Too many university grads, not enough tradespeople

For the past several decades, we've been producing far too many social scientists and too few plumbers and electricians. A lot of teenagers nowadays can't even drive a nail into a two-by-four or change a flat tire on a car. The plain truth is, as a society we haven't done a very good job of preparing young Canadians for good-paying careers in the skilled trades.

Even though our economy is becoming increasingly digital, we will still need people to build machines and houses and cars. And a lot of those jobs will require people with skilled technical trades. But unless we start teaching those skilled trades to young Canadians at an early age, we won't have enough people in this country to make and build things, and once we lose that know-how, our standard of living will drop significantly.

When I was 14, my mother marched me down to the factory where she worked, and asked the foreman to put me into a trade apprenticeship program. I became a toolmaker, sometimes referred to as the second oldest profession in the world. Toolmakers create precision tools that are used to cut, shape, and form metal and other materials like plastic. Every product we use, every appliance, the phone or laptop you're reading this column on — all were made with a tool, and behind every tool was a toolmaker. The practical skills I learned as a toolmaker — as well as critical complementary skills such as precision and perseverance — became the foundation of my future success in business.

Still to this day, European students who do not plan to study in university begin apprenticing in various trade programs at fourteen years of age. And while 14 may be considered too young by North American standards, I believe that when a student reaches the age of 16, they should be exposed to one or more various technical trades or industry-related jobs in high school.

Under my proposal, students between the ages of 16 and 18 would spend two years learning

High-paying skilled trades jobs will open up the doors of opportunity ... and wealth.

various trades at businesses and factories and restaurants outside school. Students would be exposed to four different trades over two years — with training in careers such as plumbing, bricklaying, carpentry, metalworking, farming, culinary arts and health care — and students would spend approximately six months in each trade.

The government would pay the student apprentices a stipend to cover meal costs and transportation expenses. And businesses that take on student apprentices would be entitled to a tax writeoff as an incentive for participating in the trade apprenticeship program. This sort of exposure would give students some practical, hands-on experience and allow them to explore various career interests, test their skills and discover what they really love to do and what they are good at doing. Adopting this approach would help create a feeder system to provide the skilled technicians and trades people our country needs — everything from carpenters and chefs to robotics technicians.

If we no longer have the skilled workers and capability to manufacture products, then businesses will be forced to look elsewhere by relocating manufacturing or farming out skilled production to other countries in eastern Europe and Asia.

A strong and vibrant manufacturing sector — and the technology base it rests on — is vital to our economic health and our standard of living.

I believe we've already reached a tipping point and are entering a new era in which blue-collar workers — people who can build and fix things — will make more money than white-collar workers in paper-shuffling office jobs. That wage gap will only get larger in the years ahead due to the growing shortage of skilled tradespeople.

A skilled trade was my ticket to success here in Canada, the country I immigrated to in 1954. In the years ahead, I believe that high-paying skilled trades jobs will open up the doors of opportunity, career satisfaction and wealth for many more Canadians.

But we need to begin teaching them these skills before it's too late and our dwindling expertise and know-how have vanished.