As Carney races to “build baby build,” trades workers are clearly the essential labour force government and big business need to construct mines, fossil fuel expansions, and other resource infrastructure. But while this work may provide high-paying short-term jobs, trades workers are paying a higher price in an industry plagued by addiction and suicide.
According to the Construction Foundation of BC, over 80 percent of construction workers struggle with mental health challenges, and suicides occur at a rate five times higher than for the general population. Trades, transport and equipment operation workers comprise approximately 15 percent of Canada’s workforces but account for around 20 percent of toxic drug deaths. Additionally, in 2023 construction and trades workers suffered 20 percent of all workplace fatalities, while only accounting for 6 percent of all jobs.
Overwhelmingly, workers in the trades report facing isolating and inhospitable work environments — dangerous job sites, work-life imbalance, job instability, unpredictable hours and demands — and a culture of fear and stigma about raising serious mental health concerns. Instead, fighting for better working conditions often threatens job security. Cruelly, this alienation and instability forces workers into a desperate position, where they are willing to tolerate deteriorating working conditions just to survive.
It’s under these circumstances that workers are turning to toxic substances and in some cases suicide. Drugs, including toxic substances, offer an immediate — however temporary — release for workers who do not receive help. This can be using a substance to combat exhaustion and burnout to meet the demands of work or as a way to blow off steam. Commonly, drug use also starts in an attempt to alleviate pain from injuries sustained at work, filling the gap where other support is unavailable. But these trajectories offer no route to recovery and instead push already struggling workers into a downward spiral of despair.
Trades have a culture of “toughing it out,” which is reinforced by predominantly male jobsites. Yet men account for 75 percent of all toxic drug and suicide deaths; the dark reality of “the grind.” Clearly, trades work requires drastic changes. No one should be subject to, or forced to endure, such devastating and tragic conditions.
Government and industry response to crisis
Unfortunately, Carney’s Liberal Government and the extraction and construction industries are unlikely to do anything meaningful to fight this crisis of death and harm. The Liberal’s election platform promised to invest $500 million in the Emergency Treatment Fund, but with no plan of how to solve the addiction or identifying of its roots in horrific workplace conditions. For perspective, the total proposed effort is a dismal 0.8 percent of the $63 billion military spending in 2026 allotted to bombs, vessels, and surveillance technologies.
The corporations offer platitudes, but little action to change the work culture that their profits depend on.
Workers must fight for mental health
Contrary to the crisis and current nature of the trades, work can and should be a fulfilling part of our lives. People find purpose in developing their abilities and deepening their knowledge. Socialists see work as essential and necessary actions to meet the needs and interests of the working class. The constant struggle for decent working conditions is part of the class struggle. If workers were in charge, they would not put themselves through death and despair. While some unions have highlighted the need for stronger mental health support from companies and governments, meaningful change will only be won by unions and the working class uniting to seize control of Canada’s major industries and reorganizing them in the interests of the working class.
The mental health and toxic drug crisis need immediate and bold action that can be realized by mass workers’ organizations. Workers’ control of trades work would mean building projects led by communities, and work practices and cultures that enrich the human spirit. A struggle won for the health of trades workers would surely be a struggle won for the health of humanity.
