To digress a bit, you talked about the development that's happened in towns. I think we did a study back in 2016 with Halifax Partnership to see the impact of the Lebanese community in Halifax from the perspective of creating employment and a tax base. It determined at that point that 87% of the residential development was done by the community. It wasn't done to pat the community on the back, by any means, but to show that immigrants create jobs and are a benefit to the economy. I think there were 3.4 jobs created for every man, woman and child in the community.
This was the first study that was done along that.... At that point, there was a lot of negativity around immigration. “Immigrants are taking jobs” was the type of rhetoric going on, so we did that study and it was a testament to the community. It's also been a poster child for immigration. I've had many discussions with many immigration ministers on how we believe immigration should happen with a community base.
However, I'm sorry: I'll move on to your question about residential development and housing. It is a long process. Design is a long process. Good practices take time. It ultimately comes down to a lack of trades, a lack of skilled workers and a lack of professionals that we have here in town. I don't know where people are going. There are still universities.
To get out and to actually be able to practise and move things along, the process has been slower from a design point, but also from an approval perspective within the city. The cities try their best to try to hire additional people, but it seems that when they hire more people, there are additional roadblocks and departments that need to get involved. The process from conception to actually being able to put a shovel in the ground.... I'm looking at my project right there, out the window. It took about four years from concept to putting a shovel in the ground.
It's going on to about three and a half years now since it was started. Some of that is because of trades not being available, and everybody's spreading themselves thin because there is a big demand, as there should be, to check the housing box. Halifax doesn't have all the trades we need to be able to handle the demand. It's a chicken-and-egg type of scenario. I believe immigrants and refugees coming in, if they have the skill sets that we need, will help fill the void to enable the industry to move forward in the direction we need it to.
For example, even with heavy equipment operators, if there are only so many in a city who can dig holes, do blasting and even get ready to start the project.... Coming down to plumbers and electricians, there are only so many. Things can only move at such a pace.
The reality is that even though new approvals are coming through the federal and provincial governments to incentivize growth in housing, the crux is going to be logistically getting it done.