Ritz promotes budget in city
Saskatchewan will benefit from federal infrastructure dollars and funds to train people for hard-to-fill jobs, says federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
Ritz was in town to promote the latest federal budget, which he said targeted three areas: The new Canada Job Grant, Building Canada Plan and help for manufacturers.
“Training in Canada is not sufficiently aligned to the skills employers require. And demographics are not on our side, meaning the skills shortage will only get worse due to an aging population,” Ritz said, adding that is especially true for the energy, mining and construction sectors in Saskatchewan.
The Canada Job Grant, to come into effect in 2014, provides up to $15,000 per person for training, with the feds, province and employer contributing $5,000 each.
“For so long it’s been government saying, ‘Here’s the curriculum, put it in play,’ and you have to work within that. Now you are able to build a hybrid of any curriculum directed by industry, because they are going to have skin in the game, and so is the province.
“Everyone has a help wanted ad in the window, so being able to match up the people looking for a job with the right skills to the jobs that are there is fundamental.”
New measures to support apprenticeships will also be beneficial to the province, he said.
“We will work with the provinces and territories to harmonize requirements for apprentices and will examine the use of practical tests as a method of assessment, making our Canadian workforce far more mobile.”
Municipalities
Ritz said there is $53 billion available over the next 10 years for provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure for projects such as roads, water, sewer and public transportation and recreational facilities.
Research
Another area of the budget that may see significant federal funds flow into the province is in genomics research and upgrading research facilities.
Ritz said the government will invest $165 million to support genomics research, “and much of that cutting edge, world-class work is done right here at our university in Saskatoon.”
“A lot of the seed sector will benefit from genomics, and of course you can get into genetics in the livestock sector as well.”
The province has been great at crop production and mining, and “now we have to get it out there to the world markets. It is going to take that infrastructure to make it all happen.”
Another $225 million is earmarked to modernize post-secondary research facilities across the country.