Status of Women committee  There's been a considerable amount of advertising and outreach related to some of the initiatives around apprenticeship training. Certainly, if you look at the five advertising campaigns that have been run over the past few years, we have made a particular effort to focus on port

Status of Women committee  Certainly. The latest statistics we have are from 2012. These are statistics released annually by Statistics Canada. Certainly, we have seen some growth in some of the non-traditional trades. If you look at some of the top Red Seal trades in the construction sector, the numbers a

Status of Women committee  That's right. That was an investment specifically into economic high demand occupations—

Status of Women committee  The Canada apprentice loan?

Status of Women committee  The apprenticeship grants were launched initially in 2007, so there's been over 500,000 apprenticeship grants.

Status of Women committee  The Canada apprentice loan....

Status of Women committee  That was certainly the thinking behind the launch of the Canada apprentice loan. It ensured that there was additional funding available so that when individuals, at those peak times, were leaving the workplace to go on their technical training as apprentices and returning to the

Status of Women committee  In terms of apprenticeship training, it is a provincial-territorial responsibility, but we do know that a number of provinces.... In terms of demand for skilled trades workers, certainly that demand has been focused in western Canada in recent years. A number of the provincial

Status of Women committee  Sure. I can mention the apprenticeship grants program. This is a program that seeks to remove any financial barriers individuals may face when they are entering into apprenticeship training. It provides individuals with up to $4,000 in grants over the course of their apprenticesh

Status of Women committee  If you look at the youth employment strategy, that's certainly one of the key goals: to provide wage subsidies for employers so that they can take on young people who are looking for experience. There have been investments in the last budget through the youth employment strategy

Status of Women committee  That was announced in the last budget, an additional $40 million to the youth employment strategy.

Status of Women committee  Sure. I think when we look at why youth in general are not attracted to the skilled trades, certainly that's key. It's the lack of exposure in the school system, and guidance counsellors may be directing both young men and women toward more traditional occupations. We did a nati

Status of Women committee  ln 2014, approximately 4.6 million Canadians worked in skilled trades that were designated for apprenticeship training, representing about one in four employed Canadians and about 17% of employed Canadian women. For the past few decades, women participating in apprenticeship syst