I think the short answer to that is, yes, there is a government role.
Companies like Shell and Syncrude aren't charities. They understand fully that if they are going to be able to develop the sorts of facilities they need, they need a follow-on workforce. They've done the demographic modelling. They've looked at the numbers. They've taken the construction sector council numbers, the mining sector council numbers, the petroleum sector council numbers, and the electrical sector council numbers and had comparisons done of their own privately, and understand that skilled people are at a minimum.
Do you insist on having apprenticeships? They do. They find that it's productive. The study done by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, which says $1.00 spent on an apprentice has $1.47 return, seems to bear that out.
I speak as someone who's worked as an apprentice. Two people are working together; if one is making $40 an hour and one is making $20 an hour, the blended wage rate is $30 an hour. If two guys are working at $40 an hour, the blended rate is $80 an hour. A number of people have seen this. The school of thought that says it's too much trouble for us to bother with this is just a cop-out, respectfully.