DATA HIGHLIGHTS KEY CONCERNS OF SKILLED TRADESPEOPLE
Ottawa, ON – April 17, 2025
Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) announced today the results of a recent survey with Abacus Data, focusing on the pressing concerns of Red Seal tradespeople as Canada approaches a pivotal federal election.
CBTU recently polled 500 Canadian Red Seal tradespeople to gather insights that reflect their opinions and priorities. The results of the survey highlight key concerns for our members, including cost of living, wages not keeping up with inflation, and the financial challenges facing both workers in the skilled trades, and Canadians generally.
The comparative survey identified that Canadian skilled trades workers and Canadians in general share largely the same priorities and concerns. However, skilled trades workers had heightened concern for employment. This survey’s findings underscore the urgent need for specific policies that safeguard and promote well-paid, unionized jobs within the construction sector.
Additional key findings from the survey include:
- High levels of support were observed for lowering taxes and ensuring workers keep more of their paycheck (87%), Raising wages and ensuring workers are paid top wages and benefits in their local area (85%) Investing in domestic infrastructure to make Canada more self-sufficient (87%), and Investing in export infrastructure to take our natural resources to new markets (81%)
- Support for prevailing wage policies: A significant majority, 83%, agree that “companies who win any government-funded projects or receive government investments should be required to pay tradespeople working on that project wages and benefits equal to the union wage and benefits.”
- Support for the Labour Mobility Tax Deduction: Over 62% of respondents were aware of the deduction, with 23% indicating they had made use of the deduction, highlighting the need for greater accessibility, expansion of the total deduction amount limit, and a reduction of the kilometer threshold.
- Openness to change and visionary ideas: 63% of Red Seal trades people surveyed feel that now is the time for big and bold actions that will shape the future of Canada, and 70% agreed that “Our country needs visionary free thinkers who have the courage to defy traditional views and authorities”
These findings reflect not only the sentiments of Canada’s skilled trades workers but also provide insight for policymakers as they navigate the current and future economic landscape.
For more information, please refer to the full survey findings.
CBTU is a non-partisan organization and does not officially endorse parties or their candidates. We encourage all candidates and parties to put their focus on policies and programs that uplift our members, protect high-quality union jobs, and support all Canadian workers.
The survey was conducted on behalf of CBTU by Abacus Data with 500 Canadian Red Seal tradespeople from February 21 – 26, 2025. A random sample of panelists were invited to complete the survey from a set of partner panels based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are typically double opt-in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source. The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 4.38%, 19 times out of 20.
The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population of Red Seal tradespeople according to age, gender, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
