{"id":29986,"date":"2025-04-14T16:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T23:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/ubc-combatting-crooked-contractors-and-worker-exploitation\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T16:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T23:16:17","slug":"ubc-combatting-crooked-contractors-and-worker-exploitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/ubc-combatting-crooked-contractors-and-worker-exploitation\/","title":{"rendered":"UBC combatting crooked contractors and worker exploitation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1003984910\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a rel=\"magnific nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1003984910\" class=\"wp-image-1003984910 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-300x67.jpg\" alt=\"UBC logo.\" width=\"300\" height=\"67\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-300x67.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-1024x230.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-768x172.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-1536x345.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-2048x460.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-250x56.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Carpenters__Regional_Council_Combatting_crooked_contractors_and-600x135.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-mwl-img-id=\"1003984910\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1003984910\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(CNW Group\/Carpenters\u2019 Regional Council)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canada\u2019s housing crisis is creating conditions for construction industry tax fraud to flourish, warns the Canadian District of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC) during its Tax Fraud Days of Action campaign, which runs until April 18. As all orders of governments across the country rush to help add supply, the organization is advising of the need to be conscious of the increasing risks posed to construction workers and law-abiding construction companies.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What Is Construction Industry Tax Fraud?\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/59sdxEiAIm0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its annual campaign looks to raise awareness of unfair labour practices and worker exploitation in the construction industry. With government funding is being applied in many Canadian communities to help fast-track housing developments, UBC says the urgency to provide support for new builds without also adding enforcement to crack down on bad actors in the construction industry will only deepen the problem.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe residential construction industry is already Canada\u2019s worst offender when it comes to tax fraud,\u201d explained Jason Rowe, district vice-president of the UBC Canadian District. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about rot so entrenched that it\u2019s an understood part of the business model for industry players spanning owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors, and labour brokers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Statistics Canada, residential construction comprises 32.7 per cent of all underground economic activity in Canada, which reached $72.4 billion in 2023. At its current rate of growth, the residential construction industry could comprise 50 per cent of the underground economy within a decade.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This, says UBC, will result in more workers being misclassified as independent contractors so that unscrupulous companies can pay them under the table and avoid paying for such benefits as worker protections, pension, health care and employment insurance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The organization says contractors who avoid paying workers protections tend to also have a legacy of running unsafe worksites where injuries become more commonplace, explaining that the combination can jeopardize worker safety, security and potentially even their livelihoods.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the number of shady actors in the industry continuing to grow, their illicit cost-cutting practices also make it more difficult for legitimate contractors and law-abiding businesses to stay competitive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe other big victim of construction industry tax fraud is Canadian taxpayers,\u201d said Rowe. \u201cThe billions of dollars at stake in the underground economy represent monies that aren\u2019t flowing back to taxpayers and government where they belong. This lost revenue should be invested back into our communities for things like schools, health care and other essential services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UBC Canadian District is seeking to partner with all orders of government and take steps towards eliminating construction industry tax fraud. These steps include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provincial governments implementing general contractor liability legislation.<\/li>\n<li>Increasing transparency in procurement processes on all government-funded projects.<\/li>\n<li>Requiring apprentice minimums on all government-funded projects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As part of this year\u2019s Tax Fraud Days of Action campaign, the UBC Canadian District has launched an animated video that offers an easy-to-understand primer on the issue, who is involved, challenges and outcomes. To view the video and for more information on the campaign, visit the campaign\u2019s website, <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.stoptaxfraud.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.stoptaxfraud.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ubcbuilt.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.ubcbuilt.ca<\/a><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"btn btn-default btn-xs pull-right\" href=\"https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/construction\/ubc-combatting-crooked-contractors-and-worker-exploitation\/1003984908\/javascript:window.print()\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"icon-print\"\/> Print this page<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<!-- end of .navigation -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\n\t  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n\t  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n\t  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n\t  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=761779333850340&version=v2.0\";\n\t  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n\t}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on-sitemag.com\/construction\/ubc-combatting-crooked-contractors-and-worker-exploitation\/1003984908\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] (CNW Group\/Carpenters\u2019 Regional Council) Canada\u2019s housing crisis is creating conditions for construction industry tax fraud to flourish, warns the &#8230; <a title=\"UBC combatting crooked contractors and worker exploitation\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/ubc-combatting-crooked-contractors-and-worker-exploitation\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about UBC combatting crooked contractors and worker exploitation\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085],"tags":[1306],"class_list":["post-29986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-onsite-magazine","tag-carpenters-regional-counciladvocacy-and-opinionlabor-union-newspublic-safetyusnrrlrltcst","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}