Mr. MacDonald: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last month the unemployment rate for young men in the province of Alberta aged between 16 and 24 was 15 and a half per cent, twice the rate for the general population. 

My first question is to the minister of advanced education. Given that labour market analysis is indicating that we’re heading for a shortage of skilled workers in this province, hopefully as the economy improves, why did the government allow the number of apprenticeship spots to actually go down here in Alberta last year? We’ve got unemployed people. Why aren’t we training them?

The Speaker: The hon. minister.

Mr. Horner: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that if the hon. member were to look at the statistics in a lot more detail, what he would find is that during the down period, which in some areas of the economy we’re still experiencing, companies aren’t hiring a lot of new apprentices. So first-year apprentice numbers and second-year apprentice numbers are down. Secondly, we don’t choose when that student is going to show up at the doorstep. In fact, if they have their second-year ticket or their third-year ticket, they may indeed not go to school this year. If they were very fortunate and maintained their employment, they may decide to stay working.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. MacDonald: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s an interesting response.

Again to the same minister: given that so many apprentices have built up such a large number of hours towards the completion of their apprenticeship during this last period of high employment, why are you cutting your budget now, when these individuals should be trained so that they can get permanent work whenever the economy turns around? Bad policy.

Mr. Horner: Well, Mr. Speaker, knowing the relationship that this hon. member has with many of our tradespeople, I’m sure that he’s not advocating that we would force tradesmen to come to school at a certain period of time outside of their selected periods of time when they want to work, and we’re not going to do that. Indeed, the apprenticeship program has always been based on the number of apprentices that want to get in that particular year at that particular time of the year. If there are no spaces at that particular time of the year, they move to another part of the year. We’re working with the apprenticeship board and all of our institutions to ensure that those spaces are there.

Mr. MacDonald: Again, Mr. Speaker, this government is forcing many of these apprentices into longer periods of unemployment through bad public policy.

My next question is to the minister of labour. Why is the department cutting . . .

The Speaker: Whoa. Whoa.

Mr. MacDonald: Yes?

The Speaker: Were you unaware of the comments I made earlier about preambles?

Mr. MacDonald: I didn’t consider that to be a preamble, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker: But I did. I did, sir. So you’ve asked me the question, and it has been responded to.

Alberta Hansard, April 13, 2010

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