'There’s historic underinvestment in training by employers in Canada,' says MP calling for greater alignment with schools to curb labour shortages
Employers need to invest more in training workers and work with schools to align them with labour needs, two federal officials say. They warn that a skills mismatch is deepening Canada’s skilled labour shortage as Ottawa fast-tracks major projects.
Toronto Liberal MPs Leslie Church, parliamentary secretary to the minister of jobs and families, and Karim Bardeesy, parliamentary secretary to the minister of industry, spoke Oct. 14 at a Future Skills Centre conference in Toronto.
Church said the shortage goes beyond headcount to mismatched skills and training barriers, The Canadian Press reported.
“We are ships in the night in Canada,” Church said. “We have a lot of people looking for work, or with a certain set of skills, but we have all these industries that are also looking for labour, and it’s almost like the two never meet.”
Ottawa is investing in apprenticeships and training, she said, but employers and schools must keep training and labour needs aligned.
The apprenticeship pipeline shows the strain. Only 19.9% of registered apprentices certified within their program’s expected duration in 2024, while 30.9% left their programs in that window, according to Statistics Canada.
Attraction matters too, given Canadians’ reluctance to pursue skilled trades careers.
Employer training investment lags
Bardeesy turned the focus to employers, comparing them with counterparts in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
“There’s historic underinvestment in training by employers in Canada ... compared to other OECD countries,” he said, according to CP.
Federal apprenticeship incentives can help, Bardeesy said, but employers still have a role to play in on-the-job training. That concern echoes earlier reporting on why so many Canadian employers struggle with upskilling.
Employers also face weaker interpersonal skills, which Bardeesy linked to the pandemic: “The COVID hangover as it relates to soft skills is real,” he said.
Major projects raise the stakes
Those training gaps matter more as Ottawa leans on nation-building projects to lift growth, draw investment and reduce Canada’s reliance on the United States.
“We’re trying to energize an economy that is under threat, diversify to new markets, open up supply chains, invest in transportation (and) build the housing that is at the core of a strong economy,” Church said, according to CP. “All of this creates this incredible pressure and strain on the workforce.”
She asked: “Who does the building?”
A Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) study released Oct. 6 estimates planned major projects could add $670 billion in investment between 2026 and 2030 and require about 580,000 new workers. Canadian HR Reporter examined those figures in its look at whether Canada has enough construction crews for its building boom.
