Instead of trying to increase our education facilities to train our own youth to become interested in trades I notice that the business community is looking at the benifits they will have with the election of local MPs to the Government.
Its time we stopped feeding the rich and providing an education for our youth. Its time that the taxes paid by our families that they get some return for their money. There is a lot of talk about day care is that so that Mom can get out and get a minimum wage job to help support the family. Mom and her partner should be getting a free education so that they can provide for their family. There are shortages of doctors and in our trades lets train our own youth instead of trying to interst skilled imnmagrents in local jobs. I guess thats the cheap way out and provides for bigger profits

Oh, I get it....lots of extra help for immigrants, but absolutely NONE for our own local youth. I say this because - today - I called the Construction Association, believing them to be on the lookout for labourers/employees, actually crying "shortages", to see if they could point a recently graduated, capable, employable youth who is seeking employment, in the right direction. I was told to have him look in the phone book.

I think I will have the young man apply for citizenship in Timbucktoo, Foreign Country, then reapply for Canadian Immigrant Status, then he can bypass ALL THE HOOPS and go straight to work right here in Prince George, close to his family and EVERYTHING. Some of the people in this country are starting to make me VERY ILL...

Industry wants more than just hot bodies willing to work. They need skilled individuals with experience.

The College is no longer training people in the Technologies, for instance, since those programs have not been popular and thus they have by and large been shut down.

The new facility in the old Canadian Tire building has opened up with whatever number of "new" spaces, which is really not much more than a new building for "old" spaces, perhaps a few new ones, which were housed in other buildings before. In addition, it takes care of the "dumming down" of the two year Electronics Technology Program to a one year Technician program. Heaven forbid we should train too many people here and force grads to seek jobs in other parts of the province.

At the same time as we have been loosing seats in such programs, I understand that BCIT's courses are in high demand. The College has made a major mistake in not strengthening the programs which UNBC does not provide. Instead, they are becoming he feeder institute for this and other Universities while ignoring the diploma and trades programs.

I read that the College is now trying to get a Med Lab Technology program here. We had the first year of that program here 20 years ago, with students doing the second year at BCIT. The program was shut dwon when Kamloops got the full two year program.

We need qualified people with several years of experience from the looks of it. Industry is not willing to train people on the job any mre as was the case 30 and 40 years ago.

Remember, the reason Prince George grew in the 60's and 70's was because people came here due to job availability generated by the opening of 3 pulp mills.

Neither Prince George nor BC trained enough people to feed this new industry expansion. That is still the situation. Many people learned their skills, whether in Universities or Trades training, in other parts of Canada and other parts of the world.

Now those people who came here, and others who were educated here, are retiring. This is not only a local problem, but a national one and even one in other countries with a similar demographic mix. Our population is simply too old, with insufficient new growth to take care of the entire population from the point of view of work. This is nothing new. This was projected decades ago but amny did not understand the problem and how to solve it.

So, once again, PG, BC and Canada will be dependent on migrating workers, whether from this country or overseas.

On top of that, with the lower mainland booming with construction (there are probably more hammerhead cranes dotting the skies in Vancouver than any other City in Canada) the Construction Industry has no choice but to react they way they are doing. Based on supply and demand theory, having enough skilled trades on hand will keep construction costs down. To do otherwise is irresponsible and will cost the taxpayers plenty of money.