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Good morning! ⛑️ The entire world held its breath this month as experts worked to rescue 41 construction workers trapped in the Indian Himalayas by a collapsed tunnel. Thankfully, after 17 days all were recovered successfully without injury.

⏰ Today’s read: 4 ½ minutes

MARKETS

*Stock data as of last market close; currency, oil and crypto data as of 1:05 AM ET December 5th, 2023.

Economy: More and more businesses in Canada are going to private lenders for financing after getting spurned by large banks. Experts say banks have become more cautious since 2021 while demand for business loans has soared, creating room for alternative lenders.

THE BIG STORY

Finishing strong: $100B in work nearly complete

Big things have been brewing on the West Coast. Canada is approaching the finish line on some of its largest energy projects ever. Here’s where we are at right now:

• LNG Canada: This project is now close to 85% complete overall and is on track to ship its first cargos of liquified natural gas by mid-decade. The project is now ramping up for a year-long start-up process. 

• Site C Dam: The workforce at this massive hydroelectric project is starting to shrink following the completion of the earth-fill dam. Next is reservoir filling. The project is on track to get all units in service by 2025.

• Coastal GasLink pipeline: Crews have achieved mechanical completion of this 416-km pipeline which will serve the LNG Canada project. The pipeline is expected to begin delivering commissioning gas to the facility by the end of this year.

• Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion: After a tunnelling issue threatened to delay this project by 10 months, an approved route change could see it completed before the end of 2024. 

Past, present and future: The impact these projects have had has been immense. Combined, they add up to an estimated investment of $100 billion. They also employed roughly 20,000 construction workers last year. Experts say the broader industry may have a slightly easier time finding workers as these projects wind down and free up labour, but the amount of work available will remain more than the workforce can handle. 

NEED TO KNOW

The week's headlines

🧑‍⚖️ The Province of B.C. has passed historic legislation to encourage home development and transit-oriented projects. This fall, B.C. wrapped its fall session after passing multiple bills aimed at creating more housing, restricting short-term rentals, allowing more housing density on single-family lots and encouraging higher-density housing at transit hubs.

⚗️ Dow is moving ahead with an $8.8 billion petrochemical complex in Alberta. It will create the world’s first net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions ethylene and derivatives complex. The Fort Saskatchewan Path2Zero project includes building a new ethylene cracker and increasing polyethylene capacity by 2 million MTA as well as retrofitting the site’s existing cracker to net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

📉 Canada’s economy may have technically dodged a recession but still is facing growth issues, new data shows. According to Statistics Canada, the Canadian economy declined in the third quarter due to a decrease in exports, flat household spending and decreased business investment in certain sectors. Experts say this makes it unlikely that the Bank of Canada will hike interest rates. 

🔎 Ontario plans to end mandatory inquests into construction deaths. Officials instead will opt for annual reviews of construction site deaths. They say this will help free up overloaded coroners and get answers sooner. 

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

Niagara gets recharged

A century-old power generating station at Niagara Falls, which has been dormant for nearly 40 years, will be reimagined. An agreement between Niagara Parks and Pearle Hospitality revealed plans to transform the site into a $200-million luxury hotel. The refurbished building will include free indoor and outdoor public viewing areas, an observation deck, a brewery, a museum, a public art gallery, a theatre, event spaces and more.

PROJECT UPDATES

Construction begins on new Île-aux-Tourtes bridge

46-story tower in Toronto’s financial district nears completion 

RFP issued for Yonge North Subway Extension tunnelling work

Station names announced for Surrey-Langley LRT

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

PHOTOS: 🙏 Crews are celebrating the patron saint of tunnellers 

VIDEO: 📺 Dramatic footage shows wall collapse at Coquitlam, B.C. site. 

READ: ⚖️ Top construction lawyer explains health & safety ruling 

VIDEO: ♻️ Bill gates gives shout out to Canadian green concrete producer

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Here’s to a great rest of the week!