OTTAWA – The federal budget makes clear Ottawa will enforce the contentious Canada Job Grant in just six weeks, with or without co-operation from the provinces and territories.
“In jurisdictions where agreements are not secured,” says Tuesday’s document, the government will deliver its signature national job training program starting April 1, through Service Canada.
That’s to ensure “employers and Canadians in all jurisdictions have the opportunity to benefit from the grant.”
The Tories will also renegotiate the $1.95 billion-a-year Labour Market Development Agreements, as promised, so that job training is matched to the demands of labour markets. The funds are specifically designed to support workers across Canada who qualify for employment insurance.
The proposed Canada Job Grant aims to provide $15,000 per eligible worker, divided equally among Ottawa, the provinces and employers. In the face of a hue and cry from the provinces, Employment Minister Jason Kenney recently offered to cover the provincial portion of grant, upping the feds’ share to $10,000.
But Kenney’s provincial and territorial counterparts argue they’d still be forced to remove $300 million in federal money from existing provincially run programs for youth, aboriginals and disabled citizens.
The provinces and territories have presented a united front to the government on the job grant, recently sending a counter-offer to Kenney that proposed more flexibility in how they would pay their share and less onerous requirements for corporate participation.
Kenney, who frequently laments the country’s supposed shortage of skilled workers, has yet to respond to their offer though Tuesday’s budget was another signal the federal government plans to press ahead unilaterally if needed.
Connecting Canadians with available jobs – from aging citizens to new immigrants and those with disabilities – while addressing the skills shortage via beefed-up training programs was a key theme of Tuesday’s budget.
Among the new tools in the Conservatives’ skills-training arsenal is the creation of the Canada Apprentice Loan, an expansion of the Canada Student Loans Program.
The fund will provide apprentices in so-called Red Seal trades with access to more than $100 million in interest-free loans every year to help them pay for their training.
“At least 26,000 apprentices per year are expected to apply,” the budget document states.
The government starkly lays out the argument in its economic blueprint that a serious skills shortage is vexing Canadian employers, citing a litany of reports – from organizations ranging from Engineers Canada to a professional recruitment agency – to make its case.
To that end, the Tories announced a further $75 million over three years to assist unemployed older workers by renewing its so-called Targeted Initiative for Older Workers program. The initiative will also be expanded to communities “experiencing unfulfilled employer demand and-or skills mismatches,” says the document.
Other multimillion-dollar new investments on the jobs and skills front include:
– $40 million toward supporting up to 3,000 internships for young graduates in high-demand fields;
– $11.8 million over two years, and $3.3 million a year, to launch an enhanced job-matching service to help connect Canadians with jobs;
– $11 million over two years, and $3.5 million a year, to reform the contentious Temporary Foreign Worker Program to ensure that Canadians are first in line for available jobs;
– $14 million over two years, and $4.7 million a year, to implement the so-called Expression of Interest economic immigration system. The program allows the federal and provincial governments to actively target highly skilled would-be immigrants to Canada;
The Conservatives also pointed to the announcement last year of $222 million annually for a new generation of so-called labour market agreements for people with disabilities, estimating there are approximately 800,000 working-age Canadians with disabilities “who are not working even though their disability does not prevent them from doing so.”
The money is matched by provinces and territories.
Further to those initiatives, this year’s budget pledges $15 million over three years to the so-called Ready, Willing and Able program of the Canadian Association for Community Living. The Tories also announced $11.4 million over four years to support the expansion of vocational training programs for people with autism.
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