CFIB’s Chief Economist and Vice President of Research, Simon Gaudreault, was on CBC’s the Current on Monday morning discussing the future of skilled trades in Canada. The consensus shows that there’s a critical shortage of skilled labour in sectors like construction, personal services, and transportation, all of which are heavily reliant on skilled trades.
Simon highlights two key factors contributing to the skilled trades shortage. First, skilled trades are undervalued in society, despite playing a vital role in addressing Canada’s housing and infrastructure challenges. Second, labour mobility remains a major barrier, as well as rules around qualifications and government red tape make it difficult for workers to move freely between provinces.
How are small businesses impacted?
Small businesses face an uneven playing field when it comes to attracting and keeping skilled tradespeople, especially compared to larger companies. The current training and certification systems aren't designed with small and medium-sized businesses in mind, even though they make up 99% of Canadian employers and generate half of the country’s private sector GDP. To close this gap, we need targeted programs and incentives that help SMEs access, train, and retain the skilled workers they need.
How is CFIB advocating for small businesses?
While safety and high standards must remain a priority, we believe that there are important challenges that need to be addressed. This includes greater coordination between provinces that can help align standards and simplify the system for skilled tradespeople. In order to support better labour mobility across Canada, stronger leadership from both federal and provincial governments is needed to streamline skills recognition. At the same time, immigration policies should prioritize skilled trades to help address urgent labour shortages.
Discover how you can learn more.
If you want to listen to the entire interview, it’s available online. We also have research available private sector job vacancies and insights on the gap in skilled trades across the country.
For further information on the advocacy work that we do at CFIB, and how we can help your small business, become a member today.
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