By whom? Things aren't quite so bad now that higher interest rates has scared many people away from building, but prior to that contractors were booked up years in advance. There was nobody else to build more than what we were already building.
Sure, the old adage of "just pay the workers more" might work to attract more workers into home construction, but then the cost of housing needs to go up to pay them...
Perhaps the government could be more heavy-handed, only allowing immigrants into the country under force of building houses, but that goes against Canadian culture, not to mention that other industries who rely on immigrant labour would cry fowl and the Canadians working in construction will feel attacked. Not going to happen.
The only real way around it is to see Canada's job market crumble. When building homes is the only work available, then you'll see people begging for those types of jobs (Canadian citizens included). But when there is work elsewhere, most people are going to go elsewhere. Building homes is not exactly compelling work – at least not at the going rate.
I don't think that follows. Framing, drywall, plumbing, electrical work, etc., are distinct trades. I don't see how being skilled in these areas translates to employability in other fields.
It seems you've got your tech coloured glasses on again. Yeah, sure, you'll have 100 programmers lined up down the street. Comes with the high salary territory. But not so much in other industries. Try hiring for something like a cook. You are taking the first person that comes along, no questions asked. If you don't, you'll have nobody. And, indeed, cooking in particular attracts a lot of immigrants, not to mention many people looking to escape construction.
And who can blame them? Who wants to suffer the brutally cold Canadian winter hammering nails when you can thrill people with your culinary treats from a warm kitchen? I'm sure at some price point people would be compelled to switch over to construction – everyone has a price – but home buyers by and large aren't willing to pay that much. In fact, they endlessly complain they are already paying too much.
> I have no experience or education in the field
If you can build a house you can gain said education and experience. Still, kind of an obtuse example given the legal encumberments. It's not lack of education or experience that keeps you from becoming a lawyer – it is the supply management system. Not unlike why you aren't becoming a dairy farmer in Canada, even though I'm quite sure you could manage milking a cow just fine, you just legally can't do it without jumping through tremendous hurdles intended to keep you out so that those on the inside can maintain an artificially high income.
These immigration statistics make it clear: https://www.statista.com/statistics/443063/number-of-immigra...
This started after Trudeau was re-elected for the second time, but he has been consistent in calling for increased immigration. I guess he expected it to be his last term and decided to go all out. Of course, considering the timing (housing crisis and stagflation) that's a bad look.