Human Resources committee  Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable members. I appreciate the opportunity to address you as part of this important study on labour shortages, particularly as they impact Canada's caring economy. I come to this topic as the CEO at Polytechnics Canada, a not-for-pr

Finance committee  We have ongoing discussions with the people at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada about our thinking. Certainly we're talking to them about the economic strategy tables and superclusters, and less so probably about the work-integrated learning, but we're seeing t

Finance committee  The polytechnic institutions are to some degree doing some of that work now. They are very much connected with industry, and they're providing that linkage. One of the recommendations we've really suggested is to go back to employers and ask them to reflect on the skills they ne

Finance committee  Something we have to consider is that colleges and polytechnics are ideally positioned to deal with market disruption. With the changing nature of work and the changing skills that are required, we have to think about short-term, quick turnaround, industry-responsive training. Th

Finance committee  We're seeing more and more that within the college and polytechnic sector, there is a desire to look at where previous training has been done and move them forward. We see some of these institutions even taking people who have done an apprenticeship and become journey persons, an

Finance committee  Sure. I think that perhaps it gets away a little from the question around some of the apprenticeship training, because that funding envelope is being proposed to cover overhead and the continuing ability of the colleges to provide applied research support to business. Then it

Finance committee  While I think that the answer is probably more complex than this, I would start with a lot more career awareness work that tells young people about what those career opportunities look like. There's some really fantastic research that has recently been done out of George Brown Co

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for inviting me today. The committee's focus to create and identify levers for growth in a turbulent economic landscape is well-chosen. The Canadian economy is undergoing significant change and government must be proactive, particul