Good afternoon, members of the committee, fellow witnesses, and Chair Benoit.
My name is John Telford. I'm the director of Canadian affairs for the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the United States and Canada, commonly known as the UA.
Our association was founded in 1898. The UA is a multicraft union whose members are engaged in the fabrication, installation, and servicing of piping systems. In North America we represent 326,000 members. In Canada we serve over 53,000 members, including 9,000 apprentices. We represent eight major trade classifications, all of which work on natural resource projects both in new construction and maintaining the existing facilities.
Here are a few examples of the kinds of people we represent and the important work they do. Steamfitters and pipefitters are the people who build the massive refineries in the oil, gas, and power sectors. Plumbers are the people who control the quality of the water in these plants, the supply of potable water, and waste water removal. Instrumentation technicians and mechanics control the process and limit pressure for safe operation of plants.
Heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics install and maintain the systems that control the temperature of the plants and the refining processes, along with the air quality. Sprinkler system installers—“sprinkler fitters”, as we call them—provide fire and explosion suppression systems for plant safety.
Metal trade workers work across the country in metal fabrication shops in Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, and many of the other provinces, all working on spinoff projects of the natural resource projects. Pipe welders are the people who build pipelines, and perform pressure welding on all high and low-pressure process systems.
We have 30-plus training centres across Canada, and spend nearly $30 million of members' money on training journeypersons and young apprentices every year.
Every day, 30% of our membership is engaged on Canada's natural resource projects. Natural resource projects and the continued focus on our energy economy matter to the men and the women, and their families, that I represent. Market diversification in Canada's energy sector, simply put, means long-term, well-paying careers.
You heard from the building trades on April 25. My remarks today build on those that Mr. Smillie made.
Market diversification means more secure opportunities for Canadians, their children, and their children's children.
In your study backgrounder, it appears that you are undertaking to understand three components: export market diversification for Canadian energy; product diversification in Canadian energy; and diversification of supply sources in Canadian energy.
When Canada exports more energy, diversifies product mix, and entertains new sources of energy, it means three things to the UA: more work opportunities for young Canadian tradespeople and registered apprentices; more training and work opportunities for Canadian youth; and the opportunity to work on policy measures important to the industry and our members.
Currently, my organization, the UA, works approximately 55 million man-hours a year across Canada. Our owner partners plan to invest $250 billion in new construction in Alberta alone in the next six to eight years. This does not take into account anything outside the province of Alberta. It does not take into account Ontario nuclear rebuilds and refurbishments, and offshore development in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. It doesn't include Nalcor's Muskrat Falls project, or anything in Saskatchewan where resource development is booming.
When the UA is involved in a project, it means professionalism, accountability, and the development of a highly skilled workforce for the future.
The UA has launched a national recruitment campaign. In phase 1 we plan to invest close to $1 million of members' money finding 25,000 new members for our industry. This campaign really has two purposes: to meet the immediate needs of our industry partners in the natural resources sector, capital projects, and shutdowns in the oil and gas industry; and to create awareness for youth and their influencers—parents and teachers—to make sure that we are recruiting young Canadians into our ranks to be the workforce of the future.
As you can see, we are serious about growing and participating in the growth of the natural resource sector is an important part of that.
A growing percentage of our membership is of aboriginal descent, and many of our local union offices are developing formalized partnerships with aboriginal communities in their areas. A few of these are local 56 Halifax, Nova Scotia; local 67, Hamilton, Ontario; local 628, Thunder Bay, Ontario; and local 170, Vancouver, British Columbia. We are able to train and provide work opportunities for more aboriginal peoples on these large natural resource projects. Without this work, none of this is possible.
If Canada is going to get serious about expanding the breadth and scope of our energy extraction market, we also need to get serious about training and the development of skilled trades as a viable destination career for the future. We need your daughters to get interested. We need aboriginal youth. We need new Canadians to get involved in our trades.
Mr. Smillie covered the skill-shortage issues at another committee briefing last month, so I won't repeat any of that. We need help from the federal government to get workers to where the work is. Our contractors and owners, like Suncor and Syncrude, are spending tens of millions of dollars on travel costs for workers. We need the federal government to institute a travel-cost tax credit for mobility, or an EI grant to help people get to where the work is. I believe this proposal has been tabled already at the request of one of the committee members. This would address some of the regional skills-mismatch issues and also reduce industries' reliance on temporary foreign workers.
In summary, the natural resources sector is the backbone of our workforce. The skilled trades workforce is also the backbone of the natural resources sector. We need a predictable and steady partner in government to enable work opportunities for our members.
I look forward to taking any questions.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak here today.