SPECIAL FEATURE
Roofing industry focuses on
gaining new recruits by
emphasizing benefits of the job
By Kristen Frisa
Special to Canadian Design and
Construction Report
When asked what the biggest
challenge is for Canada’s roofing in-
dustry, executive director of Cana-
dian Roofing Contractors Association
(CRCA) Bob Brunet says without hes-
itation: it’s a labour shortage.

Lack of workers in skilled trades is
not news in Canada. In fact, statis-
tics say there will be a need for over
100,000 new skilled workers in On-
tario alone over the next decade, as
workers retire and the construction
industry continues to grow. This is
especially true in Southwestern On-
tario, where transit projects and
housing developments are driving
growth in construction.

Like most trades in Canada, roof-
ing is facing a challenge of getting
new recruits to the job. “The num-
ber-one issue that every roofing con-
tractor is struggling with is the
shortage of workers,” says Jacques
Beaulieu, president of CRCA. “We
need to get to attract people to the
trade and better explain the benefits
of working in it.”
Many strategies are being used to
draw workers to the skilled trades:
the Ontario Construction Consortium
held an event called Future Building
in May to get school-aged children
excited in the trades, while the On-
tario government recently an-
nounced it was signing an
agreement with Alberta to increase
educational opportunities within
STEM and skilled trades subjects
and ensure the skilled trades are rec-
ognized as a career of choice.

Canada’s roofing industry, too, is
focusing efforts on marketing to
young graduates - emphasizing the
appeal of working without an office,
in a job with a view.

“We’re working to increase aware-
ness of the trades amongst the
younger crowd, people coming out
of high school that don’t know what
they want to do yet,” Brunet says.

“Roofing can be a great trade to
be in. They don’t go to an office, they
go on top of the building,” Brunet
says. “Their view is phenomenal.” He
says roofers also tend to make a re-
ally decent wage and have opportu-
nities for advancement.

18 – Summer/Fall 2019 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
Canada’s first National Roofing
Week in June aimed at creating aware-
ness and excitement about the work
roofers do. For the inaugural year,
CRCA worked with regional roofers’
associations to generate excitement in
their individual membership groups.

The Roofing Contractors Associa-
tion of Manitoba (RCAM) and the
Quebec Master Roofers Association
(QMRA) saw resounding success in
this year’s endeavour.