June 5, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia— The HonourableJay Hill, Secretary of State and Member of Parliament for Prince George–Peace River, on behalf of the Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, and Rich Coleman, Minister of Forests and Range for British Columbia, today announced funding for the United Steelworkers, Local 1-424, to provide resources to help forestry workers manage career changes.
“Our government is proud to support community organizations that help unemployed people find and keep quality jobs,” said Mr. Hill. “This funding will provide resources to help up to 3,000 forestry workers be better informed when making career moves.”
“The province’s contribution helped to fund an information session for more than 400 workers in the Prince George area, and is just one example of our commitment to support forestry-dependent communities,” said Minister Coleman.
T he United Steelworkers, Local 1-424, will receive $75,381 in funding from Service Canada’s Labour Market Partnerships program and $24,000 from the Province of British Columbia. This funding will be used to create and distribute information on topics such as financial counselling and planning services, British Columbia Medical Services, educational opportunities, and employment counselling services.
“We are grateful for the financial contribution by the federal and provincial governments,” said Frank Everitt, President, United Steel Workers, Local 1-424. “The funding will help us to assist displaced workers, helping them to discover opportunities to upgrade current skill levels or to find a new career path.”
Through its Advantage Canada plan, the Government is building on Canada’s strengths and gaining a global competitive advantage by creating the best educated, most skilled, and most flexible work force in the world, reducing taxes for all Canadians, increasing competition in the marketplace, and building modern infrastructure.
Service Canada brings Government of Canada services and benefits together in a single delivery network. It provides Canadians with one-stop service they can access however they choose—by phone at 1 800 O-Canada, on the Internet at servicecanada.gc.ca, or in person at Service Canada Centres across the country.
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Backgrounder
Labour Market Partnerships
The Government of Canada uses the Labour Market Partnerships (LMP) program to encourage, support, and facilitate labour force adjustments and human resource planning activities that are in the public interest. The LMP program provides funding to encourage and support employers, employee–employer associations, and communities in developing and implementing strategies for dealing with labour force adjustments and meeting human resource requirements.
The LMP program supports activities related to human resource planning and labour force adjustment. Such activities may include related research, the development of human resource strategies, the promotion of beneficial human resource and adjustment practices (best practices), the coordination of community-based approaches to addressing labour market issues, short-term adjustment services for workers facing lay-off, and the development of economic (employment) development plans and community marketing plans.
Eligible recipients include businesses, federal Crown corporations and comparable provincial/territorial Crown corporations, organizations, individuals, public health and educational institutions, municipal governments, and band/tribal councils.
