Access to Talent Required to Keep Ontario Competitive
#LSN_Econ
Ontario's Business Advocate calls on Ontario’s next government
to take bold action in fostering job creation
THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO May 24, 2018 (LSN) Today, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) and the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce called on all political parties to take bold action in improving the alignment of skills, education, and career opportunities across the province with election day just weeks away. In its Vote Prosperity platform, the Chambers emphasize that a robust labour market with good jobs is essential to the future growth of the economy and Ontario’s continued global competitiveness. 77 percent of businesses in Ontario note that access to talent has the largest impact on their competitiveness.
The Chamber Network would like Ontario’s next government to modernize the apprenticeship system and work with both industry and post-secondary institutions to ensure that program offerings remain responsive to the changing labour market and needs of the business community.
“As Ontario employers struggle to recruit the workers they need, the skills mismatch is becoming a serious challenge to business competitiveness and is one of the most important issues facing our members,” said Charla Robinson, President of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce. “That is why we are calling on all political parties to help us create a skilled and qualified workforce. On election day, for Ontario to win, we must consider how we are leveraging our greatest asset—human capital.”
Fostering job creation is the second pillar for a strong Ontario in the Vote Prosperity platform, which calls on the next government to implement a plan that will:
● Modernize the apprenticeship system.
● Redesign Employment Ontario services for both job-seekers and employers and evaluate the potential of an outcomes-based funding model.
● Work with industry and post-secondary institutions to ensure that program offerings remain responsive to the changing labour market dynamics and the regional and sectoral needs of Ontario’s business community.
● Allocate resources to focus support on high growth firms and those with high growth potential, by delaying taxation on corporate income growth to overcome Ontario’s scale-up challenge.
In October the Ontario Chamber Network along with its 135 chambers of commerce and boards of trade across the province, released Vote Prosperity, a platform outlining the business community’s priorities for the upcoming 2018 provincial election
For more information about the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s Vote Prosperity platform, please visit www.tbchamber.ca..
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