Quebec construction industry holds its own

The Construction Commission of Quebec forecasts that the outlook for the construction industry in the province for 2004 will be on a par to 2003. In February the commission said that total activity in the industry will be more than 14,000,000 employment hours, a level that they have not seen since 1990. Although there is expected to be a decline in industrial (- 10%), residential (-4%) as as well as in civil engineering (- 6%) activity, the 4% gain in institutional and commercial building more than compensates, since the institutional and commercial sector accounts for more than 60% of total construction activity in the region.