Cultivating skills and minds

News came this week that the unemployment rate in Canada continues to rise. On the heels of this news, which I think is the harbinger of some very difficult times ahead, Canadians must begin transitioning away from the economic and social model we've grown comfortable with in the last 50 years.

The globalized economy has given us unprecedented access to everything from every corner of the world at any time of year. Fruits from Chile and South Africa, t-shirts and shoes from Honduras or Vietnam, and every other conceivable item -- from ceramic mugs to knock-off modern furniture -- from China. These are proudly displayed on the shelves and in the cabinets at Walmarts, Zellers and Dollar Stores across Canada as the cheap trophies of globalization.

Our commuter highways, box stores filled with cheap goods, and cookie-cutter homes in 'The Fields at Oak Park' are premised on cheap and easy access to energy. This energy is now more expensive, has an increasingly larger impact on our environment, and has hollowed our nation's skill set. In major cities across Canada, the industrial base that once drove employment is now either gutted or its vestiges being converted into lifestyle condominiums. Our skilled draftsmen or millwrights are now being put to use as customer service representatives at Home Depot. I'm certain there are a lot of botched tile and plumbing jobs across Canada -- the Home Depot slogan "You can do it, we can help" really needs to be "You can't do it, but we'll still sell you the stuff." We've devalued the very skills upon which our society is built: anyone can do anything, only not that well.

Education is directly related to the productivity of our society and economy -- whether that education takes the form of specific skills training (drafting, millwright, metallurgy, mechanics) or a liberal arts University education. We have ignored the former, and devalued the latter. Not everyone is cut out for University education. This has not been lost on the Germans, where their education system has long recognized that some people are better suited to working with their hands or in technical trades. These people are identified when they're young and streamed into a suitable educational program. In this regard, they're recognized as having an important role to play in the larger social and economic system.

On the other hand, a liberal arts University education is reserved for those who are technically challenged, but have a mind better suited to intellectual rigours. Universities become centres for strong theoretical development and knowledge creation, and move away from trying to cater to the lowest common denominator. I'm not suggesting that higher education become a bastion of elitism -- that would be a very narrow understanding. I am suggesting that if we are trying to build an inclusive and just society, everyone must play a productive role.

So where am I heading with all this?

The globalized economy is showing just how flawed and fragile it is. Our government must begin to think about alternatives -- regionalized and localized, entrepreneurial, balanced upon the technical innovation and creative intellectual thought. Right now, there is no balance. The skills of our tradesmen have been lost to fickle globalized capital, which takes its business wherever it can to get the best price. But Made in Canada means something -- well built, of high quality materials, made by family, friends and neighbours who care.

The same can be said of our intellectual stock -- currently seduced by capital to take their gained-in-Canada education to serve faithless multinational corporations focussed solely on their own interests. This is unsustainable for Canada. We need a complex approach to strongly link education to the Canadian economy -- centres of thought, centres of art, research and engineering -- so that we can begin reinvesting in aviation and aeronautics, in alternative transportation methods (shipping, rail), investing properly in our food and agriculture system, our farmers, and ultimately in quality and diversity on our tables and on store shelves. Ultimately, it's an investment in ourselves.

I often think about the deep and dangerous hole dug for us by stimulus funding from the government. It has created ballooning debt for Canadians and is providing money to building bridges and roads (providing you're in the right political riding), and saving Chrysler and General Motors. At the same time, tuition fees for higher education continue to rise due to lack of funding. Public health funding is woefully inadequate. Housing for low income families is almost non-existent. In short, the stimulus funding put money in all the wrong investments.

Do not believe the hype. Claims of a 'jobless' economic recovery -- all the rage in US media these days -- simply reaffirm the shortsighted and unsustainable approach of our government. After all, what's the point of a jobless recovery if a majority of people can't put food on the table?