Employment Minister Jason Kenney and Canada Job Grant

Canada Job Grant: A year ago, Flaherty announced a new job training program, the Canada Job Grant, designed to address the shortage of skilled tradespeople that employers were complaining about. It would be jointly financed by Ottawa, the provinces and participating businesses. To ensure that the provinces paid their share, the federal government intended to wrench back 60 per cent of the training funds it had placed under their control, forcing them to cancel their own programs and forsake the hardest-to-employ individuals who lacked basic literacy, people with disabilities, at-risk youth and new immigrants, according to The Star. Initially it looked as if Ottawa was willing to negotiate. In a show of good faith, Kenney offered to change the policy if the provinces presented specific proposals. They worked together and came up with an alternative . Under their plan, the provinces would be allowed to pay their share in cash or in kind, meaning they could provide facilities and equipment for the training and cover the transport and accommodation of the participants. The deadline to finalize the plan would be extended by six months and the program would be subject to review after two years to ensure it was working and Employment Minister Jason Kenney says his government wants an informed national dialogue on skills training. But until he and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty stop using threats and ultimatums, no one is likely to join the conversation. All 10 provinces were dead-set against it. The private sector was lukewarm. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.