Federal budget to put focus on skills training for all ages

Thestar.com
March 19, 2019
Bruce Campion-Smith

Skills training for young and experienced workers will be front and centre in Tuesday’s “people” focused budget, one of many voter-friendly initiatives the Liberals are expected to roll out in their last fiscal blueprint ahead of the October election.

Tuesday’s budget is expected to include a broad smattering of initiatives -- including measures to make zero-emissions vehicles more affordable, first-time home buying easier and financial help for seniors -- as Liberals hope to turn the page on the SNC-Lavalin controversy that has dogged them for more than a month.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau holds a media availability in Toronto on Feb. 28, 2019. Morneau’s budget is expected to offer skills training aimed at workers at all points in their careers, from young people looking to get a foot in the door to more experienced employees hoping to add to their skills.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau will use the budget spotlight to boast about the Liberals’ economic record with low unemployment, solid growth (though slowing) and the initiatives of past budgets, such as the child benefit, that have helped reduce poverty rates.

“We have an ambitious agenda and we’re doing very significant measures to achieve that agenda but we’re always going to be doing that in a fiscally responsible way,” a source told the Star Monday.

The budget initiatives on skills training will be aimed at workers at all points in their careers, from young people looking to get a foot in the door to more experienced employees hoping to add to their skills, a focus that wins applause from the business community.

“Anything we can do to make the workforce smarter is a good thing for Canada in terms of competitive advantage,” said Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada.

Hyder, along with Valerie Walker, executive director of the council’s Business Higher Education Roundtable, are hoping the budget will provide funding for tens of thousands more student placements to provide workplace experience.

“One thing is really critical from our members more than anything else, they need more people with those what we call human skills, critical thinking, teamwork, communication, problem solving,” Walker told reporters during a pre-budget briefing.

“It’s critical they act now and start that commitment now … so that we can maintain our competitive advantage when it comes to people,” said Walker, co-chair of the Future Skills Council, created to advise the federal government on emerging skills and workforce trends.

Other budget retraining measures are expected to assist workers with time off work and funding to cover the cost of courses and living expenses.

Other areas of focus expected in Tuesday’s budget include:

• Housing affordability for first-time buyers. “Millennials specifically feel that home ownership is a dream that they might never be able to achieve. We’re putting things in place to make home ownership more affordable,” the source said, declining to provide specifics.
• Initial steps on pharmacare. The budget will take some “foundational” steps to universal drug access, building on the interim report released this month. That report recommended that the federal government create a national drug agency and a master list of prescription medications that all Canadians would have access to.
• Making zero emissions vehicles more affordable, one of several budget initiatives meant to foster a transition to a “greener economy.” The federal government wants to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles sold in Canada to 10 per cent of all new cars sold in 2025 and 100 per cent in 2040. Ontario scrapped its incentives for electric vehicles.
• Financial help for seniors. The Liberals have previously increased the guaranteed income supplement and rolled back the age eligibility for Canada Pension Plan to 65 from 67.

 

Morneau may be less keen to talk about the deficit. The Liberals promised in the 2015 election to have only a “modest” deficit of $10 billion in the first two years in office and eliminate it entirely by 2019. However, the government soon ditched that commitment in its first budget and has since refused to put a timeline on returning the budget to surplus.

The fall economic update predicted a deficit of $18.1 billion for the 2018-19 fiscal year, including a $3-billion contingency. Morneau has defended the deficit spending, saying that the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio continues to track downward.

But Hyder would like to see a more defined road map to return to surplus, charging that the government is spending a “lot” on measures that don’t have a direct impact on spurring economic growth.
“My concern is, and I’ve said this to him both privately and publicly, it’s not that you’re spending, it’s where you’re spending,” he said. “We have to grow our economy and the economy is all about fundamentals.”