Speaking at the Canadian Home Builders Association in Toronto on Friday, April 4, 2014, Jason Kenney, the Federal Minister of Employment and Social Development, called out an Ontario provincial measure – the newly formed Ontario College of Trades.
According to the OCOT’s website, one of this agency’s main responsibilities is to “ensure that individuals performing the skills of compulsory trades have the training and certification required to legally practise this trade in Ontario”. Sounds good, but it means that the OCOT will regulate many trades that were previously left alone. This will negatively impact thousands of Canadians currently working in Ontario firms and many more from out of province looking to work in Ontario. It is a fine example of government creating more bureaucracy without thinking through its consequences.
Kudos go to Kenney for sticking up for the trades. It’s about time that someone did. We have been encouraging kids to go to university for years and have ended up with too many unhappy, underperforming students who graduate with C minus grades. Student grade statistics show that, unfortunately, this happens a lot at our own University of Guelph.
The bias toward university and away from the other forms of formal post-secondary education – community college and apprenticeships – began a couple of decades ago when a study found that, on average, university graduate earn more than their non-university peers. Since then, parents have been pushing their kids to go to university without recognizing that some are suited for this type of education, and some are not. This has had multiple consequences: 1. It’s dragged down the quality of university education. 2. It’s resulted in too many students not taking the courses needed for the jobs that are available. 3. It’s resulted in too many students not being full qualified for the careers they ultimately end up pursuing, which limits their opportunity for promotion.
Let’s hope that Jason Kenney keeps working to reverse this trend. As the Toronto Sun stated in an editorial published on April 5, 2014:
“Being a tradesman is something to be proud of. It’s a skill. And one that, in these tough times, can pay a respectable wage.
Kids today have to understand this. No one should feel ashamed of not wanting to go to university and study something in the arts and sciences.
Why are we encouraging and paying for so many young Canadians to be educated in such subjects?”
