ChazYEG
Senior Member
The lack of skilled tradesmen amongst immigrants, especially those from developing countries, stems from the fact that culturally, trades (or any kind of manual labour) tends to be very undervalued in these countries, unlike North America or Europe. It would be interesting if the government shifted the focus of attracting students for grad schools to a more balanced approach with trade schools. Currently the only student visas that give anyone a pathway for Permanent Residency and Citizenship is grad school or 4-year undergraduate programs on publicly funded universities, it would be in the country's best interest to extend that to skilled trades programs too (and leave out just the 1 and 2 year diplomas and certificates, and any education not done on publicly funded institutions), and I'd go even further, I wouldn't be mad if there was better financial support for ALL students going into trade schools. This is the kind of thing that raises the country's productivity a lot, generates lots of value and creates lots of jobs.
