Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Admittedly, the North needs more skilled workers than ever before and it’s paramount that we need to do everything possible to make sure that our residents succeed at being given those skilled jobs of the future.
I rise today as a follow-up to my Member’s statement in which I talked about some of the barriers facing our northern apprentices. One of those barriers is the current way we legislate and regulate our targeted wage subsidies that flow from the employer to the apprentice employee. My questions today will be directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Can the Minister indicate when was the last time the Apprenticeship, Trade and Occupations Certification Act was reviewed and has this act kept up with current changes in labour market development agreements across Canada? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi. I do believe this question is timely. As you know, the Minister of ITI delivered an economic development report that was tabled last week. Part of that consisted of training, training Northerners. With the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupation Act, it was recently revised. It came into force October 2012, and full implementation this August 2013. So that is part of ongoing development that we’re going through.
The review also consisted of various partners involved, stakeholders, industries, apprentices and the Apprenticeship Board. So those are just some of the processes that we have to go through to review and implement the current act that we have. But it was done back in 2012. That’s when they last revised the version. Mahsi.
I appreciate the Minister’s response to that. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment supports the development, maintenance and delivery of designated trades, occupational training programs and the development of our skilled northern workforce.
Can the Minister describe, in the event of an apprentice having employer difficulties, what are the options of this apprentice to seek help or assistance?
Mr. Speaker, part of the process is, of course, we have our ECE staff that deal with apprentices, and just to make them aware of their obligations within the program itself, being an apprentice. My staff is, of course, available any time if there is a challenge or a barrier in the way that the Member has alluded to earlier. Those are areas that my departmental staff are available to meet with certain individuals, especially those apprentices. We also have a regional representative, as well, that deals with the service centres in the regions. They are available to help and support these, whether it be the trainees or apprentices.
Those are just some of the key highlights of resource support staff we have at the headquarter level, regional level and community level.
Earlier today I spoke of the barriers of the targeted wage subsidies being in the hands of the employers wherein, I think, a perfect scenario, would be more suited in the stewardship of the apprentice.
Could the Minister indicate by what process in today’s landscape could the apprentice play a more active role in the control of directing such targeted wage subsides to would-be employers? Is this possible?
Part of, again, the process is apprentice training on the jobs that we have. We currently have a wage subsidy, and that’s provided to the small employers so they can be competitive with the larger employers as well.
Most of the programs, as you know, there are limited financial resources with a high demand exceeding supply. With the feedback from my colleague, the Minister of ITI, on the Economic Development Panel, part of the role, I guess, is apprenticeship is something that we will review in light of supply and demand, and as you’ve heard from the panelists, there’s a high demand for northern apprentices, northern journeymen. We are fully reviewing that, as well, working side by side with the ITI Minister.
Part of the NWT is our GNWT has a remarkable subsidy program that we provide assistance to apprentices, assistance to small employers so they can hire and train those individuals. On average, there are 90 to 100 apprentices on an annual basis, journeymen that successfully completed their program. We’re very proud of them. Again, reiterating that developing northern jobs, northern training for northern people.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s response. Knowing that this Minister seeks the highest standards in forming industry partnerships, as we’ve heard, and the quality of the skilled workforce, would the Minister commit to investigating the current barriers of the Targeted Wage Subsidy Program delivery, work within our Canada-Northwest Territories Labour Market Development Agreement, and report back to this House a strategy and an action plan to improve such a barrier?
The uptake and successful completion of the Apprenticeship Program continues to increase every year, as highlighted earlier. The Labour Agreement is under review this year. That is a program that has been very successful. It is a federal legislative program and it’s coming to an end in 2014. We are focusing and monitoring that program and the overall review. Of course, the suggestions and ideas that are being generated in this House will be captured and will be considered as part of the review process. I will continue to work with the federal Minister responsible, Skills Development.
Also, I would like to commit today that we’re dealing with the partners in the industries, as we’ve done in the past, having them in the room, providing a true partnership. Those are the areas that we are continuing to discuss, my department discussing with the regional representatives. Industries are part of the representatives, as well, so they will be part of the process when we are dealing with the wage subsidy to the employers. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
