Leadership from the Ground Up: Building Canada Starts with Workers

Shutterstock By Sean W. Strickland September 7, 2026 Canada stands at an extraordinary moment. Across the country, major investments in infrastructure, energy, housing, transportation, national defence, critical minerals, and information technology are creating the prospect of historic growth unlike anything Canada has seen before. But opportunity does not build itself. Projects do not become reality through announcements alone. They require people with the skills and experience to transform plans into lasting results. Put simply: projects require tradespeople. For Canada's Building Trades Unions and our members, this is a moment of immense possibility. It is also a moment that requires mission-driven leadership, and in my view, that means leadership that connects national economic priorities to the everyday realities of working people. Leadership comes in many forms. Upon reflection, I would say I am in no way a perfect leader. Probably not the best leader and definitely not the smartest. I am, however, directional and focused. I know, and the CBTU team knows, what our mandate is. My job is to fulfill the mission. Full stop. Period. Yes, my role is also to work with the team – to offer encouragement, advice, and support when needed – but all in aid of the mission. When I joined CBTU during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, I brought with me the perspective of someone raised around unionized skilled tradespeople. As the son of a unionized bricklayer, I understood the pride that comes from building something that will outlast you. I also understood the practical challenges that can make a career in the trades more difficult than it needs to be. Challenges like the cost of tools, the expense of travelling for work, the barriers to travelling for work, the pressure of supporting a family while pursuing opportunity, frequent layoffs, and the boom and bust of the construction industry. My own experience as a bricklayer's helper and member of LiUNA also helped provide a deep understanding of the hard work our tradespeople perform, which has equipped me with a solid foundation for my work at CBTU. From the beginning, my focus has been straightforward. With support of the Canadian Executive Board, we created a strategic plan with a mission, vision and key areas for focused-driven results. Once we agreed upon that plan, I took action alongside a small team to build a purposeful, mission-driven organization focused on advancing progressive public policy changes that improved the lives of CBTU members and, by extension, construction workers across Canada. A mission-driven organization – or person – is only as effective as its plan. Without a plan, a mission is merely an aspiration. That focused plan has guided Canada's Building Trades Unions' efforts to successfully secure meaningful legislative improvements for tradespeople and to ensure that the skilled trades are recognized as cornerstones of Canada's economy. Opportunity does not build itself. Projects do not become reality through announcements alone. They require people with the skills and experience to transform plans into lasting results. We proudly advocated for and secured the Labour Mobility Tax Deduction, helping address the significant costs workers face when they must travel or temporarily relocate for employment. We helped double the Tool Tax Deduction, recognizing that tradespeople should not be disproportionately burdened by the cost of the equipment required to do their jobs. We have also worked to strengthen investment tax credits, expand apprenticeship grants, and double funding for the Union Training and Innovation Program, including securing a new funding stream for brick-and-mortar training facilities. To maintain and advance our world-class training, we require modern classrooms, specialized equipment, and the capacity to prepare our workers to build the projects Canada is planning today and tomorrow. Our work to amend Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, to include the explicit requirement to create good-paying unionized jobs, was a historic achievement that embedded unions into legislation that will shape Canada's economic future for generations to come. Most importantly, it recognizes a basic truth: Workers are not an afterthought to economic growth; workers are the foundation. Looking ahead, the scale of Canada's opportunity will require leadership across the aisle and across the construction sector. No single government, political party, employer, labour organization, or training institution can meet the moment alone. We will need coordination among federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments; employers and contractors; unions; training institutions; and Indigenous communities. A true Team Canada approach. The next phase must be about more than filling vacancies. It must be about creating sustainable careers. That is why the CBTU-recommended Labour Supply Coordination Committee is so important. Canada cannot afford to train workers without understanding where they will be needed, nor can we announce major projects without a credible plan for the people who will build them. By bringing the sector together, we can help align workforce planning, training capacity, and meet project needs. By leading with purpose, Canada can do more than build projects. We can build stronger, more resilient communities and lay the foundation for a more prosperous future. That future will be built by the skilled tradespeople who turn ambition into reality, and by leaders, project owners, and contractors prepared to stand with them and invest in them. This is the work before us, and it is a responsibility we must meet, together. Collectively, we can weather this economic storm and seize the opportunity created by this tariff crisis. To do this successfully, every Canadian will need to demonstrate some form of leadership. For me, the why has always been our members, my brothers and sisters of the Building Trades. It is the apprentice trying to build a future, the journeyperson travelling across the country to find work while missing time at home; it's the parent balancing a demanding career with the responsibilities of raising a family, and the worker who wants to return home safely at the end of every day. It's the workers on the condo building across the street, pouring concrete through extreme winter and summer temperatures, arriving at 7 a.m. day in and day out, to build our future. Sean W. Strickland is Executive Director of Canada's Building Trades Unions.