The President and CEO of the Northern Policy Institute says parents need to stop telling their children that the trades are bad.
Charles Cirtwill says many students are interested in the trades but it’s the parents who have a bias toward this type of work.
Cirtwill says this is behaviour that’s been going on for decades.
He says parents have told their children that “working with your hands is a bad thing.”
Cirtwill says nothing could be further from the truth.
He says a cousin of his is a plumber who earns $150,000 a year and is very happy about that.
Cirtwill says many of the trades offer a very good salary although some in society are prone to describe them as low or middle skilled jobs.
Cirtwill says the reality is it takes a lot of training to become a tradesperson.
He says this also applies to Personal Support Workers of which there are many positions open in the north and not enough people to fill the spots.
Cirtwill says Northern Ontario continues to see its young people leave the north for jobs in the south.
He says this trend will continue depending on the career path young people chose when they head to post-secondary schools.
The head of the think tank says the abundance of teachers and lawyers jobs that once existed in the north are now gone.
“If you want to study to be a teacher, you need to assume that you’ll be moving, if you’re studying law you need to assume that you’ll be moving,” Cirtwill said.
Cirtwill says parents need to stop picking careers for their children and instead tell them the types of jobs that will keep them in North Bay.
He says becoming a PSW, a tradesperson, getting involved in trucking or warehousing are just a small sampling of the jobs that are still available in great numbers in the north.