Apr. 13, 2004

Apprenticeship programs get $18M from province

FROM CANADIAN PRESS

Premier Dalton McGuinty's $18-million bid to make Ontario's workforce a North American powerhouse won't be enough to stave off a looming skilled labour shortage that has dire consequences for the province's economy, critics warned today.

McGuinty committed the money to the province's apprenticeship training programs during a news conference inside a cavernous, state-of-the-art truck repair lab at Centennial College's School of Transportation.

He said the 60,000 students enrolled each year in more than 130 different college apprenticeship programs still won't be enough to compensate for a steadily growing number of retiring workers.

"People are retiring out of those programs at a rate that is close to alarming," McGuinty said, surrounded by students and a litany of machine parts, engine blocks and a half-disassembled tractor-trailer.

"We feel a responsibility to work together with our colleges and the private sector as well as labour to ensure we are going to be able to satisfy the continuing demand for skilled workers."

An estimated 28,000 students learning everything from cooking and cabinet-making to plumbing and heavy-duty automotive repair will benefit from the money, earmarked for updated classrooms, equipment and new training materials, McGuinty said.

The funding includes $9 million for the existing Apprenticeship Enhancement Fund for upgraded training facilities, $5 million to the Apprenticeship Innovation Fund for new curriculum and $3.6 million for the Pre-Apprenticeship Fund.

The labour market is predicting significant shortages of workers across the country. Last year, the Conference Board of Canada forecast a shortfall of nearly one million workers in skilled trades including plumbing and construction within 20 years.

Census data released in 2003 showed that while the proportion of university graduates increased by almost 52 per cent in a decade and college graduates increased by almost 48 per cent, the proportion of Canadians who earned a trade increased by only 13 per cent.

Political critics and industry stakeholders were less than thrilled with Tuesday's news, calling it an effective cut in college funding and too little to offset the critical shortage of skilled workers in Ontario.

"If people think it's difficult to find an affordable plumber now, just wait until 10 years from now," said Stuart Johnston, vice-president of policy and government relations with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

"If you have 30 plumbers in the neighborhood, they're all going to be competitive and you're going to have competitive rates. If you have one plumber, guess what he's going to charge?"

Still, Johnston acknowledged the announcement as a positive start, even if only as a sign the government knows the problem exists.

The chamber also released a study Tuesday that suggests more than half of the province's skilled tradespeople are expected to retire within the next 15 years.

In the survey, more than 41 per cent of chamber members said they anticipate a skills shortage in their industry before the year 2010.

Rosario Marchese, the NDP's education critic, accused the Liberals of disguising a spending cut as a funding increase.

The previous Conservative government spent $10.3 million on the Apprenticeship Enhancement Fund in 2003 and budgeted $10 million for 2004, while the Liberals are only allocating $9 million, he said.

What's most troubling about Tuesday's announcement, he added, is that the government doesn't seem to have much of a strategy to deal with the shortage.

"They're just putting in money to fill in the blanks, as it were. There's no plan."

Johnston said one problem the government needs to tackle is the public perception that learning a skilled trade is a less valuable form of education than a university degree.

"It's a huge stigma," he said.

"Part of this whole exercise has to be education and awareness about the kind of living people can make being that plumber or that plastic welder or that RV technician, or you name it."