Speaking notes
for
the Honourable Diane Finley,
Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development,
at the
2013 Canadian Policy Conference
hosted by the
Building and Construction Trades Department
May 7, 2013
Gatineau, QC
Check against delivery
I’m very happy to be here today and to have this opportunity to talk to you about the elements of our government’s new Economic Action Plan that I think are most relevant to your membership.
But, first, I want to discuss what I frankly believe is the most significant socio-economic challenge ahead of us – and something we all have responsibility to work on –and that is the skills shortage.
And more importantly… the skills mismatch.
As you know, our government is focused on creating jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity for Canadians.
But we won’t be able to achieve those goals if, together, we don’t deal with our skills shortages.
Don’t just take my word for it…
Skills mismatches have become a dominant policy concern among political, business, labour and academic groups.
In its 2013, Top Ten Barriers to Competitiveness report, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce has, once again, identified the skills shortage as the number one obstacle to the success of its members.
Other prominent and respected organizations in this country, including Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Conference Board of Canada, all believe that skills shortages are among the greatest risks to the Canadian economy.
And it’s what I hear from Canadian entrepreneurs, and owners of businesses of all sizes, everywhere.
“Minister Finley,” they say, “we can’t find qualified people!”
How did we get in this fix?
You know, I was at a meeting recently where we talked about the future of our young people, and a colleague told me this story.
He has a daughter… a very bright young woman who is getting ready to enter the world of post-secondary education.
And she needed advice on what direction to pursue.
What was she told?
Get a BA. Be a teacher.
When she said she was much more interested in math and science, she was told, “OK, be a science teacher.”
Before I go any further, let me say that I have great respect for teachers … but we shouldn’t be funneling all our bright young people into academia.
Canada’s labour force is well educated and that’s an asset to our country.
But there is often a disconnect between what our young people are learning in school and what is needed in the job market.
Young people get a degree or a certificate only to discover there are no jobs in their field of study.
In order to make good decisions about education and training, young Canadians need to know where the jobs really are.
They need access to accurate information about current and future labour market needs.
Right now, we don’t have enough people with the kinds of skills that employers are looking for.
I know the construction sector needs skilled workers now, and this need will only increase in the years to come.
Where are these workers going to come from?
Temporary foreign workers are only a stopgap solution to fill acute skills shortages on a temporary basis.
By the way, you may have heard of our recent announcement about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Our government is taking balanced, decisive action to reform the program to make sure it operates in the best interests of Canadian workers.
I think everyone agrees that rather than importing workers, we should be doing a better job of developing our own domestic labour force.
I can’t say this often enough: training in Canada is not sufficiently aligned to the needs of employers, or to the jobs that are actually available.
There are too many jobs going unfilled because employers can’t find workers with the right skills.
Meanwhile, there are still too many Canadians looking for work.
It’s clear we must do a better job of matching skills with workforce needs but we can’t do it alone.
This is about working together. We need you to work with us on this.
EAP 2013
For our part, we made skills training an integral part of Economic Action Plan 2013.
The centrepiece of the Plan is a three part approach to ensure Canadians have the skills they need and that employers are looking for.
These three elements are:
- the new Canada Job Grant;
- increased support for apprentices; and,
- better training opportunities for groups that are under-represented in the workforce, such as people with disabilities, youth, Aboriginal people and newcomers to Canada.
I’d like to briefly touch on these three things.
The Canada Job Grant is an innovative approach to skills training that takes decisions about training out of the hands of government and puts them where they belong: in the hands of employers and individual Canadians.
The Grant will provide $15,000 or more per person for training purposes.
The federal government will fund the Grant up to $5,000 per person, plus matching contributions from the province or territory and the employer.
The Grant will be available in 2014 and, once it is fully implemented, it will benefit almost 130 000 Canadians each year.
By increasing employer involvement, we will ensure that Canadians are getting the skills employers are looking for, and that businesses can get the workers they need.
Support to apprentices
Speaking of workers, Canada faces a shortage of skilled tradespeople and this shortage is expected to grow in the future as the population ages.
A report issued in April by the Construction Sector Council – now called BuildForce Canada – stated that the construction industry will need to attract more than 250 000 workers to meet building needs from now to 2021.
This is why Economic Action Plan 2013 commits us to work with our provincial and territorial partners to harmonize training and certification requirements for apprentices across the country.
We’ll also be examining the use of practical, hands-on tests as a method of assessing skills in targeted trades.
This builds on work we are already doing with our provincial and territorial partners through the Red Seal Program.
We want Canadians to gain journeyperson certification in the skilled trades and in Red Seal trades in particular because the Red Seal is an industry-driven, pan-Canadian standard of excellence.
