BC Federation of Labour wary of Premier’s 5-year update

The BC Federation of Labour is critical of Premier Christy Clark’s 5-year update on Monday

The Premier says there were 72,000 new jobs created in BC in 2016. Federation President Irene Lanzinger is concerned not by the number of these jobs, but by the quality of them.

“More than half are part-time. They are part of this group of growing part-time, precarious, temporary work. Most of those jobs are concentrated in the Lower Mainland and Lower Island, they are not spread across the province,” she says, “The jobs plan has not worked.”

Lanzinger says the government’s investment in natural resources, like forestry and mining, has fallen through. She’d like to see these investment promises fulfilled to help other parts of the province like the north.

“We can do it sustainably, we can produce good jobs, we can add value to the logs by milling them here in the province and we can reforest and invest money in silviculture which will renew out forests.”

A recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suggests rural and northern communities are actually worse off now than in 2010.

Moving forward, Lanzinger would also like to see more on apprenticeship and skills training opportunities.

“The biggest impediment to address shortages of skilled labour is the lack of employer placements so that apprentices can get the on-the-job-experience needed to complete their training.

“And a good jobs plan would be incenting employers to use apprentices, and the government using its status as the biggest infrastructure builder in BC to widely deploy apprentices on all public projects.”

Premier Clark addressed job numbers in the places like Prince George by promising to make a Rural Economic Development strategy this year, which will help strengthen rural economies and create jobs.