On behalf of the Labourers…

On behalf of the Labourers International Union of North America (LiUNA) we support the bold action plan by the provincial government to respond to our growing housing crisis, building a proposed 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.

Given our projected population growth, we must work proactively to ensure reliable, resilient and affordable housing throughout our regions. This not only impacts residential infrastructure but strengthens surrounding infrastructure, our economy, connectivity of our regions, competitiveness and prosperity for the future of Ontario.

LiUNA represents over 90 000 Men and Women who build, maintain and strengthen vital infrastructure that our regions rely on each and every day. They are foundational pillars of our economy and a critical workforce to strengthen our path forward.

Ontario is expected to grow by more than two million people by 2032, with approximately 1.5 million people living in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region. In order to accommodate this growth, we must eliminate red tape and get shovels in the ground to support the build of more homes that families, newcomers, students and our communities rely on.

The proposed construction of approximately 50 000 or more homes in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, with consideration of environmental concerns and sustainable building discussed throughout the 30 day consultation period , will continue to respond to the growing needs of our region while strengthening our housing market.

The federal government has recently announced that we will welcome 500,000 people in 2025. LiUNA has been a strong advocate to attract talent to the skilled trades and has worked collaboratively to highlight the important role immigration continues to play to strengthen our workforce and economic development. But this does not come without the obvious realization that we must be able to provide reliable and affordable housing to newcomers. As we welcome newcomers to our country and to our industry we must have resilient infrastructure in place to meet these demands and help families and newcomers flourish in Ontario. In particular this Bill focuses on transit oriented building that will ensure access and affordability to housing solutions in our cities and a focus on expanding transit to interconnect rural communities across Ontario. With this expansion, requires housing.

This action plan proposed by the Ontario government can only be successful with a skilled workforce to answer the call. Significant infrastructure investments have a direct correlation to job creation. These are long term, good paying unionized jobs for thousands upon thousands of our members and workers across the industry who continue to build up Ontario.

We understand that this proposal must come with both short-term strategies and long-term commitment and collaborative efforts by all levels of government, private sector, and not-for-profits to drive change. We look forward to continue working to put this bold plan into action and get shovels in the ground and build a resilient housing plan for Ontario.

We are encouraged that this proposal will help bring a range of solutions to our urgent housing crisis, bring costs down, cut red tape, spur economic growth and job creation, and build a stronger future for Ontario’s housing supply