Business Strategy and Reports

Housing starts weakened through the second quarter, with the year-over-year decline becoming more pronounced as the period progressed.

Summer has a way of showing where a shop is running smoothly and where it is simply running hard. Labour pressure, uncertain markets, rising imports, customer expectations and equipment decisions all become visible in the same places: lead…

CKCA recently hosted our Spring Regional event in Hamilton, Ontario. The province has been feeling the effects of housing slowdowns, tariffs, and the ongoing market pressures caused by increasing imports. CKCA President Amrita Bhogal…

The threats and implementation of tariffs have sent a shockwave of uncertainty through market predictions, forcing many companies to realign their business strategies and seek trading partners in foreign markets. Now, with another Middle…

The convention, held June 11–13 under the theme Built to Lead, brought manufacturers, suppliers, inspectors, specification writers, architects and association leaders into the same room at a moment when the industry is being asked to manage…

Home renovation activity continues to hold steady, with the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) reporting a neutral score of 50.3 in its spring Renovation Market Index (RMI).

Canadian secondary wood manufacturers entered 2026 with less work moving through the system than a year earlier. Shipments were down, new orders were weaker and backlogs had declined in both major industry groups covered by Statistics…

Residential renovation work took on a larger role in the first quarter of 2026, while new construction continued to carry several major categories. The national figures show a construction sector moving unevenly, with different pressures in…

The national totals show the split clearly. Multi-unit housing is absorbing better at completion than detached product, with 73% of completed multi-unit units absorbed at completion, compared with 64% of completed detached homes. Finished…

A new study of British Columbia’s secondary wood manufacturing sector by Lili Sun, Rico Chan, and Bryan Bogdanski examines how efficiently firms convert inputs into outputs, and how the sector’s productivity has changed over time. For…

“Governments have spent years prioritizing big business needs, while small firms have been largely ignored,” says Michelle Auger, CFIB director of trade and marketplace competitiveness. “It’s time to put small businesses first and reverse…

Canada’s housing-start figures remained positive through the first quarter of 2026, but the underlying construction cycle continued to lose momentum beneath the headline totals.

In a market defined by pressure to expand, adapt, and differentiate, the most effective manufacturers are not those doing more. They are the ones doing the right things with greater clarity, control, and intention. Across this issue, that…

A recent pilot project supported by the Government of Alberta and led by the Wood Manufacturing Council (WMC) set out to answer a practical question for the woodworking industry: what actually helps attract and retain a broader workforce in…

Canadian consumers are redefining what home means and how much they’re willing to invest in it. Rising disposable incomes, shifting demographics and a renewed sense of national pride are fuelling a surge in spending on furniture, decor and…

Canada’s construction investment profile in Q4 2025 reflects a familiar but intensifying dynamic. Residential activity continues to carry overall growth, driven increasingly by renovations and multi-unit construction, while non-residential…

Across all CMAs, Q4 recorded 11,824 single-detached completions and 17,470 multi-unit completions. Absorption at completion remained the dominant mechanism in both segments, accounting for 66% of single-detached absorptions and 74% of…

Canada’s 2025 housing starts increased year over year on a raw annual basis, rising from 245,367 in 2024 to 259,028 in 2025 (+5.6%). That is a meaningful improvement, but it is not, on its own, a signal of broad-based acceleration. For…