Manufacturers, together with colleges and apprenticeship programs, must look for collaborative ways to lower training costs, reduce the risk of losing qualified personnel, share best practice in training procedures, and pool resources in shared training programs.

Colleges, business and professional associations, and apprenticeship and training programs must develop more customized, modular training programs that can be delivered to manufacturers of a just-in-time basis.

Apprenticeships, trades and professional training programs across Canada must develop a more integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to training and recognition of credentials.

The Skills Canada program must be enhanced.

Trades training programs must be adapted for a non-union environment.

For smaller companies in particular, apprenticeship programs must be structured in a way that either encourages workers to stay or reduces the risk of them leaving.

Manufacturers, colleges, and universities must work together to develop more cooperative programs and longer terms in employment in order to increase the practical experience that students gain in active employment.

Provincial governments must expand and update the regulations governing apprenticeship programs.

Governments must provide increased financial incentives to workers and businesses for trades training. The trades should be on a par with professional training programs in terms of the commitment of public funding. Manufacturers recommend training tax credits and a reduction in payroll taxes as two fiscal mechanisms that would encourage more investment in in-house training efforts.

“Our future classrooms are in our plants.”

CME’s 2004 Management Issues Survey provides some indication of the provinces and companies where training incentives would be most effective for manufacturers. (See Tables 8, 9, and 10.) A large majority of companies say that some incentive is important for increasing internal training budgets. However, in Quebec, 20% of firms indicate that no further incentives are necessary – a reflection of the training tax and related programs in place in that province.

Tax credits for training purposes are the most popular type of incentive for manufacturers. They tend to be favoured more strongly in western Canada and in Ontario than in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Support for training tax credits does not vary according to company size.