Bright Futures in Canada Newsletter

Foreign Credential Recognition Valuable to Canadian Energy Industry
As more and more electricity sector workers retire from the industry, Canada will need to be creative about recruiting skilled workers to meet the projected future demand for electricity.
The Electricity Sector Council's Foreign Credential Recognition project was commissioned to examine the potential of the Canadian electricity sector to recruit employees with comparable skill sets who have been trained in other countries.
The report identified that Canada's current population will not be able to sustain the workforce required to meet the future demands for electricity. It suggests that about 40 per cent of jobs in the electricity sector will be left vacant because of babyboomer retirement by 2014.

"As an industry we have a responsibility to look at all the possible solutions to maintain a skilled workforce," said Catherine Cottingham, the Electricity Sector Council's Executive Director and CEO.

"Many people who immigrate to Canada already have the skills and training we need," she said. "Helping to integrate new Canadians into the electricity sector is part of our mandate."

Labour Market Transition
Declining industries in Canada prove to be an unrealistic source of significant skilled labour for the electricity sector according to extensive research performed through the Electricity Sector Council's Labour Market Transition project.

The Electricity Sector Council's report, Skill Shortages and Labour Market Transition Measures in the Canadian Electricity Sector shows that because of the extensive training and technical skills required for electricity sector jobs, there is limited potential to recruit significant numbers of workers from declining industries. Instead, the report recommends that the most effective ways of developing and sustaining a strong electricity workforce include targeting youth, valuing existing employees and analyzing the international labour market.

Read the full article here.

Electricity First Work a Huge Success
The Career Focus program subsidizes the wages of post-secondary graduates to offer them skill-developing career opportunities in the electricity sector. The Electricity Sector Council is a proud participant in the program, and through it established the Electricity First Work project. The return on investment has been astounding.
An overwhelming 94.1 per cent of participating employees, in the initial three-year term of the project, were offered permanent jobs with their sponsoring company. Because of this success the program is being funded for a fourth year.

Industry employers say the program has not only helped their businesses grow but it has also encouraged them to invest in a strong, skilled and safe electricity workforce for the future.

Learn more about the program and how to get involved here.

Bright Futures B.C.
Bright Futures B.C. will hit British Columbia high schools this fall, to raise awareness in talented young students of the diverse and exciting career opportunities in the electricity sector so that they can make informed decisions about their futures.
The comprehensive information folder, including B.C.-specific information about becoming an electricity sector worker, will be modeled on Ontario's TradeUp for Success education kit which was created and distributed by the Power Workers' Union, Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation and Bruce Power in 2006 to address an impending national shortage of workers in the sector.
The Electricity Sector Council was granted licensure to implement the career awareness program TradeUp for Success by its industry creators on a national level in December 2007, and B.C. will be the first province to which the program will expand.
"The 2004 Sector Study performed by the Canadian Electricity Association and HRSDC projected that labour shortage in B.C. will be the most severe with 40 per cent of the current workforce retiring by 2014" said Catherine Cottingham, the Executive Director of the Electricity Sector Council.

Tom Goldie, Chair, Electricity Sector Council Board of Directors, Deb Carey, Director, Electricity Sector Council Board of Directors and Don McKinnon, President of the Power Workers' Union, sign the official contract transferring the license for TradeUp for Success to the Electricity Sector Council.