Calgary Construction: Worker Shortage Stalls Major Projects

CALGARY — Calgary's construction boom has a problem: not enough workers to build it.

The Calgary Construction Association laid it out on January 28, 2026. The city is growing fast—over 60,000 new residents in 2025 alone, according to the City of Calgary's 2025 Civic Census—and the demand for electricians, plumbers, and carpenters is outpacing supply. The assessment draws from Q3 2025 Labour Force Survey data from Statistics Canada.

Translation? If you need a home built or a bridge repaired, get in line.

Big Projects, Bigger Gaps

The worker crunch isn't abstract. Calgary is juggling massive capital projects: the $5.5 billion Green Line LRT (Phase 1), the $500 million BMO Centre Expansion, and the $273.3 million Arts Commons Transformation. All are funded through the City's 2023-2026 Service Plans and Budget.

Add to that the City of Calgary's Housing Strategy, approved in September 2023, which aims to build thousands of new units with help from a $228 million contribution from the Federal Housing Accelerator Fund. The plan sounds good on paper. The execution? That requires bodies with toolbelts.

Alberta knows it. The Government of Alberta rolled out a new phase of the "Alberta is Calling" campaign in Fall 2025, targeting skilled trades workers specifically. The pitch: come build the future. The question: will anyone show up?

B.C. Keeps Poaching

Here's the friction. While Alberta waves its recruitment flag, British Columbia is offering competitive wages and snatching workers before they even unpack. Market competition from other provinces remains a real headache for local contractors.

The Building Trades of Alberta, representing various trade unions, isn't just asking for warm bodies. They want specific wage levels and labour agreements on major projects. That means the debate isn't only about how many workers, but what kind of deal they get.

Policy Still in Limbo

The Calgary Construction Association says fixing this will take more than recruitment ads. It will take policy shifts. But specifics remain vague.

Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade Matt Jones hasn't announced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or apprenticeship ratios. Minister of Advanced Education Rajan Sawhney hasn't set enrollment targets for high-demand trades at institutions like SAIT for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Those decisions are still pending. Meanwhile, Calgary keeps growing—and the gap between blueprints and builders keeps widening.