A B.C. labour VANCOUVER - A B.C. labour group is criticizing the provincial government for slashing funding to train construction workers, while at the same time the government is boasting about its skills-training programs.
Tom Sigurdson, the executive director of the B.C.
Building Trades, says it's shameful the government is spending money on campaign-style advertising while putting entire training programs at risk by cutting funds. He says the government's not only reducing funding, but a lack of information from the Industry Training Authority is leaving apprentices in the dark about upcoming courses so they miss getting the technical training they need.
But Premier Christy Clark fired back, saying there are about 32,000 apprentices in the trades training system, more than double since the training authority was created.
Her message came the same day the government issued a news release describing how high school students can get a jump start in a trade with apprenticeship programs that combine on-the-job training and classroom learning.
The government says the programs run by the Industry Training Authority allow young people to start apprenticeship training with no tuition fees and earn high school credits at the same time.
