MIDLAND - Garfield Dunlop, MPP for Simcoe North supported the Ontario Government’s announcement today that will provide funding for the Georgian College Skilled Trades Centre.

“The funding being announced today by Minister Bentley will continue to enhance the Skills Trades Centre here in Midland while at the same time opening up valuable space at the Orillia Campus,” said Dunlop. “I am very proud that during my time as the MPP we have been able to see both of these Georgian Campuses grow and become more supportive of their communities.”

Dunlop, a licensed plumber and former plumbing and heating contractor is the only licensed tradesperson at Queen’s Park and has been a strong advocate for skilled trades and vocational training while both with government and opposition.

On November 27th, 2006 Dunlop responded to Minister Bentley in the legislature and spoke very highly of the fine work being done by the administration and staff of Georgian College at the Midland and Orillia campuses with regards to apprenticeships and skilled trades.

A copy of the November 27th Hansard Transcript follows:

APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING

Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): I'm pleased to respond to Minister Bentley's comments today regarding apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship on behalf of our caucus, our leader, John Tory, and our critic, Jim Wilson.

I'm very pleased to be able to respond anytime to any of these debates around apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships because I have a skilled trades background and as a business person I have become very passionate about this issue over the years.

I want to tell you that one person I really wanted to thank was our former Minister of Education, the Honourable Janet Ecker, who allowed me in 2002 to do a report on vocational and technical training in the province of Ontario. I certainly enjoyed working with contacts all across the province and the challenges we face in trying to attract more people to the skilled trades.

I'd like to speak very briefly for a moment on an institution I am extremely proud of in my riding, and that is Georgian College. The college operates a number of campuses and a number of apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship and women-in-skilled-trades programs. In 1999, I worked with President Brian Tamblyn, and the one thing we agreed to do together was to enhance the two campuses that I have in my riding, the campus in Midland and the campus in Orillia. At the time, the Midland campus was nothing more than a couple of office spaces in the back where the radio station was located. Today we have the Industrial Research and Development Institute building, owned by Georgian College, and it is a skilled trades centre in central Ontario. There are a number of trades working out of there under the leadership of the manager of skilled trades, Gabe Koopmans. We have an electrical apprenticeship, precision machine and tooling, a recreational vehicle technician -- the only one of its kind in the province -- and we're in the process at Georgian College of adding additional apprenticeship programs as well.

1410

Mrs. Koopmans and her staff at the college have been able to partner with a number of industries in our region, and they're looking for further partnerships down the road as we try to have more apprenticeship programs in the area. For example, in the Orillia campus of Georgian College we have the marine mechanics course; the Barrie campus is centred around the automotive industry, the centre for automotive expertise; and in Muskoka we have the cook and chef programs as well.

There are other programs that I could go into as well, but I did want to point out today that there are a number of problems we still face in trying to attract people to the skilled trades and apprenticeships. One is the stigma that has been attached to working with one's hands or being a skilled tradesperson. That's still there today. In spite of the fact that we do all these programs at the federal and provincial level and the colleges, we still have that issue today.

The average age is certainly increasing. Most of the skilled tradespeople in our province are over the age of 50. Although we are bringing on more people in pre-apprenticeship, just as many people are leaving the trades as they begin to retire. As well, I think we have the problem that a lot of jobs in Ontario have gone to western Canada. I can tell you also that there is still an inability to attract enough employers to satisfy all the needs of the apprenticeships that we'll need in this province.

I was talking to the college this morning, and one of the problems they have is funding, particularly for capital improvements and tools and resources for the apprentices to use as they take on more apprenticeships in the colleges. Of course, as well, there is the overall funding that the colleges are having a problem with. Many of the colleges in Ontario are looking at deficit budgets for the upcoming year -- the first time in history that that has happened.

However, I do believe that this should be a non-partisan issue. It's the responsibility of the federal government and the provincial government to do as much as we possibly can to keep these skilled tradespeople coming on stream as we try to build our economy, not only here in Ontario but across our country as well. So we look forward to continual improvements in the apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. We need to attract more young men and women to these particular positions. I look forward to announcements and very positive things happening in this particular area over the next few months.

For further information contact:

Garfield Dunlop

705-327-4500 cell