“What will our job be used for if anyone can replace us? No more credibility? wonders aloud Shanah Deschênes, a house painter, who takes a dim view of the reform of the construction trades envisaged by Quebec.
“You can’t be good at everything you do. You have to focus on one thing, ”sighs Shanah Deschênes, a painter in the construction industry, who fears losing work if you open her trade.
“It could even push people to drop the trades,” she goes so far as to say.
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Bill in the fall
Monday morning, the Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet, announced his intention to table a bill next fall to modernize the construction trades in particular.
“We want to see if there are activities that could be shared,” explained Jean Boulet, on the sidelines of a lunch with members of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM).
“Flexibility should not be presented as an enemy, but a partner of everyone,” he pleaded. In the same breath, he promised that the reform will not be “an open bar either”.
Photo Francis Halin
Labor Minister Jean Boulet (right).
When asked if he could have fewer trades, as is the case in Ontario, he said he was not there yet. “It’s not my thinking right now to merge,” he replied.
Jean Boulet wants to simplify access to the 25 construction trades, in particular with the “concept of shared activity”. He also wants to do more to attract less well-represented workers. “Barely 3.65% are women in construction,” he reminded an audience of business people.
Professions of the same family
Asked on the sidelines of the event, the CEO of the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ), Diane Lemieux, welcomed the fact that the minister is taking the lead. “It’s been a long time since these questions have moved, so we hope that the minister’s appeal will be heard,” she shared.
Photo Francis Halin
Diane Lemieux, CEO of the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ)
“There is a lot of talk about a trade being able to perform tasks of another trade,” she continued. For example, a painter could also do plaster, she illustrated.
“We are not going to turn an electrician into a plumber, but there are trades that are in the same family,” she said. Not to mention revolution, M.me Lemieux spoke of a “necessary evolution”.
FTQ-Construction on the brakes
However, for Éric Boisjoly, general manager of the FTQ-Construction, it is essential to know your trade well before anything else.
“Versatility first requires knowing one’s own job well from the start. There are already ways to have flexibility, but this must go through the assurance of competence at the start,” he insisted.
“It’s important for what we build to be of high quality and durable,” he pleaded.
Remember that construction is a key sector, which represents 17% of Quebec’s GDP.
Between 15,000 and 17,000 workers are still missing in the industry, according to Statistics Canada.