CGC’s new $210-million Wallboard plant near Calgary will eliminate tariffs and set the stage for the company’s future long-term growth.

The recently opened facility will also greatly reduce emissions, said Steve Youngblut, CGC’s president and CEO, in an interview with Connect.

“That plant was built really for us to control our own destiny in Western Canada for wallboard manufacturing,” said Youngblut. “And why I say that is, it was really influenced heavily by a drywall tariff that was introduced in 2015-2016, where all [Canadian] manufacturers are importing, to some degree, wallboard across the border from the United States. … It’s been over two decades in the making, trying to figure this out, really.”

The plant is located near Carseland, Alta., south of Calgary and will cater to customers across Western Canada. The project took about three years to complete as CGC spent about a year going through land acquisition and pre-construction approvals and approximately two years building the facility.

Prior to opening the plant, imported wallboard for sale in Western Canada via roughly 3,000 railcars per year, he added. Of those, 2,000 were came into Alberta to support the province’s robust construction market.

“We look at our company, and we want to be a national player, and be able to be a member, to move and support the markets that have the demand, which has been our big challenge,” said Youngblut. “Eliminating those 3,000 railcars, and dependence on those railcars, is a complete game-changer, as you can appreciate, with tough weather, and frozen switches, and sometimes unreliable supply to railcar access. It’s been a very challenging period for both our internal employees and for our customers.

“Not only is it good for our customers, and it’s good for our business, but it’s actually good for the environment, eliminating that carbon footprint as well.”

The plant will serve Gibson Specialty Dealers; the Independent Lumber Dealers Co-operative and such major building-products retailers as Home Depot.

The plant has generated nearly 100 full-time jobs, along with an estimated 80 additional jobs tied to operations and related economic activity.

Oakville, Ont.-based CGC is Canada’s largest manufacturer of gypsum-based building materials and the Canadian division of USG Corporation, which is controlled by the Knopf family. The new Southern Alberta facility produces Sheetrock-brand wallboard for residential, commercial and infrastructure projects across Canada. Located on 214 acres, the plant is among the most technologically advanced and sustainable facilities in the global USG network, according to CGC.

The facility’s sustainability measures include a 20% reduction in manufacturing-related carbon emissions in addition to the reduced transportation-related emissions, a 25% reduction in water use, zero manufacturing waste sent to landfills and on-site solar-power generation.

Chris Macey, president and CEO of parent USG, has described the project as one of the largest wallboard manufacturing investments in the company’s history.

The Alberta government and its economic-development arm Invest Alberta worked with CGC provided about $3.8 million million from the province’s Investment and Growth Fund.

The plant has come online as Canada’s construction industry grapples with many challenges related to tariffs and downturns in condominium and rental-apartment starts, and high development costs. But CGC is confident that the new facility can weather the storms and achieve long-term success.

Youngblut said government efforts to reduce high development-cost charges are starting to help the construction and building-materials manufacturing sectors get through the challenges.

“The housing demand is there,” he said. “We need more homes in Canada. I think we just need a little bit more consumer confidence, a little bit more government support in some of these programs, and I think another cut on interest rates would go a long way. We feel we’ve hit the bottom. Things are improving, and now we just need a little bit of wind in our sails to get this thing back on track to where it should be.”

Ultimately, the new plant was not built with current conditions in mind.

“We’re not thinking about today or tomorrow,” said Youngblut. “We are focused on 10 years out and a generation type of thing. That’s the way that our company thinks and how we’re planning for the future.”

The plant’s completion follows a groundbreaking ceremony in 2024 and forms part of CGC’s broader strategy to modernize its manufacturing network and expand domestic production. Combined with the revitalization of the Little Narrows gypsum quarry in Nova Scotia, the company has invested nearly $325 million in strengthening the Canadian and North American building materials supply chain.

Closed for modernization in 2023, the Little Narrows quarry is slated to open later in 2026.

The company continues to expand following its acquisition of Richibucto, N.B.-based steel studs and framing manufacturer Imperial Building in fall 2025.

“So, we have a heavy investment in Canada and think we’re in a good place for the long haul, for sure,” said Youngblut.

Pictured: CGC’s new wallboard plant in Wheatland County.

Photo: Courtesy of CGC