Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is strapping on his now well-worn tool belt to spearhead a cross-Canada residential construction marathon with his long-time favourite charity, Habitat for Humanity.

In honour of Canada’s 150th birthday, Carter and his wife Rosalynn will oversee the building of 150 new homes -- 75 in Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., 25 in Winnipeg, and 50 more scattered across the rest of the country.

The former president has been swinging a hammer for Habitat for Humanity more than 30 years. He and his wife have worked alongside nearly 100,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate, and repair some 4,000 homes for families in need, according to the non-profit organization.

This morning, construction began with President & Mrs. Carter at the 34th #HabitatCWP in Canada! https://t.co/FQxAgLOAym pic.twitter.com/xy6VQweYt8 — Habitat for Humanity (@Habitat_org) July 10, 2017

The four-day 2017 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project got underway in Edmonton on Monday. CTV News caught up with the former president on the job site for a wide-ranging interview, touching on his enduring commitment to affordable housing, the growing gulf between the rich and poor in America, and how he is grudgingly cutting down his work load at age 92.

“I’m very embarrassed when I can’t stay out with all the younger people like I used to,” he joked. “Even the Secret Service says, ‘Mr. President, sometimes you’d better take a break.’”

Carter, a recent survivor of liver and brain cancer, isn’t climbing scaffolding or pouring concrete these days. But he continues to wield an undeniably commanding presence during construction. With the experienced eye of a journeyman, he noted that he was impressed by the overall state of the Edmonton job site.

“I’ve never seen so much early preparation. I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the site,” he said. “The care with the preconstruction walls, it makes it very easy to erect them the first day.”

Getting your hands dirty and building so-called “sweat equity” is especially important for the families that will one day move into each home, because the work instills a real pride of ownership, he explained. His many years with Habitat for Humanity have allowed him to drop by and inspect projects he worked on as long as a quarter century ago.

“There is never a broken window. There is never an un-mowed lawn. There is never any graffiti on the walls. The rest of the community that may have looked down on Habitat now sees it as a model that they have to measure up to.”

People in your community and all over the world partner with #HabitatforHumanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. With our help, Habitat homeowners achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build a better life for themselves and their families. ##InstaGood #DoGood A post shared by Habitat for Humanity (@habitatforhumanity) on Jun 27, 2017 at 12:54pm PDT

When probed about the most rewarding builds he’s worked on, Carter singled out two.

A project in New York that became the envy of the surrounding neighbourhood when an excess of volunteers started beautifying surrounding lots, replacing garbage and derelict cars with a community garden.

The second was a world away in the Philippines. There, Carter, Rosalynn, and about 14,000 volunteers built nearly 300 homes, each one about the size of a typical Canadian living room. But it wasn’t the scale of the build that struck him.

“A woman that moved into one of the houses, when she went inside and looked at it, she began to cry,” Carter said. “We asked her where she was living. She said she and her two daughters had been crawling into an abandoned septic tank and covering it up with plastic.”

Homes represent more than just shelter to the former president. He believes inadequate housing has a wide range of consequences including lost pride, poor health, and lower grades for children.

“When you live in a substandard home and you are the caregiver for the family, a mother or father who is working, and you can’t provide a decent place for your children to live, it forces the children out onto the street where they don’t belong, and it prevents them from having friends come to their own house because they are ashamed of where they live,” Carter said.

Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are also lending their hands to the project in Edmonton. Carter marvels at their energy, perhaps wondering who will take up his role with Habitat for Humanity when he hangs up his work boots for the last time. He grimly expects many more houses will be needed.

“We have a lot more difference between the rich people and the poor people in American than we did when I was in the White House,” he said. “For the first time in history, a lot of people in my country do not believe that their children are going to have a better life than they had. That is a new thing for us.”

Carter served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981.

Happy 71st wedding anniversary to #HabitatforHumanity’s most famous volunteers, President and Mrs. Carter. #FeelGoodFriday #HabitatCWP A post shared by Habitat for Humanity (@habitatforhumanity) on Jul 7, 2017 at 8:14am PDT