By Jamie SturgeonNews Editor, Humber Et Cetera
It was the classical sage Heraclitus that imparted to us at the very outset of civilization some two and a half thousand years ago that nothing endures but change.
There are scores of jobless workers in present-day Ontario who can vividly attest to that.
Far removed from the heady haze of ancient history, the province’s manufacturing sector now lies writhing under the old philosopher’s maxim.
Since 2002, Canada has lost roughly 290,000 manufacturing jobs, with Ontario absorbing over two-thirds of that sum.
The closing of a handful of auto parts plants as well as layoffs at automaker Chrysler in Brampton added thirty five hundred more names to the list of casualties in October alone.
One in seven of the province’s manufacturing jobs has been lost in the last five years.
The forecast is equally bleak. Between 100,000 and 150,000 additional jobs will likely be lost by the end of 2008, according to a report by JP Morgan Chase Canada last week.
The culprit? Well, there are many according to the muddled opinions of economists. A soaring loonie making Canadian goods more expensive on the international market is one.
The equally meteoric rise in the cost of oil is also putting pressure on firms’ operating expenses, resulting in layoffs. Oil, now trading in the mid-$90 (U.S.) per barrel range has been on a sharp rise since the beginning of the decade.
Yet the prime mover in the evaporation of Ontario’s manufacturing sector is the entrance of emerging markets like China and India into the global economy. Quite simply, it costs far less to make something in these countries than it does in Ontario.
This isn’t a new revelation, but the confluence of a high dollar, rising energy costs and increased competition abroad can be attributed to the muscling in of these new players, and it’s taking a far greater toll than ever before.
The suggested recourse from academia is for Canada’s companies to become more innovative and improve product quality and variety to gain a new competitive edge. A change that is much easier said than done.
Yet if this is Ontario’s solution, it begins with a more educated workforce that is skilled in advanced technologies. Thankfully, Ontario’s colleges may be helping the province make this transition.
Humber, among a handful of other schools, made the news last week for its efforts to promote a new polytechnic vision for post-secondary education.
Touted as a “third pillar” alongside universities and traditional colleges, Humber’s polytechnic vision is focused on investment into applied research. Its new green building technologies program may be an example of this.
It’s a vision that should be applauded and vigorously pursued.
As American folk singer Bob Dylan — another sage of a more recent vintage — aptly advices, “You’d better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone. For the times, they are a changing.”
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