For a number of years, HRAI has maintained a membership with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (the “Chamber”), and this membership has allowed HRAI to weigh in on a variety  policy issues of concern to business owners in the HVACR industry that are not necessarily unique to our sector. In the last year these issues have included supply chain issues affecting the industry such as the labour action at the Port of Montreal.

Last year HRAI decided to engage a bit more deeply with the Chamber by taking a more active role in some of its standing policy committees.  These include the National Workforce Strategies Committee, on which HRAI VP of Government and Stakeholder Relations Martin Luymes participates.  Earlier this year, Mr. Luymes was appointed Co-Chair for this committee, along with Dr. Sheila LeBlanc, an economics professor at the University of Calgary.

The mandate of the National Workforce Strategies Committee is: a) to serve as a strategic advisory and foresight group focused on key trends in workforce recruitment, retention and productivity; and b) to build on the Chamber’s work in the area of workforce planning through targeted advocacy, industry panels and government relations.

At its most recent meeting (April 1^st), it was agreed to shift the committee’s focus from “upskilling and reskilling for the new economy” (which was last year’s priority issue) to addressing new trends in labour mobility, including issues raised as a result of remote work and work-from-home policies (e.g. tax, employment law, etc.).

Keep reading and learn more on HRAI.ca