On this special episode of The Construction Record Podcast™, digital media editor Warren Frey speaks with both Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) president Richard Lyall and British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA) president Chris Atchison about the recent federal budget and its effects on construction and housing.

Lyall said the housing measures introduced in the 2024 federal budget will not address the regulatory hurdles homebuilders still encounter and that meaningful consultation with the construction industry and others doing the work was not pursued by the federal government in a meaningful way. He added the budget did not reflect the current economic realities at hand in the residential construction space and said plans to turn unused government buildings into residential housing is a good sign but will take years to implement.

Atchison also expressed disappointment with the budget, noting a lack of infrastructure announcements which he stressed were crucial to develop at the same time as housing initiatives. He also agreed with other construction stakeholders that the budget seemed more a political statement than a realistic response to the ongoing housing crisis.

You can listen to our recent interviews from the COFI 2024 conference in Vancouver here and our episodes are available at the Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce websites, on Libsyn and at Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music’s podcast section. Thanks for listening.

DCN-JOC News Services