Skills training centre of new budget
The centrepiece of the budget, targeted at softening the blow of economic slowdown for the unemployed and poor, is investment in skills training - a $1.5 billion, three-year Skills to Jobs Action Plan aimed at getting more Ontarians the long-term training they need for new job opportunities, and $355 million over three years for a Second Career Strategy that will help 20,000 unemployed workers transition into new careers and well-paying jobs in growing areas of the economy, Broten said.
"The retraining initiative is so important. We're seeing a transition in the economy and what we want to do is ensure that all those moms and dads out there are making a good, solid income to go home with," she told The Guardian shortly after the budget was unveiled yesterday afternoon.
"Especially with manufacturers in Etobicoke Lakeshore who, for so many years, have worked in a specific sector and want to work, to become more involved in the modern economy. That's what the Second Career Strategy is all about."
In a report filed by Statistics Canada on March 4 citing the manufacturing industry as the sector seeing the largest decline in employment, Ontario lost 77,000 manufacturing jobs between 2001 and 2006 - equivalent to an annual average decline of 1.7 per cent.
Under the new budget, Broten said, the Second Career Strategy would provide $25,000 towards tuition and living allowance for manufacturing workers wanting to move to a skilled-trades job and attend a two-year Mechanical Technician program at a college.
"This budget is about making sure people have jobs and Ontario's economy grows," said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan at the budget unveiling. "This budget is about ensuring that all Ontarians have the opportunities and skills to succeed, so that they are working in jobs that will strengthen Ontario's economy."
A further $75 million over the next three years to expand apprenticeship training will help young workers get their foot in the door and give them the abilities they need to generate a sustainable income, Broten said.
In addressing the needs identified by Etobicoke's Daily Bread Food Bank, the provincial budget earmarked $135 million over three years to provide free dental care for low-income families, $100 million for social housing and $32 million over three years for student nutrition programs and schools and community centres.
"These are good initial investments in the poverty reduction strategy that will meet a recognized need in the community," Gail Nyberg, Daily Bread's executive director, said in a statement. "Daily Bread was one of the first organizations to praise the government for having the courage to tackle poverty in a systematic way. But we will also be one of the first to take them to task if they don't live up to their commitments. Over the next few months we will be pressing the government to build on these and other initiatives that will help our clients and reduce food bank lines."
