It's been a while since my last blog. Summer vacation and catching up on paperwork has kept me busy but where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday it was May and here we are almost at the end of July and bang smack in the middle of a controversy that you're either totally opinionated on or are not interested at all. Since I happen to be one of the totally opinionated Canadians, I'll share my thoughts with you anyway.

I believe the government's decision to scrap the mandatory long form…

Recent apprenticeship numbers released by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities shows a drastic increase in the number of registered apprentices in some manufacturing trades from just six years ago. Having done a number of skilled trade research studies and projections over the past 10 years, I'm pleased to see a rebound in some, but with changing skill set requirements, it should be expected that we also see some declining enrolment in others.

In October 2004, there were…

In May 2010, Industry Canada released the "Ontario Economic Overview" which looked at some key industry and economic indicators including employment. I was interested and very pleased to see that one of the highlights of the report appears to validate the information we identified in our most recent local workforce planning report.

The Conference Board report indicates that the government's "Feed-In Tariff" program has led a number of traditional automotive manufacturers to diversify into the…

Many of us, who are let's say a little older than forty, can remember a time when you expected to spend most, if not all, of your career with just one or two employers. It's not like that now I can hear you saying, but is it?

I think back to my interview for a position with British Telecom, my first and hopefully last employer. I was told that it was going to take a lot of time and money to train me and that they expected me to remain with them for my entire career, working my way up as far as I…

Oh no, not another survey…..!

How do you get the latest, most up to date, labour market information?  You rely on Statistics Canada's monthly labour force survey of course. Well at least that's what we've always done up until now.

There's no problem with the data really except that it doesn't tell us much and in today's world we need to keep our finger on the pulse of the workplace. So the Workforce Planning Board is implementing a local monthly Labour Force Survey for Waterloo Wellington and…

This morning I had the opportunity to lead off a morning of presentations hosted by Corporate Benefit Analysts.  The keynote speaker was Dr. Sherry Cooper, Chief Economist from the Bank of Montreal who delivered an insightful presentation of the economic climate now, and into the future.

My presentation was concerned with some of the themes of her presentation particularly in the areas of Talent Management and Employee Engagement.  My contribution to the discussion was my advocacy of a 'Quick…

Browsing CBC's web site earlier today, I came across an article talking about yet another push toward the use of electric vehicles. A Chinese company plans to market its electric vehicle on the US west coast later this year. Now I know I've talked about greening the auto industry before but it was not the news of the car that tweaked my interest but one of the comments made by a reader.

The comment basically said that, had GM decided not to stop the development of electric cars back in the 90's,…

 The Workforce Planning Board of Waterloo Wellington Dufferin has now completed the latest planning report. The report "Trends Opportunities and Priorities - A Lens on Local Industry 2010" will be distributed electronically within the next week and will be publicly launched on May 11^th. The report examines opportunities and challenges impacting employment in local industries, including four in the manufacturing sector.

 The launch will take place at the Waterloo Inn in partnership with the…

I'm a big fan of Douglas Adams' trilogy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". In the books, Adams solves the problem of how aliens from different planets understand and communicate with each other by introducing us to the Babel fish. A small creature that, when inserted into the ear or its equivalent, instantly translates from any alien language to your own.

Why am I telling about an alien fish you might ask? Well in today's global marketplace, more and more companies are conducting business…