Bruce Whitestone, in his column "Education for Business" - Aug. 10, correctly highlights the education and skills shortage facing Canada.
Education is key to closing the skills gap and meeting that challenge requires a pan Canadian partnership, involving provinces, colleges and universities and the private sector. Failure to act threatens our economic security and prosperity.
If Canada is serious about closing the skills gap, then we need more resources for workplace training and do a better job of tapping into an under-used resource - those Canadians living in poverty.
Far too many Canadians are trapped in a cycle of poverty. If given the chance, through education and training, they will take their rightful place in society as participants in our collective success. Government can be instrumental in levelling the playing field.
Moreover, obtaining an education, or accessing work place training, should not be dependent on one's ability to pay. A lack of financial resources should not be a barrier. Likewise, combating the skills shortage means acknowledging real life situations that often prevent a parent moving from poverty to economic security.
Canada needs a real childcare plan that would allow, for example, a single mom the opportunity to go to school, retrain, or upgrade skills or learn a new trade.
In doing so, she can get a better job, make more money, help close the skills gap and perhaps,m more importantly, break the cycle of poverty for her kids.
And yet, there exists no vision, no plan, no leadership to close the skills gap, and certainly no federal leadership to combat poverty.
In the Conservative world, if you're poor, you're on your own. With respect to facts, data, evidence, and research, the Conservatives operate on intuition and ideology. They shut down the census which provides real data and evidence to plan programs and policy.
Likewise, in March of this year, the independent and internationally respected Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) set up by the previous Liberal government to provide data, research and advice on moving forward on educational issues and skills training, was de-funded by the Conservatives.
We can do better than this.
Michael Ignatieff knows education is critical to our future success. A Liberal government will make education a priority. We will bring people together in partnership and we will make the necessary investments to open up opportunity for all, including Canada's most vulnerable.
Mike Savage,
MP, Dartmouth-Cole Harbour
official Opposition critic
Human Resources Skills
Development Canada
