🍂 Budget season

Together with

Good morning! 🏗️ The new IWK Health Centre emergency department in Nova Scotia wasn’t supposed to be completed until 2027, but it's already been built—in LEGO bricks. A professional artist spent more than 400 hours and used 25,000 bricks to create a scale model of the facility which is currently on display at Halifax Children’s Hospital.

⏰ Today’s read: 5 minutes

MARKETS

Economy: The U.S. will impose a 25% tariff on all medium- and heavy-duty truck imports starting Nov. 1, expanding on previous measures aimed at protecting U.S. manufacturers from foreign competition. This applies to delivery trucks, garbage trucks, utility vehicles, transit and school buses, tractor-trailers, and semi-trucks, affecting imports from Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, and Finland. While NAFTA/USMCA rules allow tariff-free trade if at least 64% of a truck’s value is North American, the new tariffs may still impact Canadian manufacturers and exporters.

TOGETHER WITH RENOKREW

Standing tall: Renokrew Marks 30 Years

From a small Toronto carpentry shop in 1995 to a leading ICI construction firm, Renokrew has spent 30 years shaping communities across Ontario. Led by Francisco Pinto and his sons Pedro and Lucas, the company has delivered hundreds of projects—from affordable housing and schools to long-term care and Indigenous community centres—impacting thousands of residents. We caught up with the Renokrew team to learn about how they accomplished the successful shift to ICI work.

NEED TO KNOW

The week's headlines

🛢️ Pipeline: Alberta will lead efforts to build a proposed crude oil pipeline to B.C.’s northwest coast, with support from Enbridge, Trans Mountain, and South Bow, aiming to submit a formal application in spring 2026. The province is investing $14 million in early planning, including route selection, cost estimates, and Indigenous engagement, with potential co-ownership opportunities for First Nations. Officials emphasized the project’s role in expanding oil exports to Asia and strengthening Canada’s global energy position.

🍂 Rescheduled: The federal government is shifting to a fall budget cycle, delivering all future budgets in November instead of spring, to provide better-timed and more transparent decision-making. The change separates operational spending from capital projects while maintaining a single overall deficit, giving construction businesses more lead time to plan ahead of the spring season.

⚡ EverWind: EverWind Fuels has applied for environmental assessment approval for Setapuktuk, a proposed 54-turbine, 432-megawatt onshore wind farm in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, intended to power its planned green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Point Tupper. Construction is slated to begin in late 2026 and last three years, pending approval. The first-phase wind farm decisions expected by the end of this year and the plant decision in 2026.

⛴️ Quebec port: The Montreal Port Authority plans to start preparatory work this fall for its Contrecœur terminal expansion, aiming to eventually handle 1.5 million containers annually. The work includes building access roads, work platforms, offices, selective tree clearing, and dredging sections of the St. Lawrence River, which is habitat for the endangered copper redhorse fish. The project requires Fisheries and Oceans Canada approval for its mitigation plan to protect the species, with authorities hopeful for a decision by late November.

THE BIG STORY

Elevating people: The Site Service Awards

Our team has launched the Site Service Awards, a new awards program that highlights the vast spectrum of roles required for a successful construction project.

Why now: Construction projects have become more complex than ever. This means the skillsets required to deliver are more diverse than ever before. Drone operators, contract lawyers, conservation experts, HR professionals, virtual construction specialists are just a few examples. 

Closing gaps: The industry is no stranger to competitions. But many of them are narrow in scope or focus on small segments of the industry, often more traditional management and corporate roles. We are wanting to change that by shining a light on roles that rarely get celebrated. 

Beneath the hard hat: We don’t just want to read a name out. We want to get to know the men and women of construction. What makes our nominees so special? What makes them tick? Our awards process will tease out these details. We’ve also implemented a voting element to our judging process to allow contributions and insights from a nominee’s peers. 

Start the presses: Once all the work is completed, the construction produces something real and tangible that be around for decades. We want to do the same. The details gleaned from our nominations process will be paired with portraiture and in-depth interviews that tell the human stories behind professional success in the built environment.

A larger vision: When we highlight the diverse careers available in construction, it elevates the sector for everybody. Research research shows that while Canadians are warming to construction careers, many still can’t see themselves on the jobsite. We want Canadians to know that trades roles are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to industrial career paths. 

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

High standards

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) has officially opened its new $56-million headquarters — a four-storey, 86,000-square-foot mass-timber building that embodies the agency’s commitment to sustainability and conservation. Designed by ZAS Architects + Interiors and Bucholz McEvoy Architects, the structure meets top global standards, including LEED Platinum, WELL Gold, and Zero Carbon certification, achieving 33% lower emissions than average 2023 buildings.

PROJECT UPDATES

Ottawa wants O-Train responsibility uploaded

Factory-built housing coming to Heron Road

E3 Lithium’s Clearwater Project reaches milestone

New Victoria Hospital ER work to start in new year

Major culvert work underway in Saskatchewan

Student housing expansion coming to Uvic

Ontario has wrapped work on a new Confederation GO Station

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

🎨 PODCAST: Art gallery goes back to the drawing board

💰 READ: Saudi Neom project inks $24B in contracts

🚅 WATCH: Canada shows how not to build a transit project 

🏗️ PHOTOS: Final beam placed at Freedom Mobile Arch

💼 READ: This month’s biggest Business Moves

ADVERTISE WITH SITENEWS

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Here’s to a great rest of the week!

Disclaimer: SiteNews is an independently-operated news website. Views expressed are that of the editorial team and are based on publicly available information unless otherwise noted through sponsored content.