Community Employment Benefits Agreements: Defining the Path Forward

Through large-scale infrastructure investments announced in Budget 2025, the federal government committed to the use of unionized labour and consideration of Community Employment Benefit Agreements in project selection. 

Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) worked with Medow Consulting develop this brief, Community Employment Benefits Agreements: Defining the Path Forward, to help define what these federal commitments will mean in practice. The brief communicates five core recommendations to policymakers designed to ensure that federal infrastructure investments create strong pathways to high quality training and employment, including for equity-seeking groups 

This brief builds on distinct lessons from provincial approaches to Community Employment Benefits across Canada, as well as recent federal precedents, including new labour requirements for Clean Economy Investment Tax Credits. It outlines a path forward for how the federal government can establish a comprehensive and effective approach to Community Employment Benefits, while respecting existing community benefits frameworks in place across the country.  

CBTU is the national voice of over 600,000 Canadian construction workers — members of 14 international unions who work in more than 60 different trades and occupations and generate six percent of Canada’s GDP.