It is true that the energy boom is creating jobs, good jobs, particularly in Western Canada. But, in terms of direct jobs, the oil and gas industry has replaced only one in six of the jobs we have lost in manufacturing since 2002.

And I have to point out that our conventional oil and gas reserves are already running out. We would be wise to manage our energy resources for the long term, and to use those resources to lever long-term, sustainable jobs. Jobs that add value to those resources. Jobs that create wealth instead of merely extracting the wealth those resources already represent.

We also hear a lot today about the need to improve Canada’s productivity performance.

One of the worst ways to do that is to shift jobs from high-wage/high-productivity industries to low-productivity/low-wage industries. But that’s precisely what we’re doing in Canada today.

The proportion of all jobs held by adult workers which pay less than a poverty-line wage of $10 per hour has been increasing, to one in eight adult jobs in 2005. Most manufacturing workers who lose their jobs take a big pay cut if and when they are lucky enough to find a new one.

My key point, then, is that we need to maintain and build up our manufacturing sector as a major source of good jobs for the future.

It is not a matter of holding on to what some would call the “old economy”. It is a matter of recognizing that manufacturing must be a major part of the “new economy” which we in the labour movement want to have.

The bottom line: Canada needs a long-term jobs strategy.

Fundamental to that strategy is building an innovative and highly-productive manufacturing base – a base which can support well-paid jobs with decent working conditions.

Other countries have done this. Their economies are strong, communities are prospering and their citizens are reaping the benefits.

Canada’s role in the world must be as a supplier of goods and services which sell on the basis of being unique and of high quality.

This requires investment in research and development, investment in skills, and investment in leading-edge new plants and new machinery and equipment.

And it requires a plan, and an agenda. Because, quite frankly, much of the Canadian manufacturing sector as it exists today is not up to the challenge.