Evidence of meeting #30 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
One of the consistent criticisms that we've heard is a lack of long-term ongoing sustainable funding. I don't know how you plan without it.
Conservative
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here. I appreciate your time.
I have a couple of things. I'm not very familiar with the biotech industry at all. I'm just wondering if you could just explain some of the typical jobs that are there in the biotech industry that seem to be burgeoning at the moment.
Executive Director, BioTalent Canada
Depending on what you're talking about, as I explained, about 80% of the biotechnology companies currently in Canada are SMEs. We define that as small and medium enterprises of less than 50 employees. A lot of these companies are facing two challenges.
Number one is that they were typically started by a scientist who may not necessarily have the business acumen to attract capital investment and who is wearing a multitude of hats.
Number two is that they are companies that typically have a research and development cycle that is very long and not very politically sustainable. I use that term to mean that it doesn't get political awards within a political mandate of four years. A lot of the time, though, they are a sector that can reap long-term rewards a great deal for a country. Within a short-term mandate, it's very difficult to get anything tangible out the door within three or four years.
The challenges they are facing right now are capital investment and being able to sustain. They are burning up capital as fast as it is coming in the door.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Can you highlight any specific skills within your sector that are currently experiencing shortages, or shortages that you are expecting in the future?
Executive Director, BioTalent Canada
Certainly. In terms of the specific skills, right now we are certainly looking at it in biomanufacturing. That is essentially a horizontal across many, many verticals, from agricultural and agrifood, etc. About 30% of biomanufacturers right now are looking for skills to fill those jobs. That's certainly one that our labour market information of 2009 indicated.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Be a little bit more specific. What is the skill that is missing?
Executive Director, BioTalent Canada
The difference between the manufacturing—
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Let me just finish.
Also, with respect to some of your bridging programs, are they actually being done at some of the colleges and schools that will actually allow these people to get the bridging education needed for this technology?
Executive Director, BioTalent Canada
Currently, to answer your first question, the specific skills that are lacking between manufacturing and biomanufacturing are essentially a set of skills called “good manufacturing practices”, which is a labour standard that is set by the industry itself that exceeds that which is right now employed by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and the agrifood industry here in Canada.
Our program currently allows unemployed and underemployed manufacturers to up those skills by taking a good manufacturing practices skills check, and have it verified by an actual professional in the biotechnology field. That's a program that we've instituted through a grant from the Government of Canada, and is currently operating.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
It specifically uses things like cleanliness and the use of special tools, etc., that are not available in general manufacturing. Is that what you're talking about?
Executive Director, BioTalent Canada
That's correct. They are operational standards that exceed the current government regulations for biomanufacturing. These are for anything that's dealing with food products or products that are invasive to the human body.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
You talked in general terms about all the percentages, but how many jobs are we going to be short next year, or the year after, or five or ten years from now?
Executive Director, BioTalent Canada
I would love to give you a general statement on that, but because the bio-economy is so vast—from the large pharma to nanotechnology and everything else—right now it's all over the map. There is going to be a deficiency in pharmaceuticals and pharmacology because of the clip it's going at. But there is going to be great growth in fields like nanotechnology; agrifood, which is booming right now; and sustainable development technology, as Grant has already expanded upon.
Conservative
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
Sorry that I took all of the time with you, Mr. Henderson.
Executive Director, BioTalent Canada
Sorry. I'll try to be brief next time.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
On the eco-side, you've talked about lots of skills, etc., that are needed. What are the biggest areas of the skill gap that we're facing?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Environmental Careers Organization of Canada
We're seeing skill gaps in renewable energy and energy efficiency areas because they are, again, expanding; as well as around retrofitting and construction.
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, Environmental Careers Organization of Canada
When we're talking about measurement, for example, we're talking about renewable energy and energy efficiency—measuring pollutants that are being emitted, greenhouse gas measurements, carbon measurements, carbon loadings, carbon inventories.
ECO Canada, through our certification program, is the only organization—I won't be able to say this very often—in the world right now that is ISO-accredited to certify greenhouse gas verifiers and quantifiers. That process has been in existence for about a year now. The vast majority of our applicants are from outside Canada, because there is no regulatory regime within Canada that's pushing people in that area.
We're also seeing huge gaps with respect to technical people not having managerial skills, not having communication skills, because they're coming from science, engineering, and technology backgrounds.
We have a whole list of national occupational standards, which are all electronic, that individuals can measure their competencies against, and then be directed toward training to fill those competencies.
Conservative
Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON
ISO 14000, I believe, is the ISO standard that's internationally recognized for the environment. Are you involved in any upgrades modifying that because that's been around for quite a while now?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Environmental Careers Organization of Canada
Yes, ECO Canada is Canada's national certifier for ISO 14000 environmental management systems auditor, so we are the only organization in Canada that accredits or certifies those particular auditors.
Conservative
