Question Period Note: Promoting the Skilled Trades to Youth

What is the Government of Canada doing to promote the skilled trades to youth?

• The skilled trades provide well-paying, rewarding jobs, and our Government is taking concrete steps to promote them as a first-choice career to youth.

• For example we introduced the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness Program to encourage youth and other groups facing barriers to explore and prepare for careers in the skilled trades.

• Also, we have renewed funding for Skills Canada to promote skilled trades and technologies to youth.

• We will create a National Campaign to promote the skilled trades so that more youth consider them as a first-choice career.

• There is low awareness and poor perceptions of the skilled trades amongst youth and their influencers (e.g. parents, guidance counsellors).
• The average age of entry to an apprenticeship is 28.
• Only 9% of 15 year-old students were definitely planning to pursue a trades career; and only 2% of female students (2015 Youth Attitudes towards the Trades Survey).
• With an aging workforce and recent infrastructure investments, it is critical to encourage more youth to enter the skilled trades.
Initiatives focused on Youth

• Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness Program (introduced 2018-19, $10 million annually) encourages youth and other groups facing barriers (e.g., women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities) to explore and prepare for careers in the trades.

• Skills Canada (Budget 2019 announced $40 million over 4 years, starting in 2020-21 and $10 million ongoing thereafter) to promote skilled trades and technologies to youth; and

• National Campaign (Budget 2019 announced $6 million over 2 years, starting in 2019-2020) to promote the skilled trades as a first-choice career for young people. An Advisory Committee was established in August 2019, and will provide advice to the Minister by February 2020 on what a successful national campaign would require. Committee members are:
o Mandy Rennehan, Founder and CEO of Freshco.ca;
o Jamie McMillan, Ironworker/Boilermaker and Founder of KickAss Careers; and
o Matt Wayland, Executive Assistant to the International Vice-President and Canadian Director of Government Relations for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

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