REGINA, Sask. – Despite some challenges with a trade dispute and looming labour shortages in the sector, the construction industry remains optimistic about the future in Saskatchewan.
This week, Sept. 21 to 27, marks Construction Week in Saskatchewan. At a media event in Regina, outside of the Harbour Landing West joint use school project which is now at the midpoint of construction, government as well as industry partners pointed to strong partnerships and collaboration as key in getting projects done.
“What our members tell us again and again is that predictability and fairness matter just as much as the size of the investment,” said Denise Gamble, President of Merit Contractors Association of Saskatchewan, spoke of the ongoing collaboration.
“They want to know what's coming, they want a fair shot at bidding on it, and they want a government that listens when something isn't working. Government has shown that commitment time and again. It's built a direct line to the business community where information flows both ways and where issues get identified and addressed early before they become problems. For our members, this kind of access matters. It's the difference between hearing about a policy after the fact and being able to shape it while it's still being built.”
In his remarks, Minister for SaskBuilds Sean Wilson highlighted the importance of the amount of government procurement that went out to Saskatchewan firms — a major issue following news last week of President Donald Trump banning Canadian firms from U.S. procurement.
Wilson said that during the 2025-26 fiscal year, the provincial government had awarded 490 contracts valued at $741 million.
“More than 94 per cent of those contracts, worth approximately $700 million, were awarded to Saskatchewan-based companies,” Wilson said.
“These numbers demonstrate the scale of government purchasing and the important role that it plays in supporting Saskatchewan businesses, jobs, and communities.”
But it was acknowledged the rare challenges, one of which is the ever changing tariff situation in the province.
Shannon Friesen, President and CEO of Construction Association of Saskatchewan, said her organization has been “working very closely with other industry partners and with the government to come up with Saskatchewan-based solutions to some of the challenges and it changes every day.” On their constructionsk.ca website they have a “tariff hub” to provide up to date information.
Cory Richter, President and CEO of Quorex Construction, acknowledged there are “lots of challenges in our industry and a lot of them we can work through depending on what those are.”
“Tariffs is something that we're working with right now. We've seen all sorts of material escalations that some of those are related to tariffs.”
But he also pointed to a looming labour shortage in the trades. Stefanie Swan, President of BCM Construction, also pointed to that issue and said that was one indentified when they met with SaskBuilds that morning.
“So we were discussing how a lot of the older generation is starting to step away from industry to retire and we're not seeing enough skilled tradespeople coming up in the next generation,” Swan said.
“So it's something we're working on to make sure that we're prioritizing the next generation of who's going to build Saskatchewan.”
“You know the labour is a big one, like robots can't build construction sites,” said Richter, who estimates the current needs in the thousands.
“So a lot of what we need requires boots on the ground and so there's lots of work in the industry to try and get young people into construction and I think that will continue to go on for years to come. We're doing lots of good discussions and work with the government to make sure the procurement models match what the industry is able to deliver.”
Richter pointed to the “volume of work that's going to come over the next number of years. We're going to have to continue to collaborate together to make sure that we can get that done, otherwise it'll be a struggle.”
A lot of what they are trying to do is “create awareness, get in front of the parents because construction jobs are good jobs. There's lots of beneficial, meaningful careers and it's just a matter of getting people interested in it. It probably wasn't focused on quickly enough and early enough in the previous years but I would say that's a focus now.”
“Something we talked about today is making sure in schools, not even just in high school, that parents are encouraging kids to consider construction as a career and not just as a job,” said Swan. “And Merit’s doing a lot of work to make sure that we're getting in the schools younger, in elementary school, and making sure that they know it's a very viable career — that AI isn't going to take over. So it's a really good opportunity.”
