I was drinking my coffee as usual – black, with two sugars – since it was just an ordinary working day for me. But Boris Spremo, the legendary photographer for the Toronto Star, had come to the tower to mark the day it reached 785ft – one foot taller than the previous tallest building in the city, Commerce Court – just over six months after construction started. It wouldn’t be finished for another three years. He asked if I minded having my photograph taken. I didn’t, so he did.
Working on the CN Tower was one of the best jobs I’ve done. It was known as one of the engineering wonders of the world. I was there for nine months, as a rodman – installing the metal rods that run through the building like a skeleton. Later, we got danger pay if we worked above 1,000 feet. Whenever I started a new job, I used to pretend I was scared of heights. I’d say: “I’d forgotten – I’m scared of heights!” It made people smile.
I joke that it’s down to me that the tower is standing, but every job counts on a construction site. There was a real spirit of camaraderie on the CN Tower. We were a big extended family, all 1,537 of us: the iron men looked out for the carpenters, the carpenters looked out for the stonemasons. A construction site couldn’t operate if there wasn’t that feeling among the workers.
It was the world’s tallest free-standing building for more than 30 years. It changed the city by making us prouder. It’s a symbol of Canada all around the world. Looking back – and time changes your perspective on everything – I can see that to have helped in its construction is a great honour.
My boss teased me that day, saying I was getting paid to work, not to have my picture taken. When I got home, I told my wife that I’d been photographed and it might be in the paper. The next day, there I was on the front page. I didn’t expect that. I keep the cutting handy still, folded up in a drawer. Along with the former prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, the CN Tower was one of Spremo’s favourite subjects; he went back many times during its construction. He loved to get up high and catch unusual angles in his pictures.
My first job was on a telephone building – just two floors – and my last was building a hospital. There were bridges, more towers and hydro projects in between. My next job after the CN Tower was subway construction, so I went from the top of the world to down in its depths.
I was 25 when this photograph was taken. I don’t have a moustache any more – my wife wouldn’t let me keep it – but I’ve still got a full head of hair. And I still take my coffee black, with two sugars.
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