Key priorities identified for growing B.C.’s economy: Jobs minister

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He said in order to get people back to work, the province is investing in three key areas: child care, skills training and immigration.

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“Investment in child care is of course about equity because we know it’s predominantly women who are the ones who take the responsibility and stay home when there’s child care needs, but we also know now very clearly through the challenges we’ve been through is it’s about labour market participation. And by lowering the cost of child care, it means more opportunities for people to enter the workforce to address the labour shortage we have,” said Kahlon.

“The other piece for us is skills training, it is vitally important and we’ve made historic investments through the pandemic, and we’re going to need to continue to make them. Some of the forms of training is not the traditional four years going through degrees and all that, it’s micro-credentialling by giving people short courses to be able to take the employment opportunities. It’s going to be working in partnership with private sector partners who want to be able to train people on the job. We’re really looking at this in a very flexible way.”

Kahlon noted that bringing people into the province is also important, pointing to the fact that in 2021 B.C. had the largest annual net migration in 60 years with 100,000 people moving into the province, as well as the highest interprovincial migration rate in 30 years. Kahlon stated that attracting people to the province will help boost the workforce and create a strong economy, strong communities and social cohesion in the process.

Kahlon also said it became apparent under the COVID-19 pandemic that the economy and society were interconnected.

He said in order for a homeless person to get out of their situation, there needs to be affordable housing and mental health and addiction support, and in order to get women or single parents to work, there needs to be affordable child care, all of which the province is looking to provide.

Sandhu added that work to address these issues, as well as crime and community safety, is ongoing in Vernon, making it a more attractive place for people to come to live and work.

The local MLA also noted that investing in these services will help the economy.

“Economy and healthy societies go hand in hand,” Sandhu remarked.

“In order to have thriving economies, we need a healthy society where everybody gets equal opportunities and the means to have routines; and the dignity so that they feel encouraged to be productive [members of society].”

Kahlon agreed with this point, saying society and the economy is intertwined and investments in these sectors will help working British Columbians.

“You can’t have an economy that is strong if you don’t have a workforce that don’t have the skills that are needed to fill the labour market; you don’t have housing and affordable housing in order to attract people to the community; mental health connectivity; good access to health care, all those things are actually part of the economy,” said Kahlon, adding that these initiatives must be moved forward to benefit all British Columbians and the economy.