City of Gatineau, to
explore potential enhancements to
public transit and active mobility con-
nections between Ottawa and
Gatineau including, but not limited to,
the future use of the Prince of Wales
Bridge to inform the next update to the
Transportation Master Plan.”
The motion, introduced by Council-
lor Keith Egli, also asks Mayor Jim Wat-
The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Spring 2017 – 53