The B.C. government moved Tuesday to expand the number of skilled workers by requiring contractors to employ apprentices on all public projects worth at least $15 million.
Beginning July 1, contractors competing to build schools, hospitals or highways will have to demonstrate how many apprentices they intend to hire.
They also will have to produce plans and provide quarterly updates on whether they are meeting their targets.
The government will be able to withhold final payments on projects if contractors fail to follow through on their commitments.
“This now makes it clear to them that if you are going to bid on a project in British Columbia that has taxpayer money invested in it, that you will be required to demonstrate your use of apprentices and, in fact, if you fail to do that, we could eventually withhold your final payment on the contract,” said Jobs Minister Shirley Bond.
She said the new policy will likely affect about 15 major projects in the coming year.
“It’s about leveraging the important taxpayer investments that we make,” she said. “Not only do we get to build great infrastructure, but we can build the workforce of today and tomorrow at the same time.”
There are no hard targets attached to the policy, although Bond said the government wants companies “to aspire to 25 per cent or even greater contribution in terms of apprentices on public projects.”
The B.C. Federation of Labour has been calling on the government to place a quota of 25 per cent apprenticeships on all public projects.
NDP critic Shane Simpson criticized the absence of quotas.
“I think you have to have a hard targets at some point,” he said, later adding: “I get a little iffy about this government’s aspirational goals, because they haven’t met one yet, and I worry that they won’t meet this one, either.”
Tom Sigurdson, executive director of B.C. Building Trades, said he’s “very hopeful” the policy will provide more opportunities for young British Columbians to succeed in the skilled trades.
“There are thousands of people that enter the trades every year,” he said.
“But, unfortunately, too many of them leave in frustration because they don’t have the opportunity to work.”
Sigurdson said most trades require apprentices to acquire 1,600 hours of on-the-job training before returning to the classroom for their next level of theory.
Robert Lashin, president of Houle Electric, said apprentices allow contractors to plan ahead.
“They are not a burden or an extra cost to the industry, but a valuable asset that is an investment for a successful future,” he said.
“An apprentice today is our foreman tomorrow. … They are going to be our captains of industry in the future — and it’s not the distant future, it’s the near future.”
