Yo-yo U.S. tariffs and chaotic White House policy clouding the next four years is making mass timber and wood construction a secure alternative in the Canadian construction market for builders planning downstream.
“What can we do for ourselves?” asked Peter Moonen, the Canadian Wood Council’s national sustainability manager, a mass timber advocate.
The answer is that Canada does mass timber construction well and is self-reliant with its own timber supply, mass timber manufacturing facilities and considerable construction expertise.
“Vancouver has become a mass timber hotspot,” Moonen said, adding it is known for its innovative buildings and architectural and engineering expertise that has pushed the envelope in a region of Canada that has seismic concerns.
If B.C. can employ that kind of engineering, architectural and constructionl expertise, it can be transferred to other provinces, according to Moonen.
Moonen estimates 50 to 60 per cent of Canadian mass timber materials are currently going to the U.S. and targeted with a 25 per cent duty. The Canadian government has also declared a 25 per cent duty on incoming mass timber. However, industry experts call that Canada bound portion minimal.
The amount flowing south does demonstrate growing Canada’s production capacity.
The Forest Products Association of Canada, Canadian Wood Council and Energy Futures Lab partnered to produce The Mass Timber Roadmap, issued in mid-2024, which estimates both domestic and exports will be worth $1.2 billion by 2030 and $2.4 billion by 2035 as mass timber construction growth continues in the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia.
“If it is good enough for markets elsewhere,” Moonen said, “then, we should go ahead and continue to build our own skills here.”
The Canadian government’s 2021 State of Mass Timber in Canada report found Canada had 750 completed or under-construction mass timber projects during the 2007-2022 period.
They represented 2.9-million-square-metres of mass timber.
Canada also has 20 solid wood manufacturing facilities, the report notes, demonstrating the capacity available to Canadian builders.
Governments have pushed forward mass timber construction by allowing more progressive building codes and strategies.
Moonen said B.C. is currently working on a new value-added strategy for wood manufacturers. In mid-2024, B.C. announced it was working on its value-added accelertors plan, strategies that help the value-added sector.
One of the efforts is to “purpose durable and sustainable actions, programs and policy solutions to increase the flow of fibre (logs and lumber) to value-added manufacturers.”
Value-added wood products include builders’ joinery and carpentry products, profiled wood and engineered wood products (including mass timber).
In April 2024, B.C. amended the 2024 BC Building Code to permit taller mass timber buildings, up to 18 storeys for encapsulated mass timber construction (EMTC).
EMTC is now permitted in a wider range of building types including schools and light-medium industrial facilities.
Hybrid mass timber and concrete structures also emerge as a secure alternative for future planning as Canada is an exporter of cement to the U.S.
Mike Ireland, president and CEO of the Portland Cement Association, which represents America’s cement manufacturers, stated a 25 per cent tariff on cement would hurt the U.S.
“Mexico and Canada play a crucial role in stabilizing U.S. supply,” he said.
Canada and Mexico account for 27 per cent of U.S. cement imports with five million metric tons (MMT) of cement from Canada and two MMTs from Mexico in 2023.
Canadian mass timber producers are growing production.
Operators such as B.C.’s Kalesnikoff has three mass timber facilities with the newest in 2024 adding over 100 local jobs to Kalesnikoff’s existing employee base of about 320 across its two existing mass timber and sawmill facilities.
The company is integrated, handling harvesting, milling and manufacturing.
The company has been supplying mass timbers to the Cowichan District Hospital Replacement project in Duncan, B.C., a transformative fully-electric facility pursuing a net-zero carbon certification.
Element5’s St. Thomas, Ont., plant is also expanding.
“The expansion of our St. Thomas facility is progressing as scheduled and remains on track to launch this year,” said Patrick Poulin, Element5 president and CEO.
The facility expansion, which includes a new glulam plant, will increase the current facility’s size from 130,000 square feet to over 350,000 square feet of floor space with office frontage.
Sales team lead Roger Halbgewachs said Alberta’s Western Archrib is well positioned to serve the Canadian market no matter what happens with tariffs and how they might impact sawmills that supply lumber to mass timber facilities.
“There is absolutely no concern,” he said, echoing others in the industry who point out Canadian plants can meet Canadian construction demands.
“We are a vertically integrated company” with its own forest lands and source of fibre.
In, 2021 Western Archrib was purchased by Northland Forest Products.
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