Changes in environmental policy both north and south of the border are stalling progress on sustainability in the Canadian construction industry, a leading executive in Quebec’s concrete sector charges.
Luc Bedard, general manager of the Association beton Quebec (ABQ, Quebec Construction Association), told delegates attending the Canadian Concrete Expo in Mississauga recently that under the Mark Carney government, advancement of sustainability goals is on pause as the prime minister develops a new industrial strategy.
The result is uncertainty in the concrete business and a reluctance to invest in new sustainability technology.
With Donald Trump set to remain in power for another three years, said Bedard, the momentum on green building achieved under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will slow, and Bedard suggests if a new U.S. regime resets the clock on policy in three years, progress will have been set back perhaps two years from when Trump was inaugurated.
Now not the time
Bedard said the logic of the Carney government is, now is not the time to advance Canada’s environmental regulations.
“It’s because of our friend Donald. Donald is not just a deal maker, he’s also a deal breaker,” said Bedard.
“We’ll see next year when the stats come out, how much companies cut or put less or more money on the green programs.”
When the ABQ was in Ottawa lobbying the Trudeau government two years ago, there was still a strong commitment to green technology, said Bedard.
But “when we were there in November, nobody talked about sustainability at all,” he said. “And all the bank of infrastructure projects were generating more carbon emissions.
“Maybe in three years, but we will go back to where we were two years ago. It’s a waste of time, but it’s what we call politics.”
Bedard hosted a Concrete Expo session billed as Sustainability or Productivity, Maybe Both. At least the value of investing in new technology to achieve better productivity has never been questioned in the Trump era, Bedard said.
Other examples Bedard gave of the Carney government backsliding on sustainability were cutting the consumer carbon tax and changing regulations on EVs.
Sustainability remains a commitment for his sector in both Canada and Europe, Bedard said – “We continue, but to where? At a certain level we are not able to continue.
“Usually entrepreneurs want to know what will be the future.”
ACI leads
Leading the way on productivity policy in the concrete sector is the American Concrete Institute (ACI), Bedard said.
In 2023 the ACI launched the ACI Center of Excellence for Advancing Concrete Industry Productivity. It’s intended to be a catalyst for solving the barriers of constructability, he explained.
Bedard said the potential for progress is widespread, and he recommended industry leaders, concrete contractors and employees all consider becoming involved in the centre’s programs.
Productivity grows through adopting new technology and machinery and creating and implementing innovation, Bedard said. Other important inputs are human capital and purchasing and management practices.
“Higher productivity is a key driver of economic growth, higher wages and improved standard of living,” he said.
Bedard suggested it is not necessarily the case that investment in new technology will fuel sustainability, and vice versa.
In fact, he said, the growth of data use and data centres is a threat to sustainability.
“What is the biggest growing sector right now, when we look at all industries? The technology sector. And what is the biggest growth of carbon emitters? The technology sector,” he said.
AI use is undeniably an advantage in concrete sector administration, Bedard said. He offered an example of an order issued to an AI agent listing a series of specifications. The agent promptly answers with a comprehensive, precise response suggesting a source that meets all the specs.
The concrete sector is ready to contribute towards building “one Canadian economy,” Bedard noted, focusing on concrete standards, procurement and workforce readiness.
But what’s needed is to modernize codes and standards by shifting from prescriptive- to performance-based requirements. Alignment across provinces and municipalities also has to be improved.
Another step, he said, is to leverage public procurement, including adoption of the federal Standard on Embodied Carbon in Construction, to provide predictable, “technology-agnostic” demand signals.
