Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank all for having us represent the Alliance of Sector Councils at this meeting.
I am speaking on behalf of 30 sector councils that come together in the alliance. I myself am actually president of the one sector council that looks after the tourism industry.
Sector councils were established in the late 1980s, and they were established to address labour market issues. They brought together the labour market partners from each sector: business, labour, education, and government. They were an innovative approach to addressing labour market issues at the time, and probably still are. They are partly supported by the federal government, but also partly supported by industry and by the other labour market partners.
The biggest labour market issue for sectors is the skills and labour shortage. This will affect Canada's competitiveness--no doubt. You've all heard the stories coming out of Alberta and British Columbia about the issues people are facing in the construction industry.
Just as a small anecdote, the Tim Hortons in the oil patch in northern Alberta is now paying $35 an hour. They're only working from ten until four, and that is because they cannot find enough staff. This is going to happen to all sectors very shortly, and over the next ten years it will get progressively worse.
Sector councils are in a unique position to be able to address that and other issues related to skills and competitiveness. They work with the under-represented groups to try to increase the labour pool in Canada. They work to more efficiently move people into the right sector and the right job, saving time and effort. They work to increase productivity, which will become a major issue for all of us very shortly. They do this by developing occupational standards and skill standards, by introducing credentials in areas where there are none, in developing workplace training materials, and helping employers to retain the workers they have.
This is one of the best tools we have at the national level to address competitiveness and productivity. We as sector councils would urge you to continue to have the federal government support us, in partnership with the other labour market partners.
Thank you.