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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - OCTOBER 2013
F
OR THOSE WHO
follow poli-
tics closely, the last few weeks
have been a little slower than usual,
bereft of the usual activity that sur-
rounds the opening of the Fall Parlia-
mentary session in September. With its
previous agenda largely exhausted, the
government made the decision to pro-
rogue Parliament and prepare for an
October Speech from the Throne and a
renewed mandate as it enters the latter
half of its term as a majority govern-
ment.
With the Throne Speech only
days away, it is a time for many Cana-
dians, including those in the business
community, to consider our priori-
ties. Throne Speeches do not contain
the same level of nuts-and-bolts detail
that a federal budget does, but it is
an opportunity for the government to
present its newest priorities and goals
to Canadians. Anyone with an inter-
est in federal policy should therefore
be watching to see where their priori-
ties mesh with federal priorities, and
where they diverge.
For many of us in the business
community, one area where our priori-
ties certainly do mesh with the feds is
on the Canada Job Grant. Dedicated
readers of these pages will know that
this is something I have mentioned in
the past, but I am hardly alone in my
support and the support of the private
vocational training sector in general
for this initiative. Industry organiza-
tions such as the Canadian Federation
of Independent Business (CFIB), the
Forest Products Association of Canada,
Canadian Chamber of Commerce and
Canada Manufacturers and Exporters
have come out in support of the Cana-
da Job Grant.
To be fair, some of us from these
varying sectors do have different ideas
of how the Grant might ultimately roll
out and what its parameters might
be. For example, CFIB President Dan
Kelly has come out in support of the
Grant with the added stipulation that
it take into account informal on-the-job
training that many of his small- and
medium-sized business members use
to help ensure a skilled workforce.
When the Speech from the Throne
comes down on October 16th, we can
expect that the Canada Job Grant will
feature substantially. In a way, the
Grant is indicative of the overall strat-
egy of this government.
In last July’s federal cabinet shuf-
fle, not only did we see a new minister
take over the skills development file,
we saw the restructuring of his de-
partment to increase federal focus on
employment and skills development.
The former Department of Human Re-
sources and Skills Development Cana-
da (HRSDC) has been reorganized into
the Department of Employment and
Social Development Canada (ESDC).
More than a simple name change,
the reorganization of the department
under its new Minister, the highly mo-
tivated Jason Kenney, is an assertive
move on the part of the government
to follow through on its oft-repeated
commitment to jobs and the economy.
The Canada Job Grant is the flagship
program of this new department and
this new minister, setting the tone for
federal action on this file for the next
two years.
That said, I am sure that anyone
reading this will also have seen some
