Question Period Note: Tabling of Employment and Social Development Canada’s Supplementary Estimates (B) for Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2025

Why is Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) requesting $0.8 million for the
Skills for Success Program in the Supplementary Estimates (B) for fiscal year ending March 31,
2025?

The Government of Canada’s investment in a skilled workforce is key to ensuring
economic growth and providing opportunities for all Canadians. This funding supports
initiatives that address critical skills gaps in key sectors, strengthen workforce
participation, enhance safety, and support long-term economic resilience across
Canada.
• The Skills for Success Program funds provinces, territories and organizations to help
Canadians at all skills levels improve their foundational and transferable skills, by
providing them with access to the tools, resources, and quality training they need to
participate, adapt and thrive in learning, work and life.
• The program also works with provincial/territorial partners to embed foundational skills
into their skills training programs.

The Skills for Success program is the Government of Canada’s modernized approach to essential skills
that helps Canadians improve their foundational and transferrable skills. It is based on the Skills for
Success Model that outlines nine foundational and transferable skills that assist Canadians to be more
resilient and successful to get and keep good jobs in today’s economy. These skills are: reading, writing,
numeracy, digital, problem solving, communication, collaboration, adaptability, and creativity and
innovation.
Almost half of Canadian workers do not have the literacy and numeracy skill levels needed to perform well
in existing jobs, or to learn the skills required for new jobs.
Foundational and transferable skills training is especially critical in the current tight labour market and to
support future growth and productivity in emerging sectors such as green economy. These skills are
required to function in a knowledge-based economy and to navigate within a complex interactive work
environment which increasingly requires skills such as adaptability, communication, and collaboration.
The Skills for Success Program funds organizations to design and deliver training and develop
assessment tools and training resources to help Canadians develop their foundational and transferable
skills. The program also funds organizations to conduct innovative research projects to support the skills
development of adults, particularly under-represented groups in the labour market

Table: Funding for the Skills for Success Program
Funding (in $) and Full Time Equivalent (FTE)

Grants and Contributions (Vote 5)
Existing Funding (Main Estimates 2024-25): 21,509,000
Supplementary Estimates (B): 800,000
Total Funding: 22,309,000

Sub-Total
Existing Funding (Main Estimates 2024-25): 21,509,000
Supplementary Estimates (B): 800,000
Total Funding: 22,309,000

Employee benefit plans
Existing Funding (Main Estimates 2024-25): 0
Supplementary Estimates (B): 0
Total Funding: 0

Total Funding
Existing Funding (Main Estimates 2024-25): 21,509,000
Supplementary Estimates (B): 800,000
Total Funding: 22,309,000 We are providing Canadian workers with every opportunity to get the skills and resources they need to
succeed in today’s workforce. Through major investments like this, we are ensuring that more Canadians
break into the workforce and advance professionally in their careers, and that they do so with confidence.”
– Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official languages
“When we provide Indigenous people with employment opportunities everyone benefits – Indigenous
communities, the workforce and the economy.”
– Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages