HUMA Committee Report
If you have any questions or comments regarding the accessibility of this publication, please contact us at accessible@parl.gc.ca.
Mr. Ed Komarnicki Dear Mr. Komarnicki: Pursuant to Standing Order 109 of the House of Commons, I am pleased to respond, on behalf of the Government of Canada, to the recommendations proposed by the Report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (the Committee), entitled Economic Opportunities for Young Apprentices, which was tabled in the House of Commons on May 27, 2013. The Government of Canada is working diligently with the provinces, territories, industry and other stakeholders to further improve apprenticeship opportunities in Canada, and is committed to ongoing progress. The Government has carefully reviewed the recommendations of the Standing Committee, which are timely and well-aligned with current priorities and initiatives, including those announced in Economic Action Plan (EAP) 2013. EAP 2013 proposes collaborative action to support jobs and growth. Specifically, EAP 2013 outlined the Government’s three-point plan to address challenges in connecting Canadians with available jobs by equipping them with the skills and training they need to obtain high quality, well-paying jobs. The plan outlined measures to: create the Canada Job Grant; increase support for apprentices; and develop job opportunities for all Canadians. With respect to apprentices, EAP 2013 reiterated our Government’s continued commitment to support apprenticeship in Canada, notably through: the reallocation of $4 million over three years to reduce barriers to the accreditation of apprentices; support for the use of apprentices through federal procurement, the Investment in Affordable Housing and the new Building Canada plan; the reallocation of $19 million over two years to improve labour market information and promote careers in high-demand fields, including the skilled trades; and a number of related measures such as providing assistance to under-represented groups to gain the skills they need to enter employment. These initiatives, combined with existing Government of Canada financial supports to apprentices, and collaboration with the provinces and territories to deliver the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program, are ensuring the continued development of economic opportunities for apprentices in Canada. The skilled trades are important to Canada’s economic prosperity In several regions, due to large-scale projects, Canada faces an ongoing shortage of skilled tradespeople in key sectors of the Canadian economy, including construction and resource extraction. This shortage of skilled tradespeople is expected to grow as Canada’s population ages. According to a February 2013 study by BuildForce Canada, over the next seven years, the construction sector alone is projecting a need for 250,000 new workers to meet building needs from now until 2021. To ensure Canada’s continued economic growth, it is essential that Canada meets its current and future needs for skilled tradespeople. Apprenticeship is a key entry path into the skilled trades. Apprenticeships are effective in helping to meet skills shortages as they allow apprentices to learn a skilled trade while contributing to the labour market via paid, on-the-job experience. The duration of apprenticeship training varies from two to five years, with approximately 80% to 90% of an apprentice’s training spent in the workplace, with the remainder at a training institution. Given the preponderance of training undertaken in the workplace, the role of employers is critical to the success of the apprentice. To become certified in a skilled trade, apprentices must complete their on-the-job training and in-class technical instruction, as well as pass a final examination to assess their trade skills and knowledge. To help meet the labour market demand for the skilled trades, federal, provincial and territorial governments have put in place a longstanding and successful partnership, the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program. The Program represents Canada’s standard of excellence for the skilled trades and ensures the recognition of the qualifications of certified tradespersons across Canada. The Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship, the CCDA, is responsible for managing and delivering the Red Seal program. The CCDA works closely with industry to designate new Red Seal trades and develop the standards for the trades to respond to labour market needs. For example, over the past decade, the number of Red Seal trades increased from 45 to 55. Approximately 80% of registered apprentices in Canada are now in Red Seal trades, and trades that are not designated Red Seal exist in very few provinces or territories. In addition to guaranteeing a standard of excellence for industry, the Red Seal Program complements changes brought by the 2009 amendment of Chapter 7 of the Agreement on Internal Trade, which is designed to facilitate labour mobility in Canada. As a result of the amendment, any worker certified for a regulated occupation, including a skilled trade, in one province or territory can, upon application, be certified for that occupation anywhere in Canada without any additional material training, experience or assessments. The Red Seal Program reinforces labour mobility and further provides a well-established means of developing common standards for the trades. The Program has also helped to harmonize training and certification requirements to a common standard that is developed and recognized by industry across Canada. Attracting apprentices and supporting certification are key to increased participation in the skilled trades. Ensuring that Canadians have the information on career options and labour market demand they need to train for and find in-demand jobs is key to addressing Canada’s skills mismatch. A mismatch occurs when unemployed Canadians are lacking the skills required by employers. To inform youth (including women, immigrants, and persons with disabilities) about education and job prospects in various occupations, our Government announced in EAP 2013 that it will promote education in high-demand fields, including the skilled trades, by providing more information on the career prospects and benefits of working in high-demand jobs, as well as developing new outreach efforts to promote careers in the skilled trades and other occupations in science, technology, engineering and math. This includes providing a more complete picture of longer-term labour market outcomes, including earnings and employment by field of study. The new information will provide Canadians considering or currently enrolled in an apprenticeship program with a better sense of the employment and financial returns that they might expect from working in the skilled trades. Our Government’s commitment in EAP 2013 to enhance labour market information will build on current information available through the Working in Canada (WiC) website (workingincanada.gc.ca). The WiC is the Government’s single point of access for labour market information and combines numerous sources of information on available jobs across the country (including postings found on Job Bank, Monster and Workopolis), labour market outcomes, as well as the education and training requirements for specific occupations, including provincial training information and information about apprenticeship programs where possible. The online tools can tailor information to any region in Canada, including areas where the skilled trades are in high demand. In addition to WiC, the Canlearn.ca website further helps inform education and career choices by addressing the costs and benefits associated with post-secondary education, and how best to save, plan and pay for that education. These two tools can help Canadians, including women, immigrants, and persons with disabilities, understand both the costs and long-term benefits of apprenticeship and a career in the trades. In addition, the Red Seal and Ellis Chart websites are important sources of information about the Red Seal Program, skilled trades, and provincial and territorial apprenticeship training requirements. Taken together, these initiatives and resources are highly useful in providing youth, and all Canadians, with the information necessary to understand the benefits of a career in the skilled trades and how to undertake an apprenticeship. To complement information provided on the labour market, the Government undertakes several promotional activities to ensure that Canadians are aware of the various skilled trades’ initiatives and programs. The Government of Canada, through speaking opportunities and consultations with stakeholders, such as employer groups and educational institutions, regularly highlights federal programs that encourage apprenticeships, including the Apprenticeship Grants and tax credits for employers. In addition, the Government of Canada launched a national Skills Initiative advertising campaign in May 2013 to raise awareness and highlight the importance of acquiring the right skills and training to obtain in-demand, high quality, and well-paying jobs now, and in the future. Further, the Government’s main website for youth, youth.gc.ca, and its suite of social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and a youth blog) provide information and engage young Canadians year-round on the benefits of pursuing a career in the trades and registering in apprenticeship programs, including the promotion of the Apprenticeship Grants. The Government also supports the Red Seal Program’s efforts to inform stakeholders and tradespeople, as well as high-school students and the public at large, about apprenticeships and the skilled trades. To assist military tradespeople and veterans to enter civilian skilled trades, our Government has undertaken two key initiatives. The first is an innovative partnership involving HRSDC, the CCDA and the Department of National Defence, which has resulted in tools that allow the provinces and territories to recognize the training of military tradespeople who may wish to become certified in some Red Seal trades. This partnership provides an effective pathway for retiring military tradespeople transitioning to a civilian career in the skilled trades. It complements the Government’s support for the Helmets to Hardhats initiative, launched in September 2011. The Helmets to Hardhats initiative connects retiring Canadian Forces members and veterans with career opportunities in the construction industry by bringing together unions, private and public sector resources. The departments of Veterans Affairs and National Defence provide transitioning and retired members with information on these two initiatives. To respond to the growing demand for workers in certain skilled trades, particularly in the natural resources and construction sectors, our Government launched a new Federal Skilled Trades Program in January 2013. This program is designed to facilitate the permanent immigration of skilled tradespersons, and reflects their education and career realities by putting more emphasis on practical training and work experience, rather than formal academic education. In addition, the Government of Canada is working with the provinces and territories through the CCDA to examine the development of more streamlined and consistent approaches and tools for the assessment and recognition of the qualifications of internationally-trained workers to become certified in the Red Seal trades, as well as to develop tools and resources to improve information for internationally-trained workers, employers and assessment staff. Our Government is also working with the provinces and territories through the Forum of Labour Market Ministers to identify the next set of target occupations under the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications. Over the last few years, our Government has been working with the provinces and territories through the CCDA to strengthen the Red Seal Program to ensure that it continues to meet industry needs. EAP 2013 committed to support this work by reallocating $4 million over three years to work with the provinces and territories towards greater harmonization of training and certification requirements for apprentices, and to examine the use of practical tests as a method of assessment in targeted Red Seal trades. Our Government’s investment will support work underway through the CCDA to promote greater consistency of requirements for skilled trades training and certification across jurisdictions, helping to ensure that more apprentices complete their training and further encouraging mobility across the country. Practical tests, and other form of assessments, may be well-suited to tradespeople whose skills were gained outside of a formal apprenticeship program in Canada, including internationally trained workers. This work with the CCDA will help to reduce barriers to certification in Red Seal trades while ensuring only those who have demonstrated competency in the full scope of the trade obtain certification. The Government of Canada is committed to providing supports for employers and apprentices The Government already has a range of supports in place to assist employers and apprentices and has made further commitments in EAP 2013. Employers play a fundamentally important role in apprenticeship, as they are responsible for hiring and training apprentices across the full scope of their trades. Our Government is demonstrating national leadership in promoting the value of apprenticeships to employers and boosting employers’ engagement in hiring and training apprentices. EAP 2013 announced that the Government of Canada will support the use of apprentices in federal construction and maintenance contracts and will ensure that funds transferred to the provinces and territories through the Investment in Affordable Housing Program support the use of apprentices. We will also encourage provinces, territories and municipalities to support the use of apprentices in infrastructure projects receiving federal funding as part of the new Building Canada plan. Development of these initiatives is in progress. Our Government further recognizes the critical role of employers by supporting measures that encourage employers to hire new apprentices. For example, the Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit (AJCTC) encourages employers to hire new apprentices in eligible trades by providing a tax credit of 10% of the wages payable to eligible apprentices in the first two years of their apprenticeship program (up to a maximum credit of $2,000 per apprentice, per year). It is estimated that more than 10,000 businesses benefited from the AJCTC in 2010. Additionally, since 2006, our Government has promoted apprenticeships and careers in the skilled trades through the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant (AIG) and the Apprenticeship Completion Grant (ACG). The aim of the Grants is to encourage Canadians to pursue a career in the skilled trades, and provide assistance for the successful progression and completion of apprenticeship training and certification. The Apprenticeship Incentive Grant, introduced in Budget 2006, is a taxable grant of $1,000 per year, up to a maximum of $2,000 per person, available to registered apprentices once they have successfully finished their first or second year of an apprenticeship program in a designated Red Seal trade. The Apprenticeship Completion Grant, introduced in Budget 2009, is a taxable grant of $2,000 available to registered apprentices who have successfully completed their apprenticeship training and obtained their journeyperson certification in a designated Red Seal trade. Taken together, these grants offer up to $4,000 to support Red Seal apprentices. The Grants have been very successful: since the program’s inception, over 403,000 Grants have been issued, representing an investment of $503.2 million. A survey of Grant recipients found that over 90% felt that the Grants were helpful and provided an incentive for continuing and finishing an apprenticeship program. There is strong support for the Grants from the provinces, territories, employers and apprentices. In addition to the Apprenticeship Grants, our Government has a range of financial measures in place to provide adequate support to apprentices. For example, qualifying apprentices can receive income benefits through the Employment Insurance system during their periods of classroom training. The Tradesperson’s Tools Deduction, introduced in Budget 2006, allows tradespersons to deduct from their income part of the cost of tools they must acquire as a condition of employment. More than 25,000 tradespersons claimed the tools deduction in 2010. The fees eligible for the Tuition Tax Credit were extended starting in 2011 to include occupational, trade and professional examinations required to obtain a professional status, or certification or license in order to practice a profession or trade in Canada. It is estimated that more than 30,000 individuals are benefitting from this enhancement each year. Additional Government of Canada programs and initiatives encourage skilled trades’ training, including, for example, support for essential skills. As the Report makes clear, having strong essential skills is critical to success in the skilled trades and it is important that apprentices and all Canadians, including