I think you answered my own question for me: It is a livelihood. It is an opportunity. It is to allow your kids to have jobs.
My former Canadian director, his family is fourth generation now with his son. One of my colleagues is fourth generation. It is an opportunity to give careers. Well-paying jobs, highly skilled jobs, give you the opportunity for your kids to go to university and other opportunities, but it is the long-term, big projects that make them.
As you mentioned, our members travel throughout the province and through the country. If you look at our pipeliners.... I know one pipeliner who worked on five projects in four provinces last summer. That's a lot of travel, but he loved it. It is his life. It provides for his family. The pride they take in their work is the pride you see when people come by and say to their kids, “I built that” or “Look at what we built.”
If you look at the human rights museum in Winnipeg, on the top floor, they actually have in the bricks the names of every person who worked to build that building. I was there with a colleague. He pointed out, “There's my name, right there. I get to show my family I built that.” It is a pride thing. We just need the opportunity to build things.