Human Resources Committee on Oct. 2nd, 2012

[Mark Salkeld]

To answer that one in particular, I had a phone conversation with one of my members just the other day. His comment to me was, “I cannot find a welder in Alberta today for love nor money.” His projects are delayed.

Everybody who's a skilled tradesman who can be working.... I mean, I don't have the figures in front of me, but it's an issue. We are lacking skilled labour and trades. Just in talking to my member companies...there are projects that are being delayed or postponed, or they're getting run off because they won the bid and they can't fulfill their time commitment due to lack of labour.

[Paul Taylor]

I would agree. You referenced the research and development, or R and D, roles. With regard to those particular roles, which we're still recruiting for, we've been looking for several months now. We simply can't find them.

Some jobs are a little more senior in terms of the skill set and qualifications, and others are a little more junior in terms of what we're looking for. We simply can't find the people with the right skill sets.

That's preventing us from moving forward with some new initiatives or products. It's delaying our ability to do that.

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

In addition to your current challenges, what are the anticipated skill sets that you may not need to fill today but that you think you'll need in a year or two years from now?

I come from a construction background. My father has put in more than his fair set of windows, let alone coming from the oil patch in Fort McMurray.

What do you anticipate as the next skill set that will be required? If we're already behind where we need to be, how do we prepare for the future? What do you anticipate are those skills that will be needed? Is there a specific direction in your industry that is going to require specific skills? Currently you don't even advertise for it, but you anticipate having to do that in the future.

[Paul Taylor]

Our particular industry is about innovation of new products, finding new and more cost-effective ways to build the products. It's not only trying to develop a higher-quality product, but a more cost-effective way.

The technology is changing all the time, even in our window and door industry. In order for us to keep up, we need to continually find ways to innovate. The type of person we're hiring today might be different from the type of person we hire in the future. It's the changing nature of our industry.

I'm sure it's similar in Mark's industry. It's constant innovation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

I think Mr. Salkeld has a word or two.

Your time is probably up—

[Mark Salkeld]

I'm scratching deep to see if I can come up with anything new on the horizon, and in all honesty, I can't.

What I can say, though, is that with respect to research and development and new technologies, our industry, if it's anything, is taking the existing programs we have, whether they are engineering, mechanical, petroleum, or the trades, and giving people a solid depth of training in fulfilling those positions. Then they evolve as the industry evolves and they learn on the job.

I mean, you take a guy operating a control truck for a hydraulic fracturing job. He's got a hundred pieces of equipment on location, all tied in with pressure gauges and instrumentation. He's monitoring a 15,000 psi frac that is 3,000 kilometres below the surface of the earth. He didn't get that training in university and he didn't get it in college. He got it on the job. You don't just pick somebody off the street with no skills and put them there.

To answer your question, I can't name any one particular profession, but it's to build up what we have and we evolve from there.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you very much for that.

We'll conclude with Mr. Cuzner.

After you're done, we'll suspend for a few minutes for witnesses to leave, and then we'll get into committee business.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Thanks very much, to both of you, for being here today.

Mark, you were making some great points. I think the industry in the patch.... It's a job that's not for the feint of heart. It's physical; it's demanding.

I know there was a training institute in Atlantic Canada, the maritime institute of drilling, or something like this. I would think that somebody going into that sector does not want to go in blind.

You guys take a barefaced rig hand and work him up through the.... There's a lot of that going on. This maritime training centre wanted to give them the rig experience, but because there was no certification....

You work in an industry where there are competencies, as you indicated, but there are no specific trades. So young people who were going there weren't able to receive any kind of financial support. They weren't able to continue their EI or whatever while they went there because there was a lack of that structure.

Has the industry ever looked at trying to develop apprenticeships, per se, for the rigs?

[Mark Salkeld]

Yes, we have. We have a very extensive one called rig tech, and it is fully supported by the Alberta apprenticeship board. You're a fully qualified journeyman and it covers derrickman, assistant driller, and driller. They are recognized journeymen rig hands.

So yes, we have done that, and it's going on right now. I've worked with that group in Atlantic Canada. We provided equipment to that training school, so I know what you're talking about.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

If that training school were able to plug into this program, that might enable..... It's a provision within HRDC that the students don't qualify for any support right now, but if they were able to get into this certification and be a certifying body, then it would make sense.

Would that opportunity be available to them, do you think?

[Mark Salkeld]

Absolutely. It's open to anybody and everybody within Canada who wants to get a trade and work on the rigs.

I'd be more than pleased to send you some information on that, or talk to somebody.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Great. That would make sense.

Paul, what would the percentage be? You guys do a lot of business in the States, a lot of your projects.

Is that all domestic?

[Paul Taylor]

Yes, it's all domestic.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay. How far east is that? You're in Mississauga. Do you have a plant in Quebec as well?

[Paul Taylor]

We have a plant in Mississauga, and we actually have sales staff and support staff all the way to Atlantic Canada.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay. You're not doing any manufacturing in Atlantic Canada?

[Paul Taylor]

We don't have manufacturing in Atlantic Canada.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Have you guys gone through that thought process? A lot of the time we're talking about getting people to jobs. What about taking those opportunities, taking the manufacturing opportunities, and bringing them to where the work pool is? Have you looked at Atlantic Canada, trying to develop something there perhaps, where there is a fairly significant pool of labour, and skilled labour?

[Paul Taylor]

As an organization we're always open. It's just good business sense to look at all different opportunities. When we opened our Mississauga plant in 2006 it seemed like the right location for us. We probably still have a lot of growth to do within our company before we'd look at another production facility, but we're open to all avenues.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay, that's good for me.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you.

Thank you very much, witnesses, for attending and sharing some of the insights in your particular fields. We'll certainly take them into consideration.

I'm going to suspend for a few moments as you leave. I've asked committee members to stay back. We have a few matters of committee business, and we'll go in camera for that.

[Proceedings continue in camera]