The Robots Are Coming
I have a regular Google Alert for the term 'automation.' It's somewhat of a hot topic these days, and so every morning I get an email with a dozen news articles, most of them describing a new set of jobs coming under threat from computers. And that's usually where my thoughts about automation end—at news articles and headlines, arm's length stories about other people in other places. It's rare that I'm directly confronted with the real people that stand to lose out from automation.
If you've been to a McDonald's recently, you've probably seen the self-serve kiosks, those touch display panels that you stand at, pointing and clicking and paying for your order. It's a decent system: fairly efficient when functioning correctly, and not much less personal than ordering fast food from a human.
When I visited the McDonald’s at Yonge and Charles at lunch time earlier this week, I felt like I was experiencing a rare, precious moment. Almost everyone that came in went straight to the machines, placed their order, and then stood against the wall, patiently waiting for their number to be called. The staff hustled behind the counter as per usual, with the exception of one young woman that was tasked with working the cash register. Between waiting at the counter, she would turn around to help her coworkers for a moment. When she turned back to face the growing crowd, she’d chime "I can serve the next customer!" But there were none. Her job had been done. Although she kept a smile on her face, her eyes betrayed a vague sense of futility*. The kiosks had made her redundant. She knew it. We knew it. All we could do was stand there, looking back at her, and wait for our numbers to be called.
According to a statement from McDonald's in a 2015 article from the Huffington Post, these kiosks aren’t designed to replace humans. While I don’t believe that, I also don’t believe that there is anything inherently bad about automation. Machines are cheaper than humans, and they do just as good a job, if not better. They’re consistent and efficient. It’s only a matter of time before the entire food preparation process is automated, achieving the ideal of fast food: a hamburger that is exactly the same whether you’re in Quito, Paris, or Toronto. But what happens to the displaced human workers?
Smart people are thinking about this problem, but it isn't yet clear that governments are taking automation seriously. A report by Sunil Johal and Jordann Thirgood, from the Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto's School of Public Policy and Governance, states that Canadian job losses from automation are likely to be in the millions. The problem is bigger than McDonald's; the threat extends to manufacturing, transportation, and even things like financial counselling, law, and journalism. The report details six social policies in Canada that are currently inadequate to withstand the coming changes to the labour market.
But Canada doesn’t have to fail—indeed, it mustn’t. Canada has the opportunity to be a leader in addressing the problems posed by automation. As Johal mentioned in an interview with U of T News, the scope of jobs that are at risk should help to motivate policy makers in proposing solutions, and should encourage the general population to support the investments required to prepare for large-scale automation. While America is busy closing its borders and making itself 'Great Again,’ Canada should start focussing on this real and unavoidable threat. The threat is not immigration; it's automation.