The NDP campaign continues to make things up as they go along, distorting numbers and misrepresenting the facts. This week they hit on a topic very close to our hearts by claiming to support apprenticeship training. At ICBA, we sponsor about 1,600 apprentices and are very familiar with how things work in trades training.
After a bunch of misinformation from Carole James, the BC Liberals clarified the facts:
- There are currently 47,000 registered apprentices in BC, which is nearly three times the number from 2001 when the NDP were in charge of the Province.
- The BC Liberals have increased funding for trades training by 42 per cent since 2001. The NDP voted against every increase.
- The BC Liberals created the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) so that skilled workers can have their credentials recognized in other provinces and can work freely in BC or Alberta. Carole James and the NDP voted against the agreement and continue to oppose breaking down barriers that restrict skilled workers.
-The BC Liberals introduced the $90-million BC Training Tax Credit to help employers and apprentices cover the cost of their training. The NDP voted against this program.
In their election platform, the BC Liberals promise to double the BC Training Tax Credit program, whereas the NDP Platform only commits to strike a task force, without providing any tangible support for apprentices.
We have said repeatedly that in the current economic situation many construction workers who had put off education because of the previous boom in jobs are now turning their attention to training and upgrading skills. In fact, we called for governments to bring in more incentives for retraining to help workers improve their future hiring prospects and productivity by going back to school. Good to know the Liberals understand this.
Carole James and the NDP. Wrong party, wrong leader, wrong time.
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it was you organization that recomended to Gordon Campell to dismantle the old apprenticeship system, by the way it worked very well. Apprenties were told when to go to school.
ReplyDeleteWe now have the ITA, run by no more than a dozen people, everything is left up to the apprentice to organize.
Many apprentices don't relize that there is a 1 year wait to get into a trades school, in 1 year they try to get signed up at a school, only to relize that they should have registered last year-most of the time the employer dictates when the apprentice will go to school.
thanks to Phil Hockstein and the ICBA, the apprenticeship system is a mess, the autitor generals report proved it.
you should read the bc auditi=or general report on the industry traing authority (ITA), that organization is responsable for the apprentices in BC.
ReplyDeleteIn brief, its a mess, no accurate account on the number of apprentices and most of all 1/2 of them have not gone to 1st year school.
good work Phil and the ICBA.