(Queen’s Park) Today during Question Period, Elizabeth Witmer, the PC Education Critic, called on the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities to reinstate Second Career applications, which were submitted under the original rules. The Minister refused to do so.
Witmer’s question was on behalf of the thousands of unemployed men and women in Waterloo Region and residents of Ontario whose lives have been shattered as a result of the McGuinty government’s mismanagement of the Second Career Program.
Two weeks ago, the McGuinty government changed the application rules for the Second Career Program. Consequently, people who qualified under the old rules and were waiting patiently for their turn, have become ineligible for training support.
According to John Tibbits, President of Conestoga College, “there’s a fundamental economic transformation going on.” Within the last year, Ontario has seen a net loss of 122,700 jobs. 28,000 local residents are looking for work in the Waterloo Region. Ontario’s unemployment rate, which is at 9.3%, is significantly higher than the national average at 8.5%. Tibbits suggests that workers are “going to need to retrain.”
“Many people have contacted me to express their shock and devastation at the last minute cancellation of their retraining plans after going through hoops to quality for the last eight months,” said Witmer. “One man said the government had made a promise and now has broken it. As a result he has hit rock bottom.”
“I urge the Premier to stop short-changing the needs of adults who desperately need retraining to find a job and immediately reinstate the Second Career applications, which were submitted under the original rules,” said Witmer.
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For more information contact:
Elizabeth Witmer, MPP
(416) 325-1306
See Hansard below….
Question Period Hansard
December 10, 2009
Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: My question is to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. Minister, I asked this question today on behalf of the thousands of unemployed men and women, not just in the region of Waterloo, but throughout the province of Ontario, whose lives have been shattered, yet again by the McGuinty government’s management and retroactive rule-changes to the Second Career program—which means they won’t qualify for retraining despite promises made to them eight months ago that you would. These people are flocking to my office, because you refused to help them—you on the other side.
Minister, I ask you: Where is the compassion and the fairness for these men and women? And what makes your government think you can get away with treating these people in such a cavalier and disdainful manner?
Hon. John Milloy: I know the member in no way wants to suggest that somehow she has a monopoly on compassion for unemployed workers in the province of Ontario. Every member of this House is concerned about those who are looking for a job in our province. We introduced, in June 2008, a Second Career program targeted at 20,000 Ontarians. Despite the ongoing criticism from her and her party, after 17 months, we were able to surpass that number at 21,000 and we made a decision not to end the program, but to continue it and welcome 8,000 more people into training.
I also know that the member would never want to leave the impression that these are the only supports that are available to those who are looking for a job. In the supplementary I will be quite happy to share what some of those supports are, to those who—
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Supplementary?
Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: Our office has been inundated with people walking-in, faxing, e-mailing and demonstrating and telling us they are being treated in a cavalier and disdainful manner.
I ask you today, Minister: Why did you break your promise of retraining to these unemployed men and women? Will you today, demonstrate fairness and compassion and accept the applications of those who had submitted them under the old rules, and jumped through about 8 months of hoops to qualify?
Hon. John Milloy: I would like to inform this House that there has been no one who has been accepted into the Second Career program who has not proceeded with their training going forward. It is absolutely wrong to somehow represent that the opposite is true.
The fact of the matter is, in the Kitchener–Waterloo area alone, 1,107 people have enrolled in Second Career training since June 2008. The Second Career program is an application-based program. It is not for everyone, but for all Ontarians who are looking for jobs we have a variety of services: job-finding clubs, resumé-writing workshops, interview preparation courses, Job Connect, literacy and basic skills, career preparation and counselling, targeted wage subsidies.
It’s a good thing for those thousands of people who are part of this training program that we did not listen to the honourable member and her party who were calling for us to end the program and did nothing, but criticize and mock it for the past two years.