Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the invitation to appear today as part of your pre-budget consultations.
The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum was happy to submit a brief to summarize our recommendations for your budget as you consider designing the upcoming economic competitiveness piece of it.
Apprenticeship was offering young people work-integrated learning well before it became fashionable. It is the most intensive example of employer engagement in skills development and is entirely responsive to workplace demand. Apprenticeship prepares young people with a talent for problem-solving for a long-term, well-paid career in more than 300 occupations. It is a practical solution to the talent shortage that keeps Canada's employers in sectors such as construction, manufacturing, forestry and mining awake at night, yet apprenticeship isn't well understood.
Parents, youth and many government decision-makers believe apprenticeship to be a last-resort post-secondary pathway for non-academic students. While many Canadians know that employers deliver apprenticeship in the workplace, few grasp the challenges of work-based training. The reality is that apprentices in most trades need strong essential skills and advanced knowledge in math and science to be successful. They rely on consistent employment in order to progress, to complete and to become certified. Because our system treats apprentices like employees rather than learners, apprentices are vulnerable to economic conditions. This also serves to place the majority of the training burden on small and medium-sized employers.
Lately, the federal discussion around apprenticeship training has been quite narrow. Yes, there is room for more women, indigenous people, newcomers and at-risk populations in apprenticeship training, but there remain important advances for these groups in all aspects of Canadian life and work, from corporate boardrooms to research labs. The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum urges you to consider a number of broader opportunities to assist apprentices and their employers, because, frankly, Canada needs more tradespeople.
As a starting point, we would urge government to ensure that programs do not inadvertently value one post-secondary pathway above another. This means that programs under the youth employment strategy banner and those focusing on supporting school-to-work transition should be inclusive of all learners. We urge you to take into account the unique nature of apprenticeship training as you consider deepening commitments to work-integrated learning. For example, platforms designed to connect students to employers should also be mindful of the critical need for the apprentices to remain gainfully employed.
We also ask the committee to reflect on the value proposition that a small investment in apprenticeship research would have for Canada's skilled trades community. An annual investment of $5 million would ensure that employers understand the return on their investment in apprenticeship training, would give parents and youth insights into employment outcomes and would collect feedback from today's apprentices about the realities they face. When young apprentices understand the economic value of their trade certification, they will be more inclined, we believe, to complete their training. While research and data collection have been priorities of the federal government, the apprenticeship community has not yet been a net beneficiary of these investments.
Our submission also speaks to more tangible opportunities.
CAF is calling on the federal government to work with its public sector unions to hire apprentices across federal operations and to implement contracts protecting employment to the point of certification. If there is an expectation that small and medium-sized businesses must invest in training the next generation of tradespeople, the federal government must set the example.
Further, we recommend a review of the employment insurance system, which for too long has been ill-equipped to deal with apprentice training.
Finally, from among our ideas to enhance apprenticeship training, I would like to highlight a couple of examples that appear on page 5 of our submission. Initiatives in B.C. and Manitoba address the housing crisis and employment shortages among indigenous peoples by engaging local youth to build energy-efficient homes and community buildings. These programs support skills development, offer sustainable employment and lead to trade certification. With funding support from the federal government, these initiatives stand to have a generational impact.
It is an economic certainty that we need young men and women to become skilled tradespeople. In your deliberations about innovation and productivity, I encourage you to consider how we can best support apprenticeship learners on their journey to become certified. It will be this group that will make up the next generation of builders, fixers, operators and creators.
Thank you.