The statistic that 19% of Canadian companies hire an apprentice is a general statistic on Canada. We need to do better in this country to improve that number. The number in construction is actually higher than 19%. It's more in the 30% range, the percentage of construction companies that actually hire an apprentice.
We think that the requirement for a contractor to submit a training plan is something that has worked in Alberta. When a large energy company puts out an RFP to build an oil sands facility or to upgrade a facility, part of the request for proposal document specifies that any contractor who is bidding must also, as part of the bid, submit a training plan on this job site to show how they plan to use apprentices. Our vision would include some sort of combination of a training plan and a measuring tool that the contractor uses to report to the federal government to talk about their training levels. Sometimes these RFPs are very specific, dictating percentages of first-year apprentices, second-year apprentices, and third-year apprentices in an attempt to bring young people and under-represented groups into the skilled trades.