A recipe for fighting construction staffing shortages from Nova Scotia
The province is investing in training and retraining.
Immigrants and residents of Nova Scotia now have greater access to training and certification in the construction trades. The province has increased the supply of skilled trades professionals in the province. This will provide approximately 175 people with construction experience with financial support to complete their training and work in Nova Scotia.
How and why this decision was made was explained by Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing John Lohr:
"We also need to have enough skilled trades professionals and building officials to keep pace with development needs and ensure buildings are safe. These investments are helping to expand access to this important programming so we can build more homes, faster."
Other ways to solve the problem
The construction skills shortage is not unique to Nova Scotia. It's one of the big causes of the housing crisis across Canada, and the government is fighting it in a number of ways including at the federal level. In particular, the Minister of Immigration is going to issue documents to illegal migrants working in the sector.
There are currently only 113 building officials in Nova Scotia: these are the people who are responsible for inspections, administration and enforcement of the Building Code. And that's clearly not enough. Plus, experts predict that by 2030, Nova Scotia will need about 11,000 new skilled tradespeople. Where will they come from?
In addition to the more than CA$ 1 million Nova Scotia has already committed to training, the government is working to remove barriers to attracting professionals from overseas — the province announced a special immigration stream in the fall.
The authorities are also going to abolish the requirement for six months of on-the-job training as part of a vocational training program. This will speed up the integration of foreign specialists and should therefore help to solve the problem of staff shortages.
