While I think that the answer is probably more complex than this, I would start with a lot more career awareness work that tells young people about what those career opportunities look like. There's some really fantastic research that has recently been done out of George Brown College around what tradespeople see in terms of their long-term career options.
You'd find that tradespeople are some of the most satisfied, happiest workers in the country. They believe the reason there aren't people lining up to do their jobs is that they can't. It's not because they've chosen it. They've said that university is the preferred option. They simply believe that the work they do, the problem solving, the dynamic nature of their work, the hands-on application of those skills, is too complicated for people who have more academic....
If we told people that and we talked about the technology that was in the trades, I have a feeling we'd have a lot more kids lining up to do those jobs.