Thank you, Sarah.
First off, I wish to thank you for this opportunity to discuss a very important issue facing the economic growth in our country. Canada has a thriving, heavy industrial sector. The portion of industry that I represent has in excess of 1.6 billion workforce hours in pipelines, utilities, and oil sands new construction, which is scheduled to be built by 2020.
I represent a segment of industry that in part is working hard to assist with the attraction, education, development, and sustainment of the apprenticeship program.
There are three items that I'll point out.
Number one, the national owners' forum of the Construction Sector Council is a group of large industrial owners from across Canada that has identified the need for apprenticeship growth as part of its 26 step plan for developing a sustainable resource base.
Number two, working with the Alberta owners and the members of the Canadian executive board of the building trades of Canada, the requirement for sustained apprenticeship growth has been identified as a key success factor for construction and maintenance activities of our large industrial work places.
Number three, members of the oil sands owners community have assisted in the development of the ACTIMS and CISAA entities, which provide a simple mandate for maintenance and construction activities of principally the oil sands sector. Simply stated, these two entities facilitate the supply of skilled and qualified workers for the owners' projects with a focus on Alberta and Canadian content.
Solutions are multifaceted and include non-traditional approaches in the education and marketing of these opportunities for youth and parents. We need to focus on women, aboriginal peoples, mature workers, immigration, secondary careers for individuals, programs such as helmets to hardhats, and temporary foreign workers.
In terms of the skilled trades, this will only start with apprenticeships and the various programs that assist to identify aptitude and skill. Programs to support the co-op registered apprenticeship program and pre-apprenticeship academic training are a start. The issue remains our timeframe. We require these skills now.
Apprentices play a huge role in these workplaces for the foreseeable future. We need to market our opportunities, create a strategy for growth, modify our approach in our educational institutions, assist with monetary offsets during their education, and force incentives on employers to utilize these individuals as an investment for the future of all Canadians.
Thank you, and we welcome your questions.