Job training + LMO'S

#1

Canada Job Grant notably different from take it or leave it offer

CBC – Sat, 1 Mar, 2014 8:19 AM EST

An agreement in principle over the Canada Job Grant was made possible because Ottawa's final offer was notably different from the take it or leave it grant sprung on the provinces during last year's federal budget, says one of the ministers who spent the last few months negotiating face to face with Employment Minister Jason Kenney. 

"The government's final offer is significantly different from the unilateral announcement the government made without consultation in last year's federal budget," Shirley Bond, B.C.'s minister of jobs, tourism, and skills, told CBC News in an interview Friday afternoon.

While concerns over the grant remain, the provinces feel with the exception of Quebec, they have come far enough in their negotiations that each provincial government can now finalize the details of the program on a one on one basis with Kenney. ​

"There's a pretty strong consensus that there has been enough movement that this is the time now to move to the bilateral discussions," said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on Friday.​

Kenney used a speech he gave to an audience gathered at the Manning Networking Conference in Ottawa on Friday to confirm there was an agreement with all provinces and territories except Quebec, as CBC News reported yesterday.

"I am pleased to announce that we have arrived at an agreement in principle with 12 provincial governments and territories on their delivery of the Canada Job Grant," Kenney said.

Kenney welcomed the news saying "I believe this is good news for unemployed Canadians, it's good news for taxpayers who will get better bang for their buck, it's good news for the economy because we'll increase the private sector investment in skills development."

The provinces fought hard to negotiate changes to Ottawa's plan to "minimize the losses" of a program they did not want in the first place.

Kenney sealed the deal by making several concessions, which he took to cabinet for approval.

The Canada Job Grant will be phased in incrementally over four years, allowing provinces to allocate a greater proportion of the Labour Market Agreements for existing programs to train vulnerable workers.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said, "10 per cent of the existing LMA will now be shifted towards the job grant. So in the first year, provinces will have to find 10 per cent to look after the programs that serve vulnerable people."

The provinces will have to find an additional 10 per cent in each of the first four years, up to 40 per cent. "That's the challenge," Selinger said during a joint news conference with Wynne on Friday. 

However, the provinces will have the choice to take those funds from the Labour Market Agreements, the Labour Market Development Agreements, or a source of their own choosing.

It was also revealed today that Kenney has agreed to let the provinces review the program two years after its implementation, a request the provinces made in their final counter offer dated Jan.28 which was obtained by Radio-Canada.

"There will be a review of the Canada Job Grant by December 2015," Selinger said on Friday. This will allow the provinces to make changes as necessary in order to ensure the grant is meeting the needs of those looking for jobs and the employers who are paying to train them.

Kenney also removed the cost-matching requirement for the provinces, leaving Ottawa to fund up to $10,000 of each individual grant with employers kicking in up to $5,000.

And even there, Kenney gave small businesses with 50 employees or less greater flexibility by allowing them to put up only 15 per cent of the cost of the grant with "cash or in-kind contributions."

Provinces will also have until July 1 to implement the grant, an extra three months to get the program up-and-running from the original proposal.​

As the provinces start working to finalize the renewal of bilateral Labour Market Agreements which are set to expire on March 31, several concerns with the Canada Job Grant remain.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who was also in Ottawa for the Manning Conference, said he liked the grant but was concerned businesses in his province would not be able to use it.

"We like the principle of employers being involved in training, we like that part of the job grant — we always have. But in our economy, where we have basically full employment… we need basic skills, we need to make sure we are providing training for the vulnerable," Wall said.

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, who appeared to be offside with his provincial counterparts at the time of Kenney's announcement, said he secured an agreement with Ottawa after speaking directly with Kenney today.

"The province has secured an agreement with the federal government to ensure that Nova Scotia's concerns with the Canada Job Grant are addressed," said a statement issued by McNeil's office. 

"I communicated to Mr. Kenney that the Canada Job Grant must work better for Nova Scotians," McNeil said in the written statement. "The program must be affordable for our small businesses and must protect employment support for our most vulnerable citizens."

Kenney said he would "continue working with provinces and territories on the details in the days to come."

​In their joint news release Friday, the premiers said now that the provinces will move to iron out whatever concerns remain on a bilateral basis with Kenney, they expect those individual agreements to include "a betterment clause."

If a province succeeds in negotiating a better deal with Kenney, such a clause would ensure that the same agreement is made available to other provinces too.

While Quebec is still very much interested in negotiating the renewal of its LMA, it continues to seek an option to opt out with full compensation from the Canada Job Grant.

Quebec Labour Minister Agnès Maltais indicated on Friday that the two sides are in "intense negotiations" and that a deal could come as early as Saturday.

Maltais said Kenney hoped to reach an agreement with Quebec "in the coming days," but that she was prepared to sign on the dotted line "tomorrow."

"Quebec is ready to ready to settle tomorrow morning. If Mr. Kenney wants us to sign a deal tomorrow morning, I'm ready to sign tomorrow morning — because I think we are close enough to a settlement to do so," Maltais told reporters on Friday 

Kenney will travel to Germany next week to study the country’s dual education system which he has touted as a model Canada could learn lessons from.

Source:http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-job-grant-notably-different-leave-offer-021755754.html

#2

Conservatives losing ground, grim polling numbers suggest

Fewer people in Ontario, B.C. identify as Conservatives, Manning Networking Conference poll finds

By Laura Payton, CBC News Posted: Mar 01, 2014 11:27 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 01, 2014 1:48 PM ET

Conservative support is down across much of Canada and the party ranks behind the Liberals and NDP on their perceived ability to handle many issues, a new poll unveiled Friday suggests. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

Conservative support is down across much of Canada and the party ranks behind the Liberals and NDP on their perceived ability to handle many issues, a poll unveiled Friday suggests.

