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Canada’s employment Minister has announced a new plan to partner “underemployed” immigrants with employers in the manufacturing sector.
Speaking at an Ontario manufacturing company last week, Employment Minister Jason Kenney announced new government funding and initiative partnerships with the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters group. The main initiative hopes to address worker shortages through newcomers whose skills in engineering and technology are not being properly utilized.
“The single biggest frustration I had … was seeing brilliant people who left behind a high standard of living in their countries of origin, coming to Canada with their education and experience, only to find themselves unemployed or underemployed and too often stuck at the bottom of the labour market … because their degrees, their education, or their experience (was) not being recognized,” said Minister Kenney upon announcing the initiatives.
Over $4 million in government funding will go into the various programs to help manufacturers train, certify and hire the workers they need to keep pace with economic growth.
“The skills challenge for manufacturers is acute,” said Jason Myers, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters’ CEO and president. “Over 50% of companies across this country say they can’t find the people with the skills that they require to grow their businesses … This challenge is too big for the governments to handle on their own. It’s too big for businesses to handle on their own. It requires partnership.”
As a part of the partnership, the government also aims to develop a “skills forum” that will allow various stakeholders to come together to strategize on these efforts.
Source: Toronto Sun
