Canada’s coming economic headache: A serious shortage of skilled workers
AP PhotoCanada's Employment Minister Jason Kenney says the construction, mining and petroleum sectors are examples of industries that will face serious shortages of skilled workers over the next decade.
TORONTO — Canada’s employment minister says a shortage of skilled workers will be one of the country’s greatest future economic challenges.
Jason Kenney gave the warning today at a skills summit in Toronto where stakeholders have gathered to discuss the labour market, employee training and those under-represented in the labour force.
Laura Pedersen/National Post“What we ought to do is ensure that young people make fully informed decisions that are unencumbered by stigmas attached to skilled work,” says Jason Kenney.
Kenney says the construction, mining and petroleum sectors are examples of industries that will face serious shortages of skilled workers over the next decade.
He adds that stakeholders need to de-stigmatize the trades and encourage young workers to enter skilled vocations.
The minister cites countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom as places where apprenticeship programs offer youth better employment options.
The conference comes less than a week after Kenney announced a myriad of changes to the controversial temporary foreign workers program.
The new changes include a limit on the number of foreign workers that large and medium-sized companies are permitted to hire, stiffer penalties for companies found to be violating the new rules and on-site audits and inspections to guard against abuses.
Today, he says that
Canada needs construction workers.
Jason will dip into
his Wizard’s bag and find the workers to build the Pan Am Games facilities.
He
may even go to church on Sunday and light a candle in the hope that the
hundreds of millions of dollars he has “invested” on skills training will
generate at least one cement finisher."
Richard Boraks, 25 June 2014
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