Human Resources Committee on Dec. 8th, 2011

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brant, ON]

Can I interject before I go to the other gentlemen, not to cut you guys off.

If I might interpret that in my own mind, it would be perhaps something like what RIM has done in Waterloo, which is a high-tech industry that makes BlackBerrys. They have taken some of their corporate profits and put them into the Perimeter Institute to develop the kind of talent they need in the future.

It's a kind of private-public—in their case they have solely funded it. But even if the public were to get involved with tax dollars, private-public partnerships—perhaps in a polytechnic or a community college of sorts that would train up the skills that you're looking for—is that something that's feasible in your mind?

[Scott Jobin-Bevans]

I'll let Ryan take it in a second, but I'd say that the ASEP program was a good example of that because it actually developed skills that were needed by the industry, specific skill sets. Those types of programs are what I'm speaking about, I suppose.

[Ryan Montpellier]

It's a good question, and it's a difficult one to answer.

I think most mines today have a finite life. By the time the mine moves into a community, builds the mine, extracts the resource, and moves out, you want to make sure that the mining company leaves a legacy. And that legacy often is a very skilled and competent workforce that can then move on to other opportunities, be it in the mining sector or other sectors, because they have transferrable skills now that can be applied to other sectors.

We see that in a number of mining communities today, where a mining company will come in and hire somebody where the hiring requirement is a high school minimum. The individual doesn't have a high school diploma, but they will still be hired. The company will provide the employee with company time to go off and write that GED or the high school equivalent, or to fund a technician or technology degree—something along those lines so they can get the most value out of the employee during the course of the mine. But when, in time, the mine does close—and we all know they eventually all do—this workforce is not left with nothing. They are left with a legacy, which is often a very skilled workforce.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you for that exchange.

We'll move on now to Mr. Cuzner to conclude the questioning.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Thanks very much for being here, guys. I appreciate your comments.

Could you fill me in a little bit more on the Mining Matters stuff? It sounds like a neat idea. You say there are three tiers, three levels, to it. Do you go into a school system and take it over a period of time? I would imagine the first one is just to sort of kindle some kind of interest in geology and exploration and what have you, and then it goes from there. Could you expand on what it is you want to get out of it?

[Scott Jobin-Bevans]

Sure. It was really developed and backed by industry to bring geosciences into the curriculum. That was the main target at the beginning, really. So we slipstream into the Ontario curriculum. I can't remember the exact age. We'll say grades 2 or 3, and then the mid-tier is around grades 6 and 7, and there's even a grade 11 component, and it is to engage them and teach them about geosciences. We go into the schools and teach the teachers how to teach about geoscience.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

It's a teach the teacher thing?

[Scott Jobin-Bevans]

Yes, there's that component as well, and we make it very low cost. I think it's something in the order of $60 to come into the session to learn how to teach it. We have toolkits that we give them, including the materials to demonstrate with.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Would you go to a remote community with this as well?

[Glenn Nolan]

Yes.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Give me an example of how small a community you would go to.

[Glenn Nolan]

Noront sponsors Mining Matters to go into communities with as few as 28 or 30 children. For us, it's about providing the idea that there are other options for the children. Most children don't see geologists, they don't see engineers. They don't experience what the industry has to offer in their community because there are limited employment opportunities. This provides them with a larger picture from which they can now start to choose when they start to consider opportunities.

I think back to when I was a young kid. My father was a welder, and that's what I wanted to be, because I had a role model, and I think that's what kids need to see.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

There was a witness the other day who mentioned that everybody in one particular community wanted to drive a bulldozer, because that's what they were seeing as well.

It sounds like a neat program that would have an impact. Are you able to measure your success with the program?

[Glenn Nolan]

There are indicators to demonstrate success. I don't have those in front of me, but they have a certain response mechanism that demonstrates how many kids are actually informed. I think we can get that information for you.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay. It just sounded like a neat program.

[Scott Jobin-Bevans]

I would just add that, in a very short time—through MiHR, for instance, and their work in the exploration side on statistics—we have seen a nice increase actually in youth who are interested and engaged in the geosciences, quite a nice bump actually, and that's just recent data.

So we hope we'll see that transition through, and an increase in the next five to 10 years.

For us, the big thing about the program is that it opens the eyes, as Glenn pointed out, to career opportunities that they may never have thought of. And we're moving into other provinces. We're translating into French to go into Quebec. We're trying to move into Manitoba. You know, it takes time.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Absolutely.

I have a question for Mr. Montpellier. You indicated that there would be some sectors that would be able to step back and reassess the cancellation of the federal funding and still be able to provide, but that there will be some casualties here.

First of all, is there a dollar amount, a global dollar amount, that has been cut?

[Ryan Montpellier]

There is. My understanding for the sector council program as a whole was in the order of $75 million to $80 million a year. When they announced the cut to the sector council program, Minister Finley announced a new fund that would focus on labour market information, national occupational standards, and certification and accreditation programs. That, for us, is quite strategic and aligns with our direction in our sector.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

But there would be other sectors that would be—

[Ryan Montpellier]

Yes, there are a number of sectors that will no longer continue their operation and some sector councils will fold. Some of them already have announced they will, and others will continue.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

And what do you see—

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Your time is up, so if you can make it short.... Do you want to pursue something?

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

The final question would be, what do you see as some of the negative outcomes of that, not being able to provide for them to go forward?

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

A short response, if you can.

[Ryan Montpellier]

For some organizations, I think there will be a lack of labour market intelligence. For some sectors, if their industries truly value that information they'll find a way to continue to generate it on their own. But I think the information will be less comprehensive.