Engineers Canada welcomes the Government of Canada’s Budget 2026, Masters of Our Destiny and its focus on major projects, electricity, housing, and workforce development. The scale of these investments makes professional engineering expertise and regulatory oversight essential to public safety, resilience, and lasting value for Canadians.
According to Budget 2026, the 18 projects before the Major Projects Office represent more than $194 billion in investment and could support 200,000 jobs annually during construction. It also proposes $187.4 million over five years for a new major projects management entity and more than $50 billion in electricity measures. Engineers Canada urges the federal government to require the involvement of appropriately licensed engineers in engineering-related procurement, design, implementation, and oversight. Clear professional accountability and respect for the authority of provincial and territorial engineering regulators is vital for the success of these investments.
“Canada’s engineering profession is ready to turn these commitments into safe, resilient, and lasting results. As governments work to deliver projects faster, professional accountability and protection of the public interest must remain fundamental,” said Philip Rizcallah, P.Eng., Chief Executive Officer of Engineers Canada.
“Canada’s building agenda will succeed only if speed is matched by safety. Licensed engineers must be involved from design, planning, and procurement through implementation and oversight. Only in this way will these investments deliver long-term national growth, generational change, and economic sovereignty,” said Jeanette Southwood, P.Eng., Engineers Canada’s Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Strategic Partnerships.
In addition, Engineers Canada supports the nearly $45 billion housing strategy, including investments in housing enabling infrastructure, building code harmonization, and energy retrofits. This acceleration is critical amid Canada’s housing crisis, but it must also come with resilience, climate adaptation, energy efficiency, and accessibility embedded from the onset. Engineers must be meaningfully engaged in design and delivery.
As implementation moves forward, Engineers Canada encourages the federal government to:
- Ensure that engineering-related procurement, design, and implementation decisions for major projects involve appropriately licensed engineers.
- Embed resilience, climate change adaptation, energy efficiency, and accessibility into housing and infrastructure investments.
- Advance labour mobility and credential recognition while preserving the public protection mandate and licensing authority of provincial and territorial engineering regulators.
- Work with Engineers Canada and the country’s engineering regulators on a pan-Canadian initiative to improve credential recognition and access to engineering employment.
Engineers Canada looks forward to continuing to work with the Government of Canada, engineering regulators, and other partners to translate budget 2026 commitments into safe, resilient, and productive outcomes for Canadians.