Build Big — But Who Pays the Price?

 Build Big — But Who Pays the Price?

I keep hearing about training 100,000 skilled trades workers because Canada needs to "build big again."

I agree that tradespeople are essential.

But I don't think people sitting around a boardroom talking about labour shortages always understand what a trades career actually does to a human body.

Trades are hard physical work.

Your back hurts. Your knees hurt. Your shoulders hurt. Your hands hurt. Years of repetitive work can leave people with chronic injuries and pain. I know what chronic tendonitis feels like myself.

Talk to tradespeople who have been doing this for decades. Many reach their 30s, 40s or 50s and are already thinking about what they can do next because their bodies simply can't keep taking it.

You can't solve a labour shortage by treating human bodies like unlimited resources.

And there is another problem.

What are we asking young people to build?

Mines. Ports. Highways. Condos. Industrial projects.

But meanwhile, we have young people growing up in a completely different world — video games, delivery apps, COVID lockdowns, social media, the dark web, deepfakes and now AI.

They're entering adulthood into a world that is technologically overwhelming and economically uncertain.

Of course some want a good-paying job.

But "work hard and make money" isn't the whole equation anymore.

At what cost?

Are we building affordable housing — or luxury condos ordinary Canadians can't afford?

Are we building communities — or simply building for whoever has the most money?

Because here in Vancouver, I watch people who already live here struggle to find housing while newcomers from other provinces arrive with enough money to rent, go to school and compete for the limited housing supply.

And meanwhile, people who have lived here for years are sleeping on the streets.

I see older women walking around Kitsilano carrying what little they own in No Frills bags.

That should break our hearts.

💔

So yes, Canada needs skilled trades.

But Canada also needs a vision.

A vision that asks:

What are we building?

Who can afford to live here when we're finished?

How do we protect the workers doing the building?

What happens to their bodies after 20 years?

Where are the affordable homes?

Where are the doctors, caregivers and teachers?

Where is the food security?

Where is the plan for communities facing fire, flood and climate change?

And most importantly:

What kind of country are we actually trying to build?

Because bigger isn't automatically better.

More mines aren't automatically progress.

More condos aren't automatically housing.

More GDP isn't automatically a better life.

And 100,000 workers aren't numbers on a spreadsheet.

They're human beings with backs, hands, knees, families, dreams and only one body to spend.

Canada needs to start building for people again.

Not just building things.

#Canada #SkilledTrades #HousingCrisis #AffordableHousing #WorkersRights #CostOfLiving #ClimateChange #Homelessness #FutureOfCanada #BuildForPeople