1 September 2009
Calgary, AB
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you, Diane Finley, for your kind introduction and for all your fine work as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. Greetings also, Minister Prentice, and thank you for the tremendous international leadership you are showing on behalf of Canada as Minister of the Environment. Thank you also for the work you do as Minister responsible for southern Alberta. Greetings to Premier Stelmach and to Mayor Bronconnier. A warm welcome to the many visiting dignitaries from around the world. Greetings as well to my fellow Members of Parliament for Calgary and Southern Alberta: Minister Diane Ablonczy, Rob Anders, Devinder Shory and Earl Dreeshen. Last but not least, a special welcome to the all the international competitors.
Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a great pleasure to be with you tonight to officially kick off WorldSkills Calgary 2009! Over the course of the next week, close to one thousand of the world’s best young trade and technology professionals from nearly fifty countries will come together to test their mettle against demanding international industry standards. In fields ranging from cabinet making to web design; welding to floristry; hairdressing to aircraft maintenance, this competition is a chance for these bright young men and women to showcase the skills, craftsmanship and ingenuity they bring to today’s global economy.
How about a hand for all these great young competitors! Of course, as Prime Minister, I wish everyone the best of luck, but I have to admit that I’ll be saving my loudest cheers for Team Canada!
This competition is also a chance to inspire young Canadians considering a future in the trades. Indeed in the days to come, tens of thousands of young people will attend and get to see first-hand the many possibilities of this exciting career choice. And I hope many of them decide to make that choice, because a career in the trades offers a career of greater opportunity, stability and pay than many people realize.
The Government of Canada is proud to partner with WorldSkills Calgary to bring this world-class competition to Canada. We are committed to creating the best educated, most skilled and most flexible work force in the world. And so much of that will rely upon our young people.
To help us achieve these goals, our Government has backed up our commitment to young tradespeople with real action: We have introduced a two thousand-dollar apprenticeship completion bonus; a thousand-dollar per year Apprenticeship Incentive Grant to help with schooling costs; a Job Creation Tax Credit to reward employers who hire young apprentices; and a tax credit to tradespeople for the costs of their tools.
These are tangible incentives we are providing now, during this period of global economic recession, to encourage our young people to consider a career in the trades. Because, as the recovery begins to takes hold, we are going to need the expertise of skilled tradespeople like yourselves to build the roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure that will keep our economy moving and keep Canada strong!
Indeed, projections on the emerging labour force of the next couple of decades are clear: If tradespeople work hard, embrace new technologies and stay current in their expertise, they will have long and rewarding careers. And that’s really what this week’s competition is all about.
So on behalf of the Government of Canada, I wish the competitors, organizers, officials and volunteers all the best for a successful and memorable WorldSkills 2009!
Good luck to all!
