Canada’s car repair and maintenance sector is scrambling to fill jobs, yet many of the people it needs have already walked out the door.
At the recent CAIC conference in Toronto, industry leaders said the shortage isn’t just about recruitment. It’s about the way the industry treats the people it already has.
“Retention strategy, in my opinion, is the best strategy,” Saifullah Sanaye, CEO of The Mechanic and Technician Upskilling Canada, a national training organization focused on tradespeople entering the automotive field, told the audience. “If you keep having to recruit, you need to ask yourself what’s going on in your organization.”
The remarks came at the opening of the Canadian Auto Care Industry Conference, a two-day gathering that brings together repair shops, parts suppliers, insurers and service providers — sold out this year — at the Delta Hotels Toronto Airport & Conference Centre. The session, titled “No talent left behind: Building a future-ready workforce,” was moderated by Stephanie Cooney-Mann, general manager of UAP Inc., one of Canada’s largest automotive parts distributors, and featured Sanaye alongside Chris Theodoratos of Mr. Lube + Tires Canada, the national quick-lube chain; Hitesh Patel of Transtar Industries, a powertrain parts supplier operating across North America; and Shannon Miller of Accelerate Auto, a workforce development organization focused on expanding access to automotive careers.
Sanaye went straight for the shop floor, zeroing in on a financial trap he said drives new technicians out of the trade before they ever get started: tools.
“My tools are probably sixty thousand dollars,” he said. “Tools are expensive. Shops need to provide more tools for those learning technicians.”
He recalled his own entry into the profession. “When I first started, they said, ‘Bring your tools,’” he said. “If you’re a shop owner, give them something to start with.”
Hitesh Patel took aim at a hiring culture he said is already out of date — one that prizes narrow technical qualifications at exactly the moment those skills are being automated away.
“A lot of companies are still hiring people for the role tomorrow,” he said. “But AI can build a presentation pretty quickly and analyze your data faster than someone building models in Excel. The winners of tomorrow are going to be individuals who are agile and able to pivot.”
Rather than filling job descriptions, Patel argued, employers should be asking a different question entirely. “What’s their potential and where can they grow in the future?” he said. “That’s really what leaders should be looking at.”
Chris Theodoratos, who oversees operations across Mr. Lube + Tires Canada’s national network, had a more personal challenge for the room — one he acknowledged came with some irony.
“I’m a middle-aged white guy on the stage talking about all this,” he said. “It comes with some responsibility.”
His argument: leaders unconsciously seek out people who resemble themselves, and then wonder why their businesses stagnate.
“Check yourself on that,” he said. “Maybe you’re hiring somebody that’s just like you. But if you’re trying to expand your business, maybe you need somebody with a different experience who looks at customers in a different way.”
He also drew a line between mentoring someone and actually going to bat for them.
“A mentor is basically a coach — you’re helping that person develop,” he said. “Sponsorship is advancing. Who are you picking in the organization to move to the next stage and get those opportunities?”
Shannon Miller, whose organization works to bring underrepresented groups into automotive trades, urged the audience to get past its discomfort with equity language and focus on what it means in practice.
“Sometimes the acronym DEI produces concern,” she said. “But very often it’s just about equal opportunity. We have a population filled with people who can bring the best and greatest services to the world.”
She called structured mentorship one of the most effective levers available to the sector.
“Mentorship is one of the critical elements for breaking down barriers,” she said. “It allows knowledge transfer and builds the relationships that lead to opportunity.”
The workforce conversation ran alongside several networking and industry development events tied to the conference, including a gathering hosted by the Women’s Industry Network during the collision-focused programming of the Canadian Collision Industry Forum.
“This month marks an exciting milestone for WIN in Canada,” said Ritu Shannon, assistant vice president at Enterprise Mobility and co-chair of the Women’s Industry Network Canada Task Force. “Exactly three years after our incorporation, it’s incredibly rewarding to see the momentum building within the Canadian community.”
Shannon said the group’s third Canadian meetup, held during the CCIF Toronto program, brought together nearly thirty industry professionals focused on collaboration and professional development.
“Our third Canadian WIN meetup at CCIF Toronto was a great success, bringing together nearly thirty professionals committed to collaboration and growth in the industry,” she said.
The organization is also expanding its financial support and student outreach in Canada.
“This year also marks another important first for us, as we’ve secured Canadian sponsors for the very first time,” Shannon said. “Their support is helping us expand our impact, and in the coming months we’re especially proud to award our first-ever scholarships to Canadian students as we invest in the next generation of talent.”
Emily Chung, president and CEO of AIA Canada, the industry’s national trade association, framed the workforce challenge as one of timing — the sector is trying to recruit people who made career decisions years earlier.
“I believe the decision of where they’re going after high school starts at a very young age,” she said. “We could be there presenting automotive as a very viable career option at an even younger level.”
She also pointed to gaps in classroom instruction tied to the pace of change in vehicle technology.
“A lot of these tech teachers haven’t had any training since they left the shop,” Chung said. “They don’t have to be your top diagnostic tech, but they do have to stay relevant to the technology that’s changing in our industry.”
Chung said industry groups can help close that gap.
“Our association is the bridge that can connect the industry to the government,” she said. “We connect the industry to education, and we connect different levels of the supply chain with each other.”
The conference continues Thursday at the same venue, with collision-focused programming from the Canadian Collision Industry Forum and a vendor showcase rounding out the two-day event.
