Evidence of meeting #47 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was trade.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Colin Reynolds Conservative Elmwood—Transcona, MB
To follow up on that, Ms. Lovelady, what does a national framework look like to you?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Academy Canada
To me, a national framework would be helping the provinces and territories act in concert without getting in the way of their responsibilities. It would be developing a common language and a better scope of what all the available trades are beyond Red Seal so that folks who are trying to make a decision about what career to choose will get a sense of what is out there in terms of the full scope. It seems a bit fragmented right now, so this type of framework as more of a maestro than an enforcer would be ideal for me to see.
Conservative
Colin Reynolds Conservative Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you.
Ms. Watts-Rynard, could you add to that as well? What does a national framework look like to you?
Chief Executive Officer, Polytechnics Canada
In my view, a framework has to be about the checks and balances to really understand where we're having success in moving labour to places of shortage and moving it away from places where there's perhaps excess. That has to do with, absolutely, having a list of trades and an understanding of what's required.
A good place to start is on projects of national interest and trying to think through what trades are required at what stage, and then where we have excess and where we have a shortage. To me, the framework is a place to understand the requirements for achieving, and how successful we are at achieving, the right people in the right place at the right time.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Mr. Reynolds.
To conclude, we'll go to Ms. Harrison for five minutes.
Liberal
Emma Harrison Liberal Peterborough, ON
Thank you to the witnesses for being here.
So many of the barriers that you're speaking about remind me of my childhood and my dad being a skilled tradesperson. He was willing to move, and he could sometimes handle the inconsistencies of work because at times he made up for that with farming. He would work seasonally in northern Alberta or northern Ontario in the winters and then come back and farm in the summer. It left a huge burden on my mother to be the person who consistently had to work in a job she maybe didn't love to have, but they needed that consistency to support the family.
I was wondering, Ms. Lovelady or Ms. Watts-Rynard, what supports you would like to see for smaller, rural, northern or private training institutions. What alignment would you need to see in programs for them to meet common standards?
Chief Executive Officer, Polytechnics Canada
Lisa, do you want to go first on that?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Academy Canada
Do you mean what alignment would I like to see in terms of common standards? Is that the question?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Academy Canada
Okay. Thank you.
Basically, I'm forecasting that instead of our Newfoundland and Labrador-trained workers leaving, we will have to figure out the qualifications and credentials of people coming in. That is my hope.
Having a common language so that it can be done quickly without.... You want to make sure that folks are qualified, safe and able to do the work they're coming here to do. You want to make sure that, as I said, a common language is there. If you say, “This is what you're qualified to do”, what does that really mean? The names of programs can be different across the country, in different provinces and territories.
I hope that answers the question. It's just something that lets you figure out fairly quickly if this is a match or, if it's not a match, figure out pretty quickly what the upskilling requirements are to get a little adjustment to make sure you're ready for the job at hand.
Chief Executive Officer, Polytechnics Canada
I'll add that skilled trades programming in particular is very expensive to deliver. Not all institutions will be able to deliver everything that is required in a given community.
There are opportunities. We have big institutions—my members among them—that are more than capable of being able to assist. When we look at an institution like the British Columbia Institute of Technology, as an example, we see that it has a provincial mandate. It can do things because it's a large institution. It has a bit more breadth and flexibility, and it's able to deliver some of the training and expertise out into more rural and remote areas, in concert with its colleague colleges across the country. We also see a number of big institutions doing things like sending out trades trailers and thinking about how they can deliver training closer to community.
Those solutions are going to be more and more important in an environment where institutions are financially strained. We have to figure out ways to be able to benefit the entirety of the system and try not to leave rural or remote institutions to carry that burden on their own. They will not be able to.
Liberal
Emma Harrison Liberal Peterborough, ON
For both witnesses, if there's time, how would you say prior learning and work experience should be assessed without creating shortcuts and undermining full trade competence?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Academy Canada
As someone who has done prior learning assessment recognition with folks, I'd say that it is a process, because you're trying to figure out if they have non-formal credentials and if all their learning has been on the job. You're trying to figure it out how their learning and what they've done compare to the curriculum you have. It's a process that involves instructors and doing the authentic assessments that I mentioned earlier.
If we're trying to figure out where they are in terms of their strengths and challenges, we get them in the shop and say, “Okay, show us what you can do.” We have assessments where we have them using the grinder or welding a bead and going through that process. It's a one-to-one or small group process. It's intensive, but it does help individuals to not have to complete the entire program. They would only do pieces of it to fill the gaps. That's been my experience with it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Harrison.
That concludes this round of questioning.
Madame Larouche, if you could stay, I have three administrative items we have to deal with.
Go ahead, Mr. Genuis.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
This is an administrative note. We don't have to make a decision, but I'll put it out there. Given that we're getting a lot of interesting recommendations from witnesses who may not all be able to contribute to amendments, I wonder if we could consider also having the analysts prepare a bit of a report separate from the bill that would contain some of the recommendations we're hearing. I don't think it makes sense to make a decision on that now, but I want to put it out there as a suggestion. Maybe we can return to it later.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
That's a good idea. There's good information coming. Remind me to deal with that.
We thank the witnesses for appearing in the second hour. You can leave at your leisure.
I have three items to deal with. We need budgets to do these studies. The clerk has circulated the following budgets.
First, Bill C-266, which we're currently doing, has an estimated budget of $7,200 attached to it. Is it approved?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
On food price inflation and the national school food program, it's $16,700, which is an estimate.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I guess the price of food has gone up, Chair.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Attached to that, I need a motion adopted. This was agreed to earlier. The motion reads:
That, in relation to the study on EI parental leave in Canada, the committee offer mental health support to the witnesses, and that the clerk be authorized to make the necessary arrangements, if requested.
This is similar to when we were doing the private member's bill on the premature death of a child.