As we begin the 2026 construction season, I want to take a moment to explain what “Built on Grit” means to our association and its members.
The “Built on Grit” campaign is more than just recruiting posters. It’s a movement encouraging the next generation to “hit the ground running, eat gravel for breakfast, hard work for lunch and success for dinner.” “Built on Grit” is more than a slogan. It is the heartbeat of our industry. It is the calloused hands that grip steering wheels at -40°C, the boots that slog through spring gumbo and the minds that solve problems when Mother Nature throws everything she has at us.
In Saskatchewan, we do not build on easy ground. We build on the toughest roads in Canada – roads battered by grain haulers, scarred by extreme freeze-thaw cycles and shaped by a resource economy that never sleeps. “Built on Grit” shows the world that there is a face behind every bridge, waterline, mine access road and stretch of highway that keeps Saskatchewan moving. It says we are resilient men and women who show up, work hard and deliver – because that is who we are.
To our members – contractors large and small, from Regina to La Ronge, from Estevan to Lloydminster – this phrase captures the very essence of heavy construction.
It means rising before dawn to pour concrete that must cure before the next blizzard. It means innovating with new equipment and techniques to stretch budgets further while meeting the highest safety and environmental standards. It means negotiating with governments so that “best value” procurement rewards quality and experience, not just the lowest bid. Grit is what turns eight months of brutal seasonal work into pay cheques that feel like twelve. It is the reason we can tell young people, “Come join us, earn like a pro, learn a trade that matters and build something that will outlast us all.”
Look at what grit has already delivered this past year. Saskatchewan added over 15,000 jobs in 2025, with construction leading the way – up 5,000 positions alone. Our members delivered record asphalt tonnage, completed major bridge packages worth tens of millions and kept rural road networks alive despite record moisture challenges.
Grit also means facing reality head-on. Skilled labour shortages remain acute. Regulatory red tape still slows projects that Saskatchewan desperately needs. Global supply chains and interest rates test our margins. Yet here is where our association shines. SHCA exists to amplify your voice.
As we move through 2026, I encourage each of you to embrace this theme every day. Wear the hoodie, share your stories on job sites and remind your crews that they are the reason Saskatchewan’s economy is thriving. Saskatchewan is growing. Our population is young and ambitious. Our resources are world-class. The infrastructure deficit we face is real, but so is our capacity to close it.
Together, we will build more bridges, pave more kilometres and train more operators than ever before. We will do it safely, sustainably and profitably because that is what heavy construction looks like when built on grit.