The poll, conducted by Carleton University's André Turcotte, was presented at an annual conference put on by the Manning Centre in Ottawa. Turcotte does a poll every year on the state of conservatism in Canada.

·         Mobile users can follow the liveblog here.

Turcotte said Friday the polling numbers for the Conservatives are heading in "the wrong direction," with the number of those polled who identify as Conservative down dramatically since 2012 in British Columbia — to 20 per cent from 33 per cent — and Ontario — to 25 per cent from 35 per cent. 

The numbers are better elsewhere, rising to 48 from 40 per cent in the prairies and to 16 up from 12 per cent in Quebec. 

Turcotte surveyed 1,000 adult Canadians online Dec. 16 to 18, 2013, including "an over-sample" of 500 self-defined Conservatives. 

'It gets worse'

There was more bad news for the party, Turcotte told the conference delegates and reporters gathered to hear his presentation.

And here's where it gets worse," he said to introduce a series of slides that showed the Conservatives tied with the Liberals or ranking below them on several issues among those polled.

Turcotte took the poll results to rank the parties on a scale of one to 10 on their perceived ability to deal with issues that respondents said were most important to them.

On the question of ability to deal with the economy, the Liberals and Conservatives are essentially tied, Turcotte said.

Both the Liberals and NDP rate ahead of the Conservatives on the separate questions of managing health care and unemployment.

The worst result for the Conservatives comes on how the parties are perceived for their abilities to manage poverty and the environment: the Liberals, NDP and the Green Party all rank ahead of the Conservatives.

Turcotte also found in the survey that 93 per cent of those polled either somewhat support or strongly support "enhancing the investigative powers of Elections Canada to investigate electoral wrongdoings." The same number somewhat support or strongly support "full disclosure" of how public funds are spent, although what exactly that means isn't defined.

Nearly as many, 92 per cent, somewhat support or strongly support making party leaders more accountable to their caucuses.

Source:http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservatives-losing-ground-grim-polling-numbers-suggest-1.2555858

Comment:

"Well …. Jason Kenney finally has his useless, politically generated Jobs Grant program.

And Stephen Harper is paying the price. 

Nobody is under any illusion that the latest Kenney/Harper political toy will generate any skilled Canadian tradespersons.

The plan is based on the illusion that small and medium sized trades employers will actually spend $5,000 in order to scam $10,000 out of government.

The realties are:

• Trades employers don’t need petty cash as an incentive to train workers... they need committed young workers prepared to spend the years required to learn a trade.

• The provinces know that Kenney’s plan is a joke. They went along with the scam because they know that they can kill it in 2016... just after Kenney’s October 2015 election 

As Stephen Harper’s electioneer in chief, Kenney needs justification for his destruction of Ontario’s foreign worker programs. (Please note that Alberta employers continue to thrive on foreign workers)

The problem is that Kenney also knows that most Ontario trades employers can’t find qualified Canadian workers.

Kenney’s amateurish two track strategy in Ontario is to keep the political, “base”  happy by killing LMO’s and foreign worker visa programs and then hope that Ontario business can be kept quiet by his:

• Encouraging more illegal workers in Ontario 
• Throwing  some tax money at employers to allegedly train Canadian workers

The problem with the Kenney/Harper logic is that Ontario employers no longer believe that they are dealing with a conservative government…Kenney, and Harper, are seen as “big government” socialists.

The employers were Stephen Harper’s base. They have deserted Harper.

The evidence is clear:

• Kenney has handed over control of employers’ job sites to the unions. The unions have grabbed control of the illegal workers and are forcing employers to drive up costs.

• Kenney’s brutal 2013 “compliance” enforcement against legitimate Ontario employers of foreign workers has backfired. There is now a feeling that Kenney will probably move against companies hiring both illegal and legal workers.

• While the GTA’s booming trades sector is losing existing legal workers, Alberta gets unlimited foreign workers.

• While Harper/Kenney pretend to be protecting jobs by denying employers the right to select or keep their own workers  , Harper /Kenney  give away, annually , 25,000  work permits to  government selected Irish , British and Frenchmen. Few of these people have any skills. Meanwhile, Kenney has pushed back on the ability of Ontario construction employers to retain even 1,000 of their own legal workers.

• The killing of the LMO and foreign worker programs in Ontario is concurrent with announcement of the January 2015 roll out of the Expression of Interest “(EOI) immigration program. This program will further deny Ontario employers the right to choose their own workers from Europe.  Instead, bureaucrats will select workers on a “sight unseen” basis.  

• The new EOI program will put Ontario employers and unions at the mercy of “recruiters”  from Bangladesh etc who will assure that Harper/Kenney get their wish for English speaking workers   

This past weekend, a leading conservative group, produced polling confirming that the government is up ten points in Alberta and down 10 points in Ontario.

Harper is in trouble in Ontario.

It is doubtful that Harper /Kenney understand the relationship between polling numbers and their mismanagement of Ontario’s trades sector. They just do not seem to realize that the trades in the GTA are what gas/oil represent in Alberta.

Harper and Kenney, as an article of faith, promote the line that their political “base” hates foreign workers. In the face of this logic:

·         the Western part of Canada ,which is overrun by foreign tradesmen, supports Harper

·         Ontario, which is denied foreign tradesmen, has turned on Harper

This all means that Stephen Harper:

• Will lose every one his seats in Toronto (the 416)
• Will lose every one of his seats in Mississauga and Brampton
• Will lose most of his seats in Niagara region , York Region and Durham Region

Ontario’s trades businesses have to outlast Harper/Kenney.

But two years is a long time.

The GTA and its trades sectors will suffer severe losses. "

Richard Boraks, March 2, 2014