moved for leave to introduce Bill C-267, An Act to provide for the establishment of national standards for labour market training, apprenticeship and certification.
Mr. Speaker, as a journeyman carpenter myself, a tradesman, I am especially pleased to rise today, also in conjunction with the annual conference of the Canadian Office of the Building Trade Council, to introduce a bill about the skills shortage crisis that we face as a nation.
Apprenticeship is the most natural way to communicate craft trade skills from one generation to the next and yet for years and years the federal government has ignored apprenticeship as a training strategy and we are facing this skill shortage crisis today as a result.
The bill seeks to establish national standards for apprenticeship curriculums, standardize entrance requirements and school to work transition measures so that apprentices do not wait until they are 28 years old to join a trade. They can do it right out of high school. It also seeks to encourage more apprenticeable trades. Whereas Canada only has 40 or 50 apprenticeable trades, Germany has 400. We should be going in that direction if we are to meet the skills shortage demands of the future.
I am very proud to present the bill and hope it has broad support from all members of the House.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)