Skills adjustment
Ottawa eyes concessions on job program,
OTTAWA— The federal government is prepared to make concessions to implement its promised Canada Job Grant programafter a show of united opposition from provinces and business leaders, sources say. A renewed effort to show “flexibility” and reach out to the provinces is underway to rescue the much-criticized measure, with the federal minister responsible for the Conservatives’ showpiece program, Jason Kenney, writing to the provinces with an olive branch. That could mean allowing provinces to keep more of the skills training money they now receive, reducing the contribution expected from small business employers, or a combination of moves that might bring some or all of the provinces onside. A big push is on to negotiate with provincial ministers responsible for skills training and labour markets prior to a federal/provincial meeting that a source confirmed would be held in Toronto on Nov. 8. “We’re exploring flexibility with the program to make it work better for the provinces. There will be a lot of focus and negotiations on these flexibilities in the lead-up to the 8th,” said the source on background. Meanwhile, in a separate letter to the Building Trades Council, Kenney said the government recognizes a “one-size-fits-all” approach will not work. It suggests there is a lot of “misunderstanding” around the program, which Ottawa insists has built-in flexibility. Kenney says the government will not require employers to pay $5,000 per worker, “only that the employer cost-match a portion of the training cost, for which Ottawa will kick in up to a maximum of $5,000.” “As the employer will determine which type of training is necessary, in many cases the employer portion of the training may be significantly less than $5,000,” Kenney wrote.
Ottawa is also promising to reduce the program’s paperwork, so that employers need only deal with one level of government when applying for the grant, not two.
However, if no middle ground with the provinces can be found, Kenney said publicly Ottawa may go it alone and deliver a federal jobs grant.
Ontario’s minister responsible for training programs, Brad Duguid, confirmed he has heard a different tone coming from Kenney, the federal Employment and Social Development Minister who took over the program first announced in this spring’s federal budget.
Duguid spoke to Kenney for the first time the week before last prior to a meeting of his provincial counterparts.
“The indication was they were willing to look at some changes and flexibility,” said Duguid in an interview. “We see that as a positive, but there’s a long way to go to do two things: make this program work and to find a funding source for this program so it’s not funded on the backs of our most vulnerable workers.”
Under the Labour Market Agreement with provinces, Ottawa currently transfers $500 million a year to provinces for skills training programs. The budget announced a plan to take 60 per cent of that, $300 million, and put it toward efforts to better match workers to job vacancies by providing necessary skills training.
The Conservatives want the program to provide individual job grants of up to $15,000 to be split three ways — 5,000 each from Ottawa, the province and an employer — a proposal that was sprung on the provinces that led to big objections..
Duguid says it is “irresponsible” of the federal government to demand Ontario strip its skills training programs of about $116 million and spend $116 million on this program — for what he says is a total of $232 million — which would divert money away from “our most vulnerable” individuals: “aboriginal people, newcomers, people with literacy challenges, or youth at risk,” says Duguid.