Labour shortage stunts construction: North's geography plays role in trades shortage.

• Author: Migneault, Jonathan
• Position: Construction

The skilled trades labour shortage is the greatest obstacle holding back the northeast's construction industry, says the executive director of the Sudbury Construction Association.

"Some of our tradesmen are making six figures, but nobody seems to want to go in the trades," said Denis Shank. "We have a huge shortage of electricians and carpenters."

In a recent report, the Ontario Construction Secretariat found 91 per cent of contractors in Northern Ontario reported a shortage of skilled workers, compared to 67 per cent in the Greater Toronto Area.

The secretariat hired the polling firm Ipsos Reid, which surveyed 500 commercial, industrial and institutional contractors across the province about their confidence for the year ahead and the issues they face.

Shank said many of his members have to decline contracts they would like to apply for, but can't, because they don't have enough skilled workers to complete the work.

He commended Sudbury's colleges --Cambrian and Boreal for their efforts to promote the trades as viable career options, and their skilled trades programs, but said both are limited in what they can achieve.

To offer a specific trades program, a college must make a training delivery agent application to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

Because of those regulatory requirements, Sudbury doesn't have a mechanic program, for example.

Shank said the nearest centre where would-be mechanics can be trained is in Sault Ste. Marie.

Other programs, he said, are only offered in the Greater Toronto Area. When students from Northern Ontario complete those programs, he added, they often don't return.

Harold Lindstrom, the manager of the Construction Association of Thunder Bay, said access to labour is also an issue in the northwest.

"We have to import people," he said.

But attracting workers is a tall order when contractors in Thunder Bay cover a very large geographic area, and workers can expect a lot of travel to get to their jobs.

"We won't be home every night at 5 o'clock," Lindstrom said. "That is not being explained to people who come into apprenticeships."

Lindstrom added the northwest's construction sector faces the dilemma that jobs are not always available for apprentices.

And apprentices who do find work often get discouraged and quit, he said.

"People don't sit in an area like ours, in northwestern Ontario, waiting for a job that might come out next week, or six months from now," Lindstrom said.

"The further...