linguistic minorities, have the opportunity to strengthen skills such as reading, writing, numeracy, document use and thinking. Under the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program, our Government is strongly committed to helping all Canadians, including apprentices, improve their essential skills. This is done by developing and disseminating essential skills resources, funding transformative projects and supporting strategic partnerships, best practices and knowledge-sharing. For example, the Government works in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments through the CCDA on an initiative to encourage the integration of essential skills into apprenticeship systems. The goal of the initiative is to improve the essential skills of apprentices, trade qualifiers and tradespeople to support them to achieve better outcomes in training and the workplace. A number of tools have been developed and are available on the Red Seal and HRSDC websites. There are over 30 different essential skills tools for the trades, 25 of which are customized for specific trades. Additional essential skills tools provide general assistance and information such as trades-based math, preparing for the Red Seal exam, and self-assessment tools. Our Government is committed to assisting young Canadians to enter the skilled trades through skills and employment-based training programs. We currently invest over $300 million per year in labour market programming for youth through the Youth Employment Strategy (YES). In EAP 2012, our Government announced an additional $50 million in YES funding over two years to assist more young people in gaining tangible skills and experience and connect them with jobs in fields that are in high demand, including in skilled trades. Under the YES, the Skills Link program targets youth facing barriers to employment and can provide programming that helps prepare youth for apprenticeship programs. In addition to employability skills development, Skills Link projects can offer pre-apprenticeship training that provides orientation to an apprenticeship occupation. Finally, for youth interested in registering as an apprentice, but lacking an employer sponsor, Skills Link can provide wage subsidies to employers as an incentive to formally take youth on as an apprentice. Also under YES, the Summer Work Experience program provides wage subsidies to employers to support career related summer jobs for students, including jobs in the skilled trades. EAP 2013 provides funding to Pathways to Education Canada, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping youth in low-income communities graduate from high school and successfully transition into post-secondary education. The organization assists students in obtaining the skills they need to enter an apprenticeship, or other rewarding occupations. New funding will build on the $20 million previously announced in EAP 2010. Finally, Skills Canada, with federal funding, likewise promotes careers in the skilled trades and technology to young people, in particular through annual skills competitions. All stakeholders have a role to play to ensure continued progress on apprenticeship Our Government recognizes that Canada’s long-term prosperity depends on equipping Canadians, and especially young Canadians, with the skills they need to succeed in in-demand jobs, such as those in the trades. Working in collaboration with the provinces and territories, our Government has made solid progress to improve apprenticeship in Canada, and is committed to doing more. However, while governments play an important role in improving economic opportunities for young apprentices, they cannot act alone. To maintain momentum, all stakeholders – including governments, apprentices, employers, educational institutions, parents and unions – must commit to ongoing collaboration to build upon successes and lessons learned. Responsibility for continuing to improve apprenticeship is shared by all stakeholders, and employers play a particularly critical role. An example of an important opportunity for partnership between multiple stakeholders is the Canada Job Grant. In Economic Action Plan 2013, the Government indicated its intention to negotiate the renewal and transformation of various labour agreements with provinces and territories. We will use a portion of these funds to create jobs directly for Canadians via the new Canada Job Grant, by matching federal contributions of up to $5,000 for skills training with those of employers and provinces and territories. In this way, we are working to increase employment through connecting Canadians with high demand jobs. The Grant can facilitate the entry of Canadians into apprenticeships, and I am consulting with provincial and territorial governments regarding their interest in participating in this federal initiative. In conclusion, while a broad suite of programs and initiatives to support apprenticeship is already in place and is functioning well, our Government will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of these instruments and in particular, explore ways to increase the appeal of careers in the skilled trades to Canada’s youth. We trust that this Response will provide the Committee with the assurance that our Government has taken important steps and will continue to support improvements to apprenticeship across Canada. We would like to commend efforts made by members of the Committee, and the many witnesses who appeared before it for their valuable perspectives and contributions. Our Government remains fully committed to continue to take concerted action with our provincial and territorial partners, industry and other stakeholders to assist with Canada’s skilled labour shortages through support of apprenticeship and the skilled trades. Sincerely, Hon. Jason Kenney, PC, MP |