If Toronto wins its bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, Canada’s construction industry could suffer greatly because of the short supply of skilled labour.
Reports say Canada is already short between 25,000 and 60,000 skilled workers and it will get considerably worse in the future. Developers say they may have to cancel or postpone key projects.
Building the Olympic stadium, athletes’ housing and service facilities would be such a huge task that it would draw thousands of workers from other developments across the country, effectively putting them on hold until the Olympics end.
According to an official with a Toronto-based construction company, the building trades are at capacity and there is no way projects can be built over the next few years.
