Canada’s planned $115 billion federal infrastructure push is set to unleash a wave of hospitals, ports, power projects and transit lines over the next five years. For general contractors, it’s a huge opportunity – but also a test of how well they’re advised.
According to Aiden Lanzon (pictured left), SVP, Quebec regional leader and construction national practice leader at Liberty Mutual Canada, the quality of a contractor’s broker could be the difference between winning and surviving these projects, or getting left behind.
Some of the brokers are really well set up. They have the resources, and they have the expertise, and they have the years of dealing with it, and a team that can help support, he said. “Those ones will be well set up, especially if they can communicate that value clearly to their clients.”
The rest of the market, he suggested, is more mixed.
“You’ll get into other ones who are generalists. They do a little bit of everything,” Lanzon said. “They’re like, ‘oh, there’s a project, I’m going to try to get new general contractor clients,’ because that pie is growing.”
That divergence matters when contracts become larger, longer and more complex.
“There’s quite a big distinction when you get into some of these projects,” he said. “Understanding procurement models – the good brokers will really know.”
Mega‑projects demand a different level of technical and contractual understanding. Pricing a fleet policy or a small property schedule is one thing; navigating public‑sector procurement rules, wrap‑up liability, professional lines, environmental exposures and surety expectations on a $5‑billion hospital is another.
From Lanzon’s perspective, contractors should treat broker selection as a strategic decision, not a commodity purchase.
“Be very selective about your broker,” he said. “Make sure you’re going out and asking for the experience that X broker has had in dealing with large projects. That is really going to help those GCs manage through the process, because a lot of them will really help them through the bidding process required for these large projects.”
He described an “excellent broker” as one of the most powerful advantages a contractor can bring into a negotiation with carriers.
“One of the best things that we see is a contractor that is accompanied with an excellent broker,” Lanzon said. “It makes a world of difference.”
Steve Hastings (pictured right), SVP, head of surety for Liberty Mutual Canada, echoed that view from the bonding side.
“We have this construction strategy and we’re obviously going to match that to our broker partners who share and believe in that same approach,” he said. “When you get the contractor on side with that as well, it’s a perfect partnership.”
By contrast, he suggested, insurers focused purely on being a low‑cost capacity provider are unlikely to be the right fit for the next cycle of complex builds.
“If you’re an insurer focused simply on providing that commodity, that service, that is not a good fit for our construction strategy where we want to be a true partner,” Hastings said.
Lanzon stressed that specialist brokers earn that label by doing more than shopping quotes.
On the risk‑transfer side, they help clients unpack which exposures are being pushed down to them in contracts – from environmental and professional liability to builders’ risk, wrap‑up and project cargo – and how those interact with surety obligations, labour constraints and supply‑chain volatility.
“What is beneficial is that you have the broker who’s closely tied in with the insurance companies and with his clients,” he said. “They can talk to them: ‘Here’s what we’ve seen with some of our other clients. Are you guys managing these risks? Because these risks exist.’”
The best brokers, he added, also act as a bridge between contractors and carriers’ internal expertise, including risk engineers and global specialists.
“We have a lot of experience in this and we have a lot of tools and value add that can help contractors review their processes, review how they are planning for the types of projects that they’re going to pursue,” Lanzon said. “That’s where the insurers can provide a lot of value add.”
For contractors eyeing Ottawa’s infrastructure pipeline, that makes the broker relationship one of the most important pre‑construction decisions they’ll make.
“If we can give some advice, be selective,” Lanzon said. “Ask for the experience that broker has had on large projects. That’s what’s really going to help general contractors manage through what’s coming.”
