Human Resources Committee on Oct. 30th, 2025

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Vultur and Mrs. Gill.

Next is Madam Goodridge for five minutes.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

Mr. Vultur, I represent the riding of Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, and we have a lot of tradespeople in our community. I used to work in the oil sands sector, and I often saw people with university degrees learning trades.

Based on your research, is that happening across the country?

[Mircea Vultur]

Yes. More and more people are taking a new career path. Some university graduates turn to shorter programs to get a degree that better meets labour market needs.

Others have training in a certain field, but work in a completely different one. That, too, is happening. Someone with a degree in Chinese literature, for example, could work as marketing director for a company. It's more and more common. After all, knowledge is not the only thing you get from a degree; you also acquire skills such as critical thinking and the capacity to adapt.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Vultur.

Mr. Tarr, I really appreciate your being here today and the work that many unions do to train people up. Generally speaking, from the experience I've had, oftentimes union training halls do a good job because they are not training for jobs; they are training for jobs that the market actually needs.

From your experience, do you believe government or the private sector creates more jobs?

[Andrew Tarr]

I think it's the private sector. I think we are better off with jobs created by the private sector. It's a better sign in the economy.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Are you seeing red tape coming from the government? I know that the variety of anti-development and anti-energy laws that have been brought forward for the last 10 years by the Liberal government has created all kinds of complications in expanding any kind of energy development. Has that had an impact on jobs in the union sector?

[Andrew Tarr]

I think it has, yes.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Based on that, do you believe that has had a direct impact on youth unemployment?

[Andrew Tarr]

I think it would. Ultimately, you don't bring in new people if your membership is not working.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

No, and I think that's an exceptionally important point. I come from Fort McMurray, and we used to see people coming from all across Canada and the world because of the opportunity. We see less and less of that. There just aren't those same opportunities. For the last 10 years, this is what they've heard from the government: “We want to transition you away from those jobs. Those are bad jobs. Don't invest there,” so companies have invested elsewhere.

What would you say to a youth looking at starting their career? What would you recommend they pursue?

[Andrew Tarr]

I encourage them to get into the trades.

I'm a tradesperson. The trades have been good for me. My son's in the trades. I encourage people to get into the trades, because it's something that keeps on giving, but it is tough right now.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I think it's really tough, especially when our society has so much focus on the idea that if you go to university, you will find success.

My dad was a very proud Red Seal machinist. He could fix just about anything. If he couldn't fix it, he could make it, which was kind of fun and cool.

I'm very proud to have grown up in that kind of a household. I think more needs to be done to show youth that this is a great career.

I will give you the last minute to give a pitch as to why HVAC&R.

[Andrew Tarr]

Thanks. You're putting me on the spot.

I think tradespeople in general, in good times and bad, can find work.

We mentioned the underground economy, and I'll be honest: When I was first married, I bought a house, and I had to put a roof on my house, so I did a side job or two to pay for the roof, because things were slow. If I hadn't been a tradesperson, I probably wouldn't have been able to do that.

Trades give people the ability to do things that a person who goes to school for accounting can't do.

I'm a tradesperson, so I believe in trades 100%.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Goodridge.

You're hard on the accountants, Mr. Tarr.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

He didn't call you a [Inaudible—Editor].

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

I accept that.

You made very valid points.

Mr. Joseph, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, Mr. Tarr. Thank you for being here with us for this meeting on youth employment in Canada.

Before I begin, I'd like to say that I was a refrigeration engineer by trade, similar to my colleague who was an electrician by trade. I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few words to my former colleagues, whom I might work with again someday. This is for the men and women who work in a skilled trade in construction: Every day, using your hands, intelligence, passion and dedication, you build and repair, helping our society move forward, and for that, I thank you immensely.

Mr. Tarr, you talked about the importance of labour mobility. On that point, the federal government funds the red seal program, which supports the adoption of common interprovincial standards for tradespeople skills through tax measures, and facilitates labour mobility. Would greater harmonization between the federal and provincial systems help youth find jobs faster? How would that type of harmonization fit in your idea of a national strategy for trades?

[Andrew Tarr]

The last little bit kicked out, so I didn't hear it, but I think you're asking about harmonization and how it would help young people get jobs.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Yes. My question is about harmonization.

[Andrew Tarr]

I think harmonization is important, because it's holding back our country as a whole.

When I think of harmonization, I'm thinking of certifications, safety training—all that stuff. Typically, what I find is that for young people who are not working in the field, harmonization wouldn't affect them.

[Andrew Tarr]

Harmonization is important to enable everybody to travel between provinces to follow the work. Right now, for someone to go from Ontario to Alberta, it could take six days for them to get the proper training, even though they had the training in Ontario.

I think harmonization as a whole is very important.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

It's also important for Quebec.

[Andrew Tarr]

Yes, it is, for Quebec, for all of the provinces.