Bill C-257

2nd Session, 40th Parliament,

57 Elizabeth II, 2009

house of commons of canada

BILL C-257

An Act to provide for the establishment of national standards for labour market training, apprenticeship and certification

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Labour Market Training, Apprenticeship and Certification Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. The definitions in this section apply in this Act.

“Minister” means the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.

“NATAC” means a national apprenticeship and training advisory committee.

“prescribed trade” means a trade prescribed by the Minister by regulation under paragraph 5(a).

“provincial minister” means a minister of a province who is responsible for the establishment of training and certification for trades in the province.

PURPOSE

3. The purpose of this Act is to secure the establishment of nationally recognized training and certification standards for prescribed trades, recognizing that

(a) industry practitioners in a field should determine the sets of skills that should be provided to those seeking work in that field;

(b) there is a need to provide school-to-work transition for young people entering the work force and the apprenticeship model should be supported and expanded because

(i) apprenticeship develops an attachment to the work force, and

(ii) the communication of craft trade skills and other apprenticeable trades is best achieved through work experience;

(c) there is a need to standardize entrance requirements, curricula and examinations to ensure that the skills of the work force in every industrial sector are based on uniform and consistent training; and

(d) there is a need for workers to have portable skills that are recognized across the country by all levels of government.

AGREEMENTS

4. The Minister may make agreements with provinces or with organizations concerned with apprenticeship training and certification in order to fulfil the purposes of this Act.

REGULATIONS

5. The Minister may make regulations to

(a) prescribe trades that have or should have apprenticeship as a part of their training and certification in Canada;

(b) establish a NATAC for every prescribed trade and set out its membership and the term of its members;

(c) fix the remuneration and reimbursement of expenses of NATAC members; and

(d) issue national training standards for a prescribed trade after the NATAC created for the trade has reported to the Minister.

PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONS

6. (1) The purpose of a NATAC is to advise the Minister on training and certification for a prescribed trade, both in a college or other educational institution and in the context of apprenticeship.

(2) Every NATAC established for a prescribed trade shall have among its membership at least one representative of each of the following:

(a) the Minister;

(b) the provincial ministers;

(c) the industries that generally employ the prescribed trade;

(d) the labour organizations by which the prescribed trade is generally represented; and

(e) the colleges and other educational institutions that generally offer training for the prescribed trade.

7. A NATAC shall, after consulting with the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship, provincial ministers, labour organizations, industry representatives, the trade training committee established for the prescribed trade, and existing trade-training organizations,

(a) propose national apprenticeship, training and certification standards applicable to the prescribed trade for which it was established, in accordance with the purpose of this Act under section 3;

(b) report thereon to the Minister;

(c) with the prior approval of the Minister and through consultations with the represent- atives of the provincial ministers, seek to gain recognition of the standards by each of the provincial ministers; and

(d) advise the Minister on the funding that the NATAC considers necessary to establish training in accordance with the standards.

REPORT

8. (1) The Minister shall lay before each House of Parliament, for every calendar year, a report respecting the functions of the NATACs established under this Act.

(2) The report, on being laid before the House of Commons, is deemed referred to the standing committee of the House appointed to deal with apprenticeship training matters.