Human Resources committee  Every person I've talked to about EI or about apprenticeship—every person, every level—everyone's always had a problem, always. Yesterday I was at Algonquin College, and this is one of the things all the teachers said to me. They said to make sure I bring this up, because it pisses them off all the time.

Human Resources committee  In connection with Skills Canada and what Shaun's saying about the prestige, they work really hard on that. I don't even work in a shop anymore as a mechanic. It says on my business card, “Director of Business Development” at a big company. If anyone asks me where I went to school, I don't even have a diploma; I have a mechanic's licence.

Human Resources committee  When mechanics are perceived as dirty and working in a trade that any Joe on the street can pick up a wrench and do, and when people don't necessarily see how much money they can make as a mechanic, why would any woman ever want to go and work on a car? Why?

Human Resources committee  Income, the prestige.... As you said, essentially now you're part electrician, part computer technologist, if you will, and part mechanic. The actual changing of parts is the easy part. Getting there is everything else. It's all the hard work to get there. The perception isn't there for a lot of the trades.

Human Resources committee  I'll just mention one or two of the biggest challenges for skilled trades. There's the perception that in certain trades there's no regulation, and that any Joe can put his hat on and say it's Joe's Garage, without a licence or any experience. When you don't associate a certain prestige to having that licence or having attained that level of certification, or when the certification is not mandatory—

Human Resources committee  Yes. If you mandate excellence, if you raise the bar, everyone who reaches that bar has a prestigious title. I'm not just a mechanic; I try to always call myself an automotive service technician. It sounds a little better. An automotive service technician could be held in the same regard as a low-level engineer, because that is essentially what we do.

Human Resources committee  Okay.

Human Resources committee  They need to have the opportunity to work with the tools. If they do not have the tools at home and no one works with their hands, if there is no auto mechanic or welding program at their high school and if they only have theory, youth will not have the opportunity to learn these trades.

Human Resources committee  We are talking about working with their hands. They have to be given that opportunity.

Human Resources committee  I was straight out of high school. I started my apprenticeship program at Algonquin College in level 1. I was 16 years old, still technically a high school student, and that was through a youth apprenticeship program. There are those youth apprenticeship programs across Canada, various iterations of them, depending on the province.

Human Resources committee  Before explaining my circumstances for that, I just want to say that in my job right now, a lot of times I've given presentations to college teachers. Next month I'm going to be presenting to about 50 college teachers. I'm talking to hundreds of college teachers throughout the course of the year, and everywhere I go, no matter where it is—Canada, the United States, any province, any city, any town—all the teachers I talk to are saying that the students they are getting lack the basic skills.

Human Resources committee  There are a couple of different challenges there. In a way it's the chicken-and-egg paradox. First, if you're doing a regular apprenticeship program you have to get the job first, but how do you get the job if you're not an apprentice? In certain trades that's going to be easier than in others, but for the most part you have to start off as a bit of a go-getter to get the job first, and then sign up as an apprentice with the ministry, and then continue on.

Human Resources committee  I'll try to make this quick. My name is Nathan Banke. I am a journeyperson as an automotive service technician—a car mechanic, if you will. I went through an apprenticeship system. I started off with the Ontario youth apprenticeship system. I did one of those early apprenticeships, and went through the rest of the apprenticeship system as a regular apprentice.