Through Economic Action Plan 2013, the Government of Canada is creating opportunities for apprentices by making it easier for them to get the experience they need to make the leap to journeyperson status.
We are also introducing measures that will support the use of apprentices in federally contracted construction and maintenance projects, in affordable housing and infrastructure projects that receive federal funding.
Our goal is to motivate more young people to enter the trades, to complete their training and to become certified journeypersons who can work anywhere in Canada.
These new initiatives that encourage people to launch careers in the skilled trades are in addition to other measures that our government has introduced such as grants, tax credits and investments in training programs.
By combining our Apprenticeship Incentive Grant and the Apprenticeship Completion Grant, apprentices in Red Seal trades can get up to $4,000.
To date, our government has provided more than 395,000 grants to apprentices, which represents a total investment of almost half a billion dollars.
When they hire Red Seal apprentices, employers can take advantage of the Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit.
And, the Tradesperson’s Tools Deduction allows tradespeople to claim a deduction of up to $500 on their income tax to cover expenses.
We also offer temporary income support through Employment Insurance for apprentices while they attend in-school apprenticeship training.
Under-represented groups
And now, let me say a few words about groups that are under-represented in the workforce: people with disabilities, youth, Aboriginal people and newcomers to Canada.
There is so much untapped potential there. Why aren’t we taking advantage of it?
Ladies and gentlemen, our workforce is increasingly diverse.
Construction workers, for example, don’t always have to be men.
We should be thinking “Can they do the job?” rather than, “Do they look the part?”
You may be thinking that people with disabilities cannot work in the trades, but is that really true, in every case?
You know, last year, the Minister of Finance and I created a panel of private-sector experts to study labour market opportunities for people with disabilities.
The members of this panel fanned out across the country and spoke with business people about their experiences with hiring people with disabilities.
The panel found there is an excellent business case for hiring people with disabilities.
Accommodating people with disabilities in the workplace is not that expensive and can pay many dividends. Employees with disabilities even have lower rates of absenteeism and turnover.
So I’m asking you to review some of your assumptions, and consider new sources of labour.
People with disabilities, youth, Aboriginal people and newcomers to Canada could help fill some of the shortages in your industries.
Young Canadians
Let me get back to the troubling situation faced by our young people.
As I said earlier, too many young Canadians are graduating into unemployment or under-employment because they don’t have the skills employers are looking for.
Part of the problem is they don’t have enough information about the job market.
It’s important for young Canadians to have access to information on a variety of careers so they can make wise choices about their education and career path early in life.
And so, Economic Action Plan 2013 is helping young Canadians get access to better labour market information.
We’re also going to develop new ways to promote fields where there is a high demand for workers, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Our kids need to know where the jobs really are.
And they certainly need to be better informed about the many career opportunities that are available in the skilled trades and how good the wages can be.
In fact, this reminds me of a good story I heard recently:
An electrician finishes some work on a lawyer’s home and gives him the bill.
The attorney takes a look and says: “Four hundred dollars…for an hour’s work?
“That’s ridiculous! I’m an attorney and I don’t charge that much.”
To which the electrician replies, “Funny, when I was a lawyer, I didn’t either!”
A little exaggerated, perhaps, but there is a lot of truth to it also.
Providing our young people with career information about the skilled trades will be relatively easy.
What isn’t going to be so easy will be changing attitudes.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a cultural problem.
You know… when I was growing up in rural southwestern Ontario, we were all accustomed to working with tools, taking shop class in school or helping Dad in the garage on a Saturday morning.
And there was no stigma then to becoming a carpenter… or a welder… or a mechanic.
But, somehow, over time, attitudes changed and the skilled trades lost status.
I’m here to say these attitudes have to change back.
Because—as you well know—we desperately need people who can build, and maintain and fix things.
And careers in the skilled trades – as you also know – are in demand, well-paid and rewarding.
Conclusion
Our government recognizes that a highly qualified and mobile skilled trades work force is critical to Canada’s productivity and competitiveness.
By helping Canadians connect with available jobs and putting a priority on skills and training, we are ensuring continued economic growth, job creation and long-term prosperity.
But private-sector employers must also do more to train their existing and future employees.
As I said earlier, addressing skills mismatches must be a shared responsibility.
Here’s a great example of collaboration that will be familiar to you.
The Government of Canada is working with the Building Trades Unions on the Helmets to Hardhats program.
Helmets to Hardhats Canada is a national program designed to assist both serving and retired members of the Canadian Forces to make the transition into a civilian career in the building and construction industry.
Governments, businesses, universities, colleges, unions, training institutions and other groups – we all need to work together to make the most of our labour force.
Because nothing less than the future of our economy is at stake.
As well as the future of a whole generation of young people who want to put their skills and talents to work.
Thank you.
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