The federation itself is an umbrella organization for unions, so we don't train directly, but many of our affiliates do. In fact, when it comes to taking on apprentices and training them for the jobs in the oil sands and elsewhere in construction, the building trades unions do the lion's share of the training.
One thing we've seen over the last number of years is efforts made by non-unionized construction firms to poach the well-trained people who are working for unionized construction firms. It's a big battle, and often ends up in a bidding war, because a lot of the non-union construction companies simply aren't investing in training in the same way the unionized firms are. It's a priority, but the reality is that simply too many projects have been approved at once. We just can't keep up with the demand.
Alberta has more apprentices in training as a proportion of our labour force than has any other province. In response to the big demand for skilled trades, our unions have stepped up to the plate, and they remain the biggest trainers of skilled trades in the province.