No. H138/05
For release - June 14, 2005
TORONTO — Transport Canada is hosting an industry forum on skills development in the transportation sector, in Toronto, from June 13 to 15, 2005. Representatives from numerous transportation sector councils and industry associations across the country are participating in discussions to address the challenges and opportunities related to skills development in the transportation sector.
"World-class, sustainable transportation systems, such as Canada's, need skilled people to continue to strive for excellence and ingenuity," said Jim Karygiannis, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport on behalf of Transport Minister Jean-C. Lapierre. "The National Transportation Skills Development Forum will build on the Government of Canada's previous work with stakeholders and academia in hopes of convincing the best and the brightest Canadians to pursue careers in the transportation field."
This forum is bringing stakeholders together to develop a national action plan outlining a collaborative and cooperative approach to skills development across the transportation sector. The forum emphasizes joint interest, involvement and cooperation in addressing common challenges in promotion, recruitment, retention, training and education.
Approximately 160 stakeholders are attending the forum, including representatives from transportation sector councils, industry associations, professional bodies, educational institutions, unions and employee groups, federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments and private industry.
The National Transportation Skills Development Forum follows up on the work of the Transport Skills Symposium, co-hosted by Transport Canada and Human Resources Skills Development Canada, in 2003. Also, over the past several months, Transport Canada has been actively engaging stakeholders to identify the most significant skills development challenges facing the transportation sector through a series of Discussion Tables on Skills Development in the Transportation Sector held in Ottawa (April 2004), Calgary (November 2004) and Halifax (April 2005).
Transport Canada looks forward to continuing to work alongside partners in industry and academia to promote skills development across the transportation sector and prepare the industry to meet future challenges and opportunities.
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Contacts:
Irène MarcheterreDirector of CommunicationsOffice of the Minister, Ottawa(613) 991-0700
Vanessa VermetteCommunicationsTransport Canada, Ottawa(613) 993-0055
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