Employment Supports (April 12)
Mr. MacDonald: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The unemployment rate in Alberta was 7.5 per cent in March, which is 25 per cent higher than the government’s projection for this fiscal year in the budget we just concluded debating.
To the Minister of Employment and Immigration. Has the high unemployment rate increased demand for training programs to help unemployed people here in Alberta find permanent work?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Lukaszuk: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any time an Albertan loses a job my heart goes out to them. It’s obvious that work has not only a monetary value, but there’s a moral value to having employment. My department, the Department of Employment and Immigration, is doing a number of things. Number one, we are now linking employers throughout the province who are still looking for workers with unemployed Albertans by way of hosting, through our 59 offices throughout the province, job fairs. We’re also providing training, upgrading to individuals who need additional skills.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Mr. MacDonald: Thank you. Again to the same minister. Speaking of those upgrades to skills, given that there has been a 7 per cent budget reduction in your department this fiscal year, where will you find the money to train these unemployed people so that they can find permanent jobs in this province?
Mr. Lukaszuk: Well, Mr. Speaker, it’s obviously a spending day on that side of the House. Spending more money is not always the answer to a problem. What I’m doing right now with the department is reprofiling the dollars that I have, and we are now focusing on skills that actually lead to employment. Again, in co-operation with employers we’re finding out what skill sets it is that they’re looking for, and those are the practical skill sets that are leading to employment that we are providing to unemployed clients of ours.
Mr. MacDonald: Again, Mr. Speaker, to the same minister. Let’s put Albertans back to work permanently. Why is this government allowing so much manufacturing like the steel modules for Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake oil sands project to be done in South Korea instead of here in Alberta, where we could put so many people to work constructing those modules right here?
Mr. Lukaszuk: Well, Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome this member back to Canada, to a country where we don’t tell businesses what to do and how to do it. Our role as government is to create an environment where the private sector can prosper and create jobs. We don’t tell businesses what they manufacture, how they manufacture, and where they manufacture. We make sure that we are as competitive as we can be so that most of that work is done here in Alberta.
Alberta Hansard, April 12, 2010