Op-Eds
Union trainers are the backbone of BC’s trades training system – The President’s Message
September 22, 2026 AS ALWAYS, I’M PLEASED TO see the annual Apprenticeship issue of Tradetalk filled with so many stories of young tradespeople working hard to find their careers in the trades. In the magazine, there is also a lot of excellent information for people...
Dangers of using AI – Workers’ Advocate’s Message
August 25, 2026 WHILE AI TOOLS CAN BE useful at times, recent cases highlight the dangers of using them for claims and appeals. Here are five recent BC cases in which workers damaged their own claims by using AI. AI legal The worker had an AI assistant draft his...
Executive Director’s Message – Legacies
July 17, 2026 IN MANY WAYS, MY JOB as Executive Director is to look forward. To plan our next move. To prepare the Council and to look for our next project. But this issue forced me to look back. It started with a simple suggestion: what if we did a story about the...
President’s Message – In the trades, giving is who we are
July 3, 2026 THE BC BUILDING TRADES (BCBT) and its affiliated unions are well known for their generosity. The BC Building Trades has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for diabetes research and Variety BC with its annual golf tournament. BCBT’s annual Christmas...
Executive Director’s Message – BC Building Trades Unions secure two major victories
April 13, 2026 THIS IS A VERY SPECIAL EDITION of TradeTalk Magazine because we have not one major victory to share with you, but two. In this issue, we celebrate the long-awaited news that funding for trades training will be increased. The BC NDP government has...
President’s Message – Building Canada’s strength through change and by securing our sovereignty
March 17, 2026 “LET ME BE DIRECT: We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition… Canadians know that our old, comfortable assumptions — that our geography and alliance memberships automatically conferred prosperity and security — that assumption is no longer...
Major projects, major opportunities, and major questions – the Executive Director’s Message
January 9, 2026 I WAS PLEASED TO JOIN the Prime Minister in Edmonton earlier this fall when he announced that the first series of projects would be referred to the Major Project Office (MPO) for consideration. The MPO was created to streamline regulatory assessment to...
Workers are the ones who create our prosperity – President’s Message
November 21, 2025 THE LATEST FISCAL UPDATE from the provincial government shows that B.C.’s finances have seen better days. With the release of the first quarterly report, we learned that British Columbia is set to run a deficit of $11.8 billion. That exceeds previous...
Start Your Career in the Trades
October 9, 2025 I AM OFTEN ASKED HOW TO start an apprenticeship. It happens all the time. From the cab driver taking me to the airport to the service representative helping me process a return. When people find out I work in construction, they frequently follow up...
Trades are Here to Stay – President’s Message
September 5, 2025 YOU CAN’T GO FAR these days without hearing about artificial intelligence. We’re hearing about it pretty much every day now. The technology comes with plenty of small, day-to-day benefits. It can write you an e-mail. It can lay out a monthly family...
