Education, Learning & Skills

Canada has outstanding schools, school boards, colleges, universities, publicly-funded research centres and centres of excellence, as well as a vibrant network of private schools, colleges and training institutes.  Many companies, trade unions and other employers offer first-rate on-the-job and in-house instruction, training and education, including co-op programmes, internships and apprenticeships.

At the same time, over 400,000 jobs continue to go unfilled by Canadians or immigrants to Canada because of the “skills mismatch” – our collective inability to train and educate young people in sufficient numbers for high-demand occupations, including those with entirely new technical or creative skill sets, that are among the key drivers of today’s new economy.

Canada faces a critical need to increase its presence as an exporter, investor and partner in the world’s largest markets outside North America – principally in Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.  At the same time the number of Canadians studying or acquiring work experience in these countries has declined.

As Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and Prime Minister I would:

(i)             pursue a deeper partnership with all interested governments, institutions, industry sectors and employers to plan and deliver education and training in new and existing subjects to provide the skills Canadians will need to fill the jobs of tomorrow, and provide quarterly public reports to all Canadians on education and the evolving Canadian labour market;

(ii)           champion all forms of education, including STEM; creative, digital and design; business, entrepreneurship, management, economics and finance; arts, fine arts and humanities; and skilled trades, especially those most in demand in emerging deep tech sectors of the new economy;

(iii)          champion a single national Canada-based, market-driven online platform for skills and job opportunities available in English and French to every Canadian, every international student and every immigrant;

(iv)          partner with the Canadian Bureau for International Education, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and other leading stakeholders to promote private-sector-led work, study, co-op, volunteer and apprenticeship opportunities for 100,000 Canadians per year in every part of the world, including by seeking partnerships with countries whose citizens benefit from Canada’s International Mobility Programme; and

(v)           establish in Canada, under federal government patronage but with the participation of all interested national and international partners, the Canadian Academy of the World with the aim of attracting the leading academics, researchers and practitioners with expertise in the history, politics, business, economies, languages, literature, religion, geography, climate, environment (including water, wilderness and wildlife), justice systems, rule of law, art, culture, technology, governance, conflicts, military and diplomacy for every major world civilization, state and region.