Feeling Confident?

Earlier this year, the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) released the results of their annual Construction Confidence Survey, which polled 500 ICI (industrial, commercial, and institutional) contractors across the province. The majority (60 percent) felt generally confident about business conditions over the coming year, a slight bump from the 57 percent who felt that way in 2016. Nearly half (47 percent) expect business to be better than last year. The OCS also asked about the “Trump effect” on ICI projects in the province. Forty-two percent expected the 45th U.S. President’s election to have a negative effect on work in Ontario, while 32 percent felt it would be a positive factor. Trump-related concerns were highest in the Windsor–Sarnia area, just a river’s width away from our southern neighbour.