ICI spending to peak in Quebec in 2023

MONTREAL — BuildForce’s 2023-2032 Construction and Maintenance Looking Forward report for Quebec finds the non-residential construction sector in the province continues to experience growth, driven by a post-COVID private-sector recovery, and by higher levels of public-sector investment in the health care, education, public-transit and engineering-construction sectors.

The report was released April 25.

Highlights include:

• Non-residential construction will rise to a near-term investment peak in 2023 with the overlap of major public-transportation infrastructure projects in Montreal and Quebec City, increased investment in highway and bridge infrastructure, the start of several health- and education-sector projects, and a general recovery in consumer and business confidence. But investment will moderate with the completion of these projects.
• Employment demands are expected to peak in 2023 and be sustained into 2024, before receding in line with the timing of major projects and then growing again after 2028.
• Non-residential employment is mostly unchanged by the end of the forecast period. 
• Overall, construction employment steps down from a 2022 peak of more than 215,000 workers, declining through to 2028 before sustaining itself at those levels in the later years of the forecast period.