CAGBC Reaction to the Spring Economic Update 2026

The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) welcomes key elements of the federal government’s Spring Economic Update 2026, particularly measures that mobilize private capital to support Canada’s economic growth and global competitiveness, recognize the urgency of improving housing supply, and strengthen the skilled trades workforce to meet housing demand.

At a time when affordability pressures remain high and Canada faces growing global competition for investment and talent, the Update sends an important signal: how we build matters just as much as how much we build.

Harnessing capital markets to build, decarbonize, and compete

The Update signals a clear shift toward using capital markets as a primary tool to address Canada’s housing shortage, infrastructure deficit, and climate change. It recognizes a critical reality: Canada will not build its way out of today’s challenges without attracting significantly more private capital. The green building sector has already recognized this reality by seeking ways to de risk projects and ensure investment certainty, while enhancing the global competitiveness of Canada’s real estate sector.

Confirming the vision of market tools to reduce emissions, the climate strategy now encompasses the Investment Tax Credits (ITCs) and other financial mechanisms to create a better environment for investors. As performance becomes paramount, building-specific ITCs to incentivize higher energy or emissions performance and retrofits – would be effective in accelerating decarbonization in one of Canada’s top emitting industries.

CAGBC also welcomes the government’s commitment to advancing sustainable finance, including the planned Sustainable Finance Conference to address Canada’s green and transition finance taxonomy and scale clean growth across the economy.

Clear, credible sustainable finance frameworks are essential to directing capital toward climate‑aligned outcomes while maintaining competitiveness. For the buildings sector, access to finance tied to measurable performance outcomes and climate risk mitigation can accelerate investment in:

• Energy efficiency,
• Electrification,
• Low‑carbon materials, and
• Climate resilience.

A well‑designed sustainable finance ecosystem can help ensure that housing and infrastructure investments are future‑ready, resilient, and aligned with Canada’s long‑term climate change  objectives.

Our ask:

As government leverages capital markets and financing frameworks to advance major works, CAGBC would like to see financing programs tied to performance outcomes, including energy use, emissions intensity, and climate resilience. Further, sustainable finance tools should be used to reward high performance buildings, accelerating private investment. By ensuring government programs consider performance and sustainability, Canada can better advance on its climate commitments – and strengthen its global competitiveness.

Read our Decarbonizing Canada’s Large Commercial Buildings report for an owner and investor perspective.

Housing supply: progress, but an incomplete picture

CAGBC recognizes the Spring Economic Update’s emphasis on unlocking housing supply, including measures to accelerate construction, improve productivity, and leverage federal lands. This includes:

• $42 million to enable innovative and responsive factory-built housing
• $7 billion in low-cost loans to speed construction of rental homes.

Increasing supply is essential to addressing the housing crisis – and speed matters. However, supply alone cannot deliver lasting affordability. To truly bring down costs for Canadians over the long term, housing investments must be paired with better housing quality – including higher standards of energy efficiency, emissions performance, and climate resilience.

Too often, affordability is considered only in terms of upfront construction costs. But for households, especially low‑ and moderate‑income Canadians, operating costs – energy bills, maintenance, and future retrofits – are just as significant. Housing that is built quickly but performs poorly:

• Locks homeowners and renters into high utility costs,
• Exposes households to energy price volatility,
• Requires expensive retrofits to meet future climate requirements.

High‑performance buildings consistently reduce monthly energy costs, improve comfort and health, and protect owners and renters from future pricing, regulatory and climate-related risks. What these results demonstrate is that true affordability is achieved when homes are efficient, resilient, and built to last.

Our ask:

As the federal government continues to advance housing delivery through Build Canada Homes, CAGBC sees an opportunity to ensure these investments:

• Integrate measurable performance outcomes, not just unit counts,
• Encourage and verify energy‑ and emissions‑intensity targets for new housing,
• Support climate‑resilient design that reduces long‑term public and private costs.

The federal government has an opportunity to accelerate better buildings by ensuring incentives and financing access are tied to performance outcomes – Similar to CMHC’s MLI Select requirements, adding performance‑based requirements is not about adding red tape or slowing progress – it is about recognizing outcomes and getting more value from every public dollar invested.

Investing in the workforce Canada needs

CAGBC research shows that Canada’s green building sector drives $81 billion in GDP and creates 500,000 direct jobs across the sector. Yet, Canada lacks the quantity of skilled trades workers needed to meet the ambition of the government’s housing, infrastructure, and climate objectives. As a result, we strongly support the government’s continued focus on skilled trades recruitment, training, and retention.

Trades professionals are on the front line of delivering:

• Energy‑efficient housing,
• Building retrofits,
• Electrification and clean energy systems, and
• Climate‑resilient infrastructure.

As part of the Update, the government launched Team Canada Strong, a program designed to recruit, train, and hire 80,000 to 100,000 new Red Seal skilled trades workers by 2030-31. The program aims to support those pursing trades training by earmarking:

• $2 billion to get young people started in the skilled trades through paid placements leading to registered apprenticeships
• Up to $10,000 per apprentice for small and medium-sized businesses to hire, train, and retain apprentices
• $400 per week Apprenticeship Training Grant while in mandatory training.

Our ask:

The federal government should work with provinces and stakeholders to ensure workforce programs support modern construction, including energy efficiency, prefabrication, and low‑carbon materials and technologies. By aligning workforce development with the skills required for modern, high‑performance buildings the government can ensure public and private investments deliver lasting value for Canadians.

Read our Building Prosperity report for more information on Canada’s green building workforce:

Building for Canada’s future

The Spring Economic Update 2026 marks an important evolution in federal policy – from direct spending toward market‑enabling leadership. By de‑risking investment, the government is creating the conditions for capital to flow at the scale required to deliver more housing and critical infrastructure.

It is also sending clear signals to the market about the government’s vision for a more competitive Canada – predicated on a greener, cleaner economy and supported by sustainable finance. However, to fully realize this potential, housing and infrastructure finance must be inseparable from building quality, efficiency, and resilience. Affordability and global competitiveness depend not only on unlocking capital but ensuring that it delivers high-performance outcomes which are linked to financial returns.

Canada has the tools, expertise, and capital to deliver projects that are affordable, climate‑aligned, and built to last. CAGBC believes the government’s ambitions would be best served by more consistency linking financing initiatives to measurable performance. – energy efficiency, decarbonization, and climate resilience are the key performance metrics needed to ensure that every investment delivers long-term value for Canadians.