There are buzzwords around about parity of esteem around various careers, etc., but at the end of the day, we need help promoting that these are valuable occupations. The people I represent make twice as much as I do. We have to get the word out. We have to do a better job and industry has to do a better job as well, the big construction companies, the big energy companies, saying your future probably isn't typing at a keyboard, but it's welding a pipe, reading a blueprint, or being an operation engineer at an oil sands facility or at a nuclear plant.
Those are some of the messages we need help delivering. We can't do it alone in industry. We could do a better job, but we also need better partners to create that parity of esteem in terms of messaging.
I would add quickly, the guy that's a carpenter today is an entrepreneur tomorrow. That second-year apprentice we're helping move through the system will be running his own crew one day, so we need to be talking about entrepreneurship. We need to be talking about starting a small business and that's the kind of messaging that could have a real impact on getting people involved. It's not just swinging hammers; it's running your own company.