Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable members. I appreciate the opportunity to address you as part of this important study on labour shortages, particularly as they impact Canada's caring economy.
I come to this topic as the CEO at Polytechnics Canada, a not-for-profit association representing 13 research-intensive, publicly funded polytechnics and institutes of technology. Collectively, our members provide education and training to more than 375,000 learners each year.
Polytechnics provide industry-aligned programming that builds in real-world experience to ensure that graduates enter the labour market ready to hit the ground running. Our members offer a breadth of credentials across sectors in high demand, including four-year bachelor's degrees, diplomas and graduate certificates.
Frankly, Canada's polytechnics train the vast majority of workers in the caring economy. This includes practical nurses, respiratory therapists, veterinary technicians, personal support workers, early learning professionals, dental hygienists and many others. Their close relationships with employers in these sectors also mean that polytechnics are leaders in the delivery of upskilling and re-skilling opportunities, including professional development and micro-credentials.
During the pandemic, this has included training to administer COVID-19 vaccines and short courses for nurses to enhance their urgent-care skills. The training offered by polytechnics is responsive and relevant, flexing as new requirements emerge. Because skill shortages tend to be urgent by the time anyone is talking about them, this ability to develop and deliver training quickly, whether to students or to existing employees, is absolutely critical.
As I reflect on the ways in which Canada's polytechnics can mitigate skills and talent shortages in the caring economy, two overarching policy recommendations come to mind. The first is to increase access, navigation and support for lifelong learning. There is long-standing recognition of the need for reliable, timely labour market information. While there are many groups developing LMI, from a general sense of skills in demand to data that is more industry- and occupation-specific, they rarely use comparable language or methodologies, making it difficult to integrate or navigate. Even if Canadians knew where to find this information, LMI is rarely linked to specific jobs or training opportunities.
Today's technology is capable of something much better. Every Canadian should have access to a dashboard that highlights specific areas of skill shortage in their occupation or region and a directory of where those skills can be acquired—in short, a Netflix for training opportunities.
At last count, Canada's polytechnics had more than 17,000 short-term upskilling and re-skilling programs on the books, many related to the caring economy. We would like to see more deliberate navigation to these opportunities, allowing users to understand where training is available and at what cost, duration and delivery method. Better navigation stands to amplify the impact of lifelong learning supports like the Canada training benefit.
Second, the federal government can make ongoing investments in post-secondary learning infrastructure a part of Canada's growth and development plan. To deal with existing and emerging skill shortages, post-secondary infrastructure must keep pace with industry needs, exposing learners to the latest tools, technologies and labs.
In two previous post-secondary infrastructure programs, the last more than six years ago, the case was clear. Institutions enhanced research facilities and built dynamic new spaces for Canada's talent pipeline. The need for a modern learning infrastructure is foundational to addressing talent and skill shortages. This will inevitably include physical and digital infrastructure that matches the pace and expectations of business. It is hard to develop tomorrow's talent with yesterday's spaces, equipment and tools.
I'll offer one last thought for the committee's consideration as part of this study. Canada's post-secondary institutions themselves are not immune to acute skill shortages. This has huge consequences for the talent pipeline. For example, in February British Columbia increased the number of nursing seats at its post-secondary institutions by 600. Manitoba also recently increased theirs by 400. Both were in direct response to urgent and imminent shortages in that occupation.
As I've said, a defining feature and benefit of polytechnic education is a direct connection to industry, including an emphasis on bringing professional practitioners into classrooms and labs as instructors. When demand is on the rise, so too are salary pressures. This is something that publicly funded institutions have really limited means to address.
When it comes to skill shortages in the caring economy, Canada’s polytechnics are well-positioned to respond. There are, however, important ways this capacity can be nurtured and maximized.
Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.