Report suggests new direction for existing manufacturing sector
Joining the voices responding to Ontario’s hemorrhage of manufacturing jobs are the authors of “Work Isn’t Working for Ontario Families,” a joint discussion paper published in May of this year by Campaign 2000, the Toronto Labour Council and the Ontario branch of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). Among other suggestions for rebuilding middle-income opportunities in Ontario, the report’s authors suggest ways to stimulate the manufacturing sector. They argue that, of all the provinces, Ontario is best positioned to revive its manufacturing sector to service the green and environmentally friendly economy of the future.
Citing figures from Statistics Canada (2007), the report says Ontario accounted for almost half of Canada’s approximately two million manufacturing jobs and in North America is “second only to California in raw numbers of employees in manufacturing.”
But according to a 2007 report published by ECO Canada and noted in “Work Isn’t Working,” only 3.2 per cent of the total workforce across Canada in 2006 was in jobs related to the environment.
Environmental employment was highest in Ontario, where ECO Canada estimated that 225,342 workers or 42.5 per cent of the total number of Canadians in green industries were employed. However, environmentally friendly jobs made up only 3.5 per cent of Ontario’s total employment at that time. By comparison, Quebec had a 17.3 per cent share of environmental employment across Canada and British Columbia, a 17.6 per cent share, while Manitoba and Saskatchewan had only 4.6 per cent. But as in Ontario, the percentage of environmentally friendly jobs in these three provinces when compared to total employment was low: from 2.2 per cent in the two prairie provinces, to 2.4 per cent in Quebec and 4.3 per cent in B.C.
The authors of “Work Isn’t Working” see a huge opportunity in these statistics. They argue that the future for manufacturing lies in the development of alternative energy sources and involves products like thermal heating systems, wind turbines and solar energy grids. They note that the production, assembly and servicing of products in these and other green industries require workers “of the same calibre as employed in automotive manufacturing.” Not only that, but the report cites a CLC report which argues that green jobs tend to be labour intensive. According to the CLC, it takes 100 workers in a nuclear plant or 116 workers in a coal-fired plant to generate 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year. Yet, 248 would be employed in a solar thermal facility or 542 in a wind farm to generate the same amount of electricity.
The report presents several recommendations. One is to follow the example of the United Steelworkers, which formed a partnership with the Sierra Club in the U.S., the so-called Blue Green alliance, to promote both a cleaner environment and good jobs. The report suggests the Ontario government should continue to “provide stimulus for labour, environmentalists and green private sector innovators” to develop strategies for new green manufacturing.
Another recommendation involves municipal strategies for finding manufacturing niches for sustainable industries in cities. The reports also suggest redirecting existing supply chains and industrial capacity to service new green industries, something the report’s author’s note the CLC has suggested in a 2005 report.
About 250,000 manufacturing jobs were lost between 2002 and 2007 in Ontario. In 2007, manufacturing provided about 16 per cent of Canada’s total GDP.
Citing figures from Statistics Canada (2007), the report says Ontario accounted for almost half of Canada’s approximately two million manufacturing jobs and in North America is “second only to California in raw numbers of employees in manufacturing.”
But according to a 2007 report published by ECO Canada and noted in “Work Isn’t Working,” only 3.2 per cent of the total workforce across Canada in 2006 was in jobs related to the environment.
Environmental employment was highest in Ontario, where ECO Canada estimated that 225,342 workers or 42.5 per cent of the total number of Canadians in green industries were employed. However, environmentally friendly jobs made up only 3.5 per cent of Ontario’s total employment at that time. By comparison, Quebec had a 17.3 per cent share of environmental employment across Canada and British Columbia, a 17.6 per cent share, while Manitoba and Saskatchewan had only 4.6 per cent. But as in Ontario, the percentage of environmentally friendly jobs in these three provinces when compared to total employment was low: from 2.2 per cent in the two prairie provinces, to 2.4 per cent in Quebec and 4.3 per cent in B.C.
The authors of “Work Isn’t Working” see a huge opportunity in these statistics. They argue that the future for manufacturing lies in the development of alternative energy sources and involves products like thermal heating systems, wind turbines and solar energy grids. They note that the production, assembly and servicing of products in these and other green industries require workers “of the same calibre as employed in automotive manufacturing.” Not only that, but the report cites a CLC report which argues that green jobs tend to be labour intensive. According to the CLC, it takes 100 workers in a nuclear plant or 116 workers in a coal-fired plant to generate 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year. Yet, 248 would be employed in a solar thermal facility or 542 in a wind farm to generate the same amount of electricity.
The report presents several recommendations. One is to follow the example of the United Steelworkers, which formed a partnership with the Sierra Club in the U.S., the so-called Blue Green alliance, to promote both a cleaner environment and good jobs. The report suggests the Ontario government should continue to “provide stimulus for labour, environmentalists and green private sector innovators” to develop strategies for new green manufacturing.
Another recommendation involves municipal strategies for finding manufacturing niches for sustainable industries in cities. The reports also suggest redirecting existing supply chains and industrial capacity to service new green industries, something the report’s author’s note the CLC has suggested in a 2005 report.
About 250,000 manufacturing jobs were lost between 2002 and 2007 in Ontario. In 2007, manufacturing provided about 16 per cent of Canada’s total GDP.
