The narrative that blue-collar work is a second-class profession is a stereotype that is deterring young people from entering skilled trades and holding back economic progress in Canada.CSA ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Mandy Rennehan is a speaker, TV host, and founder and chief executive of Freshco, a construction management company focusing on retail facilities.
I remember bursting through the door of my home in Yarmouth, N.S., when I was 12, full of excitement about a wooden item I’d made that day in shop class. My mother looked it over and said, “Mandy, is this a paper-towel holder?“ I replied, proudly: “Yes, Mom, I made it in shop class!”
The next day, the paper-towel holder was hanging proudly on the side of our cabinets in the kitchen. My father said: “Did you make that at school, sweetie?” It was like he was questioning it, maybe wondering if a male teacher had made it and given it to me.
All girls and boys took shop class and home economics when I was in junior high more than 30 years ago, but these subjects were never seen as skills for future careers. They were presented as helpful life skills – something that could be an interesting hobby, perhaps, or help you whip up a decent weeknight meal.
When I look back at how wonderful the teachers were, and the resources that went into teaching these subjects, it is perplexing to me how myopic the leadership and vision were in the school system around what constituted a “respectable”career. Not once did anyone ever mention the blue-collar world – carpentry, plumbing, welding etc. – as a possibility.
I didn’t excel at academics, but I never forgot the passion I felt behind my first accomplishment in shop class. A tomboyish Yarmouth girl, I left home at 17 with a hockey bag filled with my worldly possessions, adamant about finding opportunities in the skilled trades.
It didn’t take me long to see that almost 100 per cent of the industry was male. These guys were taught these skills from an employer on a summer job, or they came from generations of immigrant tradespeople and had been exposed to the craft when they were young. Even 30 years ago, a lot of these men were aging, and were counting on their sons to take over their businesses or follow in their footsteps.
We as a country have taken for granted that these men and their sons would take the brunt of all groundwork projects, renovation additions and maintenance to our aging infrastructure. It used to work that way, but in recent decades, more families pushed their kids into white-collar jobs, and the backlog for workers in the skilled trades started ballooning. Today, the country doesn’t have nearly enough people available to work on housing, construction and infrastructure projects.
So, we have to ask: Who is in line to fix all this?
The narrative that blue-collar work is a second-class profession has led to massive delays and price escalations in routine projects of all kinds. There are limited bidders for government infrastructure projects, which leads to higher public expenses and longer timelines. People are waiting years to find a reputable builder – if they can even find one – and you can bet it’s not a woman showing up to provide a quote. Good luck if you want to get your dishwasher fixed within a week – or a month. And when was the last time you saw all the escalators working at an airport? Employees in the trades trying to meet deadlines are often worked to the point of sheer exhaustion, leading to a decline in their mental health and increased substance abuse.
Just like being an academic wasn’t for me, the skilled trades aren’t for everyone, but they can be a great career for many. Blue-collar jobs aren’t stuck in the dark ages, and often incorporate modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. It can be an exciting and sexy career path.
For the past 20 years, I have been sounding the alarm about the need to see white-collar and blue-collar industries as equal, and speaking on the need to have equal opportunities and respect in order to bring more women and people from marginalized communities into the field. This way, they can see that the industry offers viable, rewarding career paths with great financial gain.
Over the past decade, I have turned away millions of dollars in work because my company didn’t have enough workers to expand across the country. I know of many other small and mid-sized construction firms in the same situation. The skilled-trades worker shortage isn’t “looming” – it’s been here for years. It’s strangling Canada’s economic growth.
It can take decades to change social attitudes, but I’m hopeful that new perspectives from employers, parents, educators and organizations can have influence. When I speak as part of the Women in Skilled Trades and Jill of All Trades programs, young women from Grades 9 to 12 show up by the busload, curious about what the day will entail. The energy is undeniable as they look at all the material for electrical work, robotics, carpentry, automotive mechanics and welding that they will use that day.
I tell them my story of coming from humble beginnings, being a gay woman and becoming a multimillionaire by the time I was 30 as an entrepreneur in the trades. I watch as hope rises in the room.
