Canada has $650 billion of major projects on the books in B.C. and Alberta alone. What it lacks is a system that can get them built.
That's the message in ICBA's 2026 pre-budget submission, sent today to federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
The Prime Minister has called the U.S. trade fight a war-like situation. ICBA agrees. So Budget 2026 should attack the domestic problems holding back investment with the same urgency: slow approvals, a decade of falling business investment per worker, 150,000 federal regulatory requirements, and a tax system ranked 22nd of 38 in the OECD.
The submission makes 15 recommendations. On housing, ICBA repeats the seven asks it sent the Housing Minister last week: expand the GST rebate to all new-home buyers under $1.5 million, replace the foreign buyer ban with rules that let foreign money into new construction, freeze cost-raising building code changes through 2030, and tie federal housing dollars to lower municipal development charges.
On approvals, it calls for federal decisions on major projects in under a year — for every project, not just the ones Cabinet picks under Bill C-5 — and a 10 per cent cut in regulatory requirements across every major sector by the end of 2027.
On supply chains, with port bargaining due this fall, it asks for B.C.-wide geographic certification and a standing mediation-arbitration authority for critical sectors.
And on workforce, it asks Ottawa to open its $331-million training stream to open-shop contractors, private trainers and colleges — the people who train most of Canada's construction workers.
READ THE FULL SUBMISSION HERE.