Of course the provinces control most of the direct policy levers in this area.
In direct response, what have we done to encourage and increase private sector investment in skills development? The answer is that we are retooling all of the major federal skills development programs, most of which are transfers to provinces and territories to emphasise the importance of employer involvement to get the employers to put more skin in the game. That was the whole point behind the Canada job grant.
Employers tell us, especially the SMEs, that the number one reason they don't spend more on apprenticeship and other training programs is that they are concerned about poaching, that if they invest $10,000 or $20,000 in an apprentice or training program, the young person will, once fully certified, be poached by a bigger employer with deeper pockets and a larger payroll.
The idea of the job grant was to reduce the risk exposure for SMEs to invest in skills training. If we came in and offset, say, two-thirds of the training unit costs, they would then be more comfortable putting in one-third of the cost. It diminishes the risk for employers who are involved in training, and we're very hopeful. It's too early to say whether that will be a success or not, but we're very hopeful about the model.
Similarly, we got provinces to commit to the new Canada job fund agreements, which is the new version of the old labour market agreements, to put at least 40% of their programming into employer-led training, so employers put more skin in the game there.
Regarding labour market development agreements, we're trying to get the provinces to renew the LMDAs. That's a $2-billion EI premium-funded training program for unemployed Canadians. We're asking them to make a key emphasis on programs that are employer led and demand driven, moving from the old 1970s manpower training model, which was supply driven, to a 21st century employer demand-driven model where they have to put money in to benefit from the program. That's what we're trying to do. We need the cooperation of provinces and we're starting to get it.