The number of women and people from marginalized communities enlisting in trade schools has increased in the past decade. The ones who get proper support on their journey do well. However, the bad news is that, by my estimate, 90 per cent of trades companies are still run by people who have not engaged in HR practices to make workplaces welcoming for women. I speak with many women who are faced with sexism and harassment. Often they develop depression or anxiety, and end up quitting the industry completely.
By improving the culture of our workplaces, we can genuinely communicate to young people of all backgrounds that they will be successful in the trades. Our young people need to be empowered to pick their career paths based on their passions and ambitions, not on what society says they should do. I wish I had a loonie for all the young people who have walked into my office and told me how they were lost career-wise after being pushed into university and a white-collar professional career.
I’m a big fan of the newly announced program that will allow Grade 11 and 12 students in Ontario to choose to spend the bulk of their time in a skilled-trades apprenticeship. This announcement gives the industry hope, and it gives these students the autonomy to experience a different kind of education to suit their career goals.
More young people should have the chance to build Canada – something they can brag about to their kids in the years to come. Just imagine if, in my shop class more than 30 years ago, seven or eight of us had chosen careers in the skilled trades – and the same thing had happened across the country. You can bet you’d be getting that dishwasher repaired a whole lot faster.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 250 points in late-morning trading, led by strength in the base metal and technology sectors, while U.S. stock markets also charged higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 254.62 points at 23,847.22.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 432.77 points at 41,935.87. The S&P 500 index was up 96.38 points at 5,714.64, while the Nasdaq composite was up 486.12 points at 18,059.42.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.68 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was up 89 cents at US$70.77 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down a penny at US2.27 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$9.40 at US$2,608.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.33 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Supervised injection sites are saving the lives of drug users everyday, but the same support is not being offered to people who inhale illicit drugs, the head of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS says.
Dr. Julio Montaner said the construction of Vancouver’s first indoor supervised site for people who inhale drugs comes as the percentage of people who die from smoking drugs continues to climb.
The location in the Downtown Eastside at the Hope to Health Research and Innovation Centre was unveiled Wednesday after construction was complete, and Montaner said people could start using the specialized rooms in a matter of weeks after final approvals from the city and federal government.
“If we don’t create mechanisms for these individuals to be able to use safely and engage with the medical system, and generate points of entry into the medical system, we will never be able to solve the problem,” he said.
“Now, I’m not here to tell you that we will fix it tomorrow, but denying it or ignoring it, or throw it under the bus, or under the carpet is no way to fix it, so we need to take proactive action.”
Nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths in British Columbia in 2023 came after smoking illicit drugs, yet only 40 per cent of supervised consumption sites in the province offer a safe place to smoke, often outdoors, in a tent.
The centre has been running a supervised injection site for years which sees more than a thousand people monthly and last month resuscitated five people who were overdosing.
The new facilities offer indoor, individual, negative-pressure rooms that allow fresh air to circulate and can clear out smoke in 30 to 60 seconds while users are monitored by trained nurses.
Advocates calling for more supervised inhalation sites have previously said the rules for setting up sites are overly complicated at a time when the province is facing an overdose crisis.
More than 15,000 people have died of overdoses since the public health emergency was declared in B.C. in April 2016.
Kate Salters, a senior researcher at the centre, said they worked with mechanical and chemical engineers to make sure the site is up to code and abidies by the highest standard of occupational health and safety.
“This is just another tool in our tool box to make sure that we’re offering life-saving services to those who are using drugs,” she said.
Montaner acknowledged the process to get the site up and running took “an inordinate amount of time,” but said the centre worked hard to follow all regulations.
“We feel that doing this right, with appropriate scientific background, in a medically supervised environment, etc, etc, allows us to derive the data that ultimately will be sufficiently convincing for not just our leaders, but also the leaders across the country and across the world, to embrace the strategies that we are trying to develop.” he said.
Montaner said building the facility was possible thanks to a single $4-million donation from a longtime supporter.
Construction finished with less than a week before the launch of the next provincial election campaign and within a year of the next federal election.
Montaner said he is concerned about “some of the things that have been said publicly by some of the political leaders in the province and in the country.”
“We want to bring awareness to the people that this is a serious undertaking. This is a very massive investment, and we need to protect it for the benefit of people who are unfortunately drug dependent.” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
