Ford government puts spotlight on high-tech and skilled trades

Torontosun.com
November 4, 2019
Stephen Lecce

We often hear from parents concerned about their children’s futures.

Even though Ontario’s unemployment rate dropped to a 29-year low this spring, youth unemployment remains stubbornly high. This at a time when many industries are experiencing drastic and often painful changes.

More than 25% of Canadian jobs will be heavily disrupted by technology in the coming decade. Fully half will see a significant overhaul of the skills required.

As a government, our priority is to make sure the students of today gain the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow.

Despite projected job displacement in many sectors and occupations, Canada’s economy is expected to create new jobs, requiring a new mix of skills. For this reason, we are updating the curriculum to better reflect the needs of the job market and the technology-driven economy.

Modernizing the curriculum makes sense. Ontario’s education system, training programs and labour market initiatives must be designed to help youth navigate this new skills economy.

Digital fluency will be essential to all new jobs. This doesn’t mean we need a province of coders, but a province that is digitally literate.

That’s why we are using technology tools -- multimedia resources, databases, websites and apps -- to promote student learning. We’re also highlighting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects, investing $200 million to support a new four-year math strategy and teaching financial literacy.

The tech sector and skilled trades are inter-related. The trades will continue to embrace new technological breakthroughs. With information becoming more readily accessible, skilled trade workers will have emerging technology aid them through every stage of their work, from building their network, finding clients, assessing projects, on-site progress updates and online payment options.

We’re putting a premium on skilled tradespeople through a number of key initiatives, including investing over $100 million in programs to help students plan for their future. These award-winning programs include Specialist High Skills Major program, Dual Credits and Experiential Learning. We’ve also highlighted skilled trades as a career path through our new Grade 10 Career Studies course.

With nearly half the workforce eligible to retire in the coming years, the demand for tradespeople has never been higher. By 2021, one in five jobs in Ontario will be in the trades. In construction alone, over 200,000 jobs will need to be filled over the next decade by smart, skilled people.

Recruiting more women is an obvious way to deepen the talent pool: they make up about 48% of the Canadian labour force but hold fewer than 4% of jobs in the skilled trades and less than 25% of tech sector jobs. This isn’t just a women’s issue, it’s a workplace issue. We are missing out on a talented demographic.

Closing the gap will require actively recruiting, training and mentoring women in the trades. Institutions like Six Nations Polytechnic and SHAD are making great strides in this regard.

A few months ago, our Government met with the German Education Committee of the State Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein. We took a close look at Germany’s successful apprenticeship model that facilitates a strong level of youth employment. By learning from experiences in other jurisdictions, we are continuously building a skills-focused education system that opens the door to high-quality opportunities and good paying jobs for Ontario youth.

With this in mind, our government is creating a flexible and adaptive education system that works for all students -- women and men -- and businesses by increasing access to apprenticeship opportunities, closing the skills gap and reducing the red tape burden for employers.

As technology becomes more advanced, the needs of the labour market will continue to evolve. Our government is meeting that challenge by ensuring our young people are learning the skills they’ll need to build successful careers in the years ahead.