The way we work has been changing, and the last few years have only accelerated these changes. Where we work, how we work and the meaning we find in what we do all need to adapt, because an economy that doesn’t work for workers, doesn’t work at all.
Ontario is facing the largest labour shortage in a generation, particularly in our skilled trades. By 2025, 1 in 5 new jobs will be in the skilled trades, with almost 100,000 jobs needing to be filled in construction alone. Without these workers, it will take us longer to build roads, public transit and schools, it will be harder to improve our health-care system and the cost of living for families will go up even more.
At the same time, too many people are struggling to find good jobs.
To address this shortage and help workers get ahead, our government is investing $1.5 billion over four years to help young people discover the skilled trades and gain the skills they need. Working in the trades is a rewarding, well-paying and in-demand career. As the premier says — when you have a job in the trades, you have a job for life.
Working together with labour and business, we can end the stigma around the trades, simplify the system to get into the trades, and encourage employer participation in training.
To build a better Ontario, we need to bring better jobs and bigger paycheques within reach for everyone, especially those who have been left behind.
As part of our government’s two Working for Workers bills, we introduced numerous policy changes that lead the way in North America and put workers in the driver’s seat of their future.
For example, we introduced the Right to Disconnect. After working all day to provide for their families, workers should have the right to put their devices away so they can spend time with their family uninterrupted.
Similarly, we pioneered new regulations around how employers can monitor their employees electronically. Companies with 25 or more employees are required to publish a written policy on electronic monitoring. This will ensure that their workers are aware of how they are monitored through company devices.
It is an injustice that only a quarter of those who work part-time or in precarious jobs have medical insurance and dental benefits. To rebalance the scales and give workers the confidence they need to drive their careers forward, we are expanding health and dental benefits to more workers regardless of how they work. The type of benefits we’re exploring would tie benefits to workers, not employers, allowing them to move between jobs and give workers more certainty about their futures.
Over the coming months, our government will announce a series of additional changes that will rebalance the scales, give workers a hand-up, and prepare for the future of work.
We will keep fighting for our province’s everyday heroes.
Monte McNaughton is Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and the MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
