DECEMBER 2013 – CANADA

The Employment Training Alliance (ETA), Canadian Coalition of Community-Based Employability Training (CCCBET), and ASPECT are pleased to announce the creation of a website dedicated to the promotion and preservation of unique, successful and responsive pan-Canadian LMA programs offer valued and opportunity for Canadians preparing for success in the labour market. This website will be a constructive demonstration of what works now with LMA funding and represent what could be lost if the Canada Job Grant materializes as outlined.

LMAWorks.com is a site created for individuals, organizations and employers that have first-hand experience with the important role that LMA programs play in communities from coast to coast to coast. The site will be a repository for success stories, examples of best practices and provide for a dynamic exchange of support and suggestions for the continuation of adaptive, flexible and responsive LMA programming.

To become a supporter of the LMA Works Initiative, please email Chris Atchison with your name, logo, and website link.

DECEMBER 2013 – CANADA

The Cannexus14 National Career Development Conference is taking place January 20-22, 2014 at the Ottawa Convention Centre. The Canadian Coalition of Community-Based Employability Training (CCCBET) is a Cannexus supporting organization and is pleased to be able to offer members a discount on conference registration.

Cannexus is Canada’s largest bilingual career development conference and will bring together 800 professionals in the field from across education, community organizations, government and the private sector. It is designed to promote the exchange of information and explore innovative approaches in the areas of career counselling and career development.

Delegates will be inspired by four incredible keynotes:

–    Stephen Lewis, Celebrated Humanitarian and Former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
–    Valerie Pringle, Award-Winning Broadcaster and Mental Health Champion
–    Jacques Demers, Former Montreal Canadiens Coach and Literacy Advocate
–    Rich Feller, Professor, Colorado State University and NCDA President 2012-2013

There will be more than 130 education sessions that will bring you the latest trends in effective counselling and facilitation techniques, career/employment centre management, emerging technology and tools, and working with marginalized client populations. An Exhibitor Showcase will also highlight a range of beneficial products and services in the field.

Cannexus is presented by the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) and supported by The Counselling Foundation of Canada with a broad network of supporting organizations.

For more information and to register, visit www.cannexus.ca.

NOVEMBER 2013 – CANADA

An article by Michael Mendelson and Chris Atchison in The Vancouver Sun

Ottawa announced the new Canada Job Grant program in its March 2013 budget, promising that the “detailed design” would be negotiated with the provinces “over the next year”. More than seven months have passed without a meeting.

But now Jason Kenney, the new Minister of Employment and Social Development, has found a spare day. On Friday, he will meet with his provincial counterparts, presumably to respond to their unanimous rejection of the Canada Job Grant. Is the federal government now prepared to engage in meaningful negotiations and compromise? Or will it barge ahead riding roughshod over the provinces — and the many community organizations delivering front-line employment services, virtually all of which agree with the provinces?

Read the full article in The Vancouver Sun:
Time for talk, not action, on federal job grant program (The Vancouver Sun, British Columbia)

OCTOBER 2013 – CANADA

In line with the positions of the provinces and territories, the Canadian Coalition of Community-Based Employability Training (CCCBET) is concerned about the new Canada Job Grant (CJG) announced in March 2013 by the federal government, which threatens employability programs that assist unemployed and vulnerable Canadians. CCCBET is also concerned with the diversion of Provincial, Territorial, and Federal Labour Market Agreement funds.

CCCBET recognizes the need for labour market programs to continuously improve, respond to changing economic challenges and spend public funds as effectively, efficiently and fairly as possible. The Coalition shares the federal government’s goal of more private sector engagement in the training and development of a skilled workforce. CCCBET wants the federal government to put the expert, practical knowledge and experience of community-based employment and training organizations to use.

Read the full release

To follow the CCCBET in the media:
Canada Job Grant a ‘Boondoggle’, Say Critics (The Tyee, British Columbia)

JULY 2013 – CANADA

As part of its Economic Action Plan 2013, the federal government announced the creation of a new Canada Job Grant (CJG). According to the Canadian authorities, this skills development program will allow 130,000 Canadians each year to access the training they need to connect with available jobs. The grant of a maximum of $ 15,000 per person will be funded equally by the federal government, employers and provincial and territorial governments (source).

In a report entitled “The Training Wheels Are Off: A Closer Look at the Canada Job Grant”, Michael Mendelson and Noah Zon criticize this new federal program, which will result in a decrease of 60% of the annual budget allocated to provinces and territories under Labour Market Agreements (LMA), funds used to develop and maintain an extensive network of proven support for training and employment programs. In addition to experiencing this $300 million cut, the federated entities will have to generate an additional $300 million to match the federal contribution. According to the authors, the CJG ­ which represents a new interference in provincial jurisdiction from the Canadian government ­ was launched without consultation with the provinces, without any pilot project and without any documentation to support the proposed approach.

You can consult the full report on the Mowat Centre Website at the following address:
http://mowatcentre.ca/research-topic-mowat.php?mowatResearchID=84.

MARCH 2013 – CANADA

Partly in response to the controversy raised by the decision of a consortium of Chinese companies to hire only Chinese citizens to work in their British Columbia mines, the Canadian government announced significant changes in the popular Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program, which allows Canadian employers to temporarily hire foreign workers to meet their immediate needs for labor.

First, the federal government will introduce user fees for employers applying for temporary foreign workers through the labour market opinion process so that these costs are no longer absorbed by taxpayers. According to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, the country spends more than $35 million to process applications from temporary foreign workers, a hefty bill that is absorbed neither by the employers nor the workers recruited. In addition, employers will have to make greater efforts to hire Canadians, particularly in regard to the duration and extent of advertising, before obtaining the right to use the TFW program. Finally, the government will amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to ensure that companies cannot require proficiency in a language other than the two official languages ​​in the hiring of employees under the TFW program (source).

Along these same lines, the Economic Action Plan 2013 proposes to allocate $44 million over two years, starting in 2013­2014, to the Citizenship Program in order to improve the processing of applications. According to the spokesperson of the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, this amount is likely to be covered by higher costs related to citizenship applications for newcomers to Canada, as there has been no increase in the last 20 years.

For more information: www.budget.gc.ca/2013/home-accueil-eng.html