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It's Your Turn
Current Consultations
2004 Consultations on Services Trade Negotiations
Online Questionnaire for Canadian Businesses
Construction and Related Engineering Services
Background Information
The Canadian construction industry is composed primarily of a large number of small and highly specialized companies. The industry is primarily Canadian owned and controlled. Only a handful of foreign controlled contractors operate in Canada, which are, for the most part, subsidiaries of large international firms. Canadian owned firms do not generally operate internationally, although there are a few notable exceptions to this rule. It is estimated that less than 1% of Canadian contractors' revenues come from international projects.
Definition of Sector in the GATS
The classification system that is used in the GATS by most WTO members, divides Construction and Related Engineering Services into the following five categories:
- General construction work for buildings;
- General construction work for civil engineering;
- Installation and assembly work;
- Building completion and finishing work;
- Other construction and related engineering services.
What We Heard in Previous Consultations
Priority Markets:
Consultations have been going on since 1995 with a wide variety of stakeholders including construction business associations, private sector companies and provincial trade officials responsible for construction services sectors. The geographic area of principal market interest seems to be the United States, but we would be interested in hearing your views on other markets of interest.
Market Access Barriers:
Obstacles to trade identified in past consultations have included the following:
- Restrictions on the type of legal entity allowed for commercial presence;
- Restrictions on foreign capital limits or ceilings;
- Constraints on the value of transactions or assets allowed when foreign countries establish a commercial presence;
- Requirements to hire local employees;
- Restrictions on national treatment (i.e.: advantages locals over foreigners) on the licensing, standards and qualification requirements of foreign workers;
- Nationality and residency requirements;
- Inconsistent application of immigration rules;
- Overly restrictive procurement policies.
Go directly to the Questionnaire.
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