Sandra Cobena

“Mr. Speaker, I have just a brief comment in response to the question from the Liberal opposite, who quite rightly highlighted the need to work on bridging the gaps that exist between employers and young people in skills development. One of the critical institutions that does that work in bridging the gap is the vocational institutions that work with employers to offer vocational skills that are highly aligned with the needs of the labour market. This is for young people, and the government is attacking them. In fact, the Minister for Jobs and Families has viciously and aggressively attacked these institutions and suggested they are all fraudulent. One thing the government needs to do is stop demonizing those who are doing this important work of trying to bridge the gap between employers and young people. I want to thank the member for raising the issue of credential recognition. When skilled professionals trained in other parts of the world are forced to compete with young people for entry-level jobs, that is a big loss to our economy in every sense. How can we do better at addressing this gap in credential recognition so that people who are trained can work in their areas of skill and leave space for young people in entry-level jobs?”