Find solution here
Re Volpe’s stories don’t fit the facts Column, Nov. 17. James Travers column was a mental flash of lightning, illuminating a grey area that is sadly misunderstood. It was a eureka moment for a lot of people.
Unfortunately, the energy and the light is lost so quickly and the impact will be dissipated in the chaos that is our administrative reality. There are 900,000 students enrolled in higher education in Canada. It is possible to study everything from stage lighting to helicopter flying in our schools. If there is a shortage of skilled workers, it sounds like it should not be hard to adjust the existing system to meet these needs efficiently. The idea of bringing in skilled immigrants who will face a host of challenges adjusting to our highly developed and affluent society, is a severe remedy.
Last week, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty warned that our manufacturing sector is declining and there is little his government can do to help. He pointed out that 30,000 to 40,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since the Liberals took power. Canada cannot compete with China and India in manufacturing. This vital section of our economy with its demand for skilled labour, is in decline. This must be creating a surplus of skilled labour. The high school drop- out rate is reported to be around 30 per cent. Many of these young people would be better off learning trades and skills for construction and other areas where hands-on labour is required. Why aren’t they being trained?
There are thousands of highly educated, skilled, motivated, immigrants in Canada already, who have been forced into menial jobs far below their capabilities. They deserve the opportunity they were promised, ahead of any new immigrants. From what we read in our newspapers, there is no shortage of skilled or potentially skilled labour in Canada. Before we rush off and create new problems, let’s try to adjust the programs we have in place by reorganizing, retraining and assimilating the resources we have. It is time our government ministries began to work together to find solutions, instead of working in isolation on their own pet policies. John Loughnan, Toronto