Harper not happy over shortage of skilled workers in Canada

It seems that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is seeing red these days.

According to CBC News, the prime minister isn' happy about Canada’s longstanding shortage of skilled workers.

Harper has been budding heads within his own government to come up with new methods to help Canadians acquire proper work-related skills in order to fill thousands of job vacancies.

The federal government gives provinces more than 2 billion a year from the employment insurance fund. 

This money is then used to run a wide range of skills training programs.

A Conservative insider says Harper is frustrated because they’re spending all that money and not seeing the matching end result.

Contrary To recent news reports, Harper’s goal is not to cut funds to the provinces for skills training and make this issue solely a federal responsibility. 

Most of the national funding for skills training programs is covered by federal-provincial agreements that expire next year, which is why the Harper government is hoping it can make major changes regarding new deals.

Federal Human Resources Minister Diane Finley calls the labour and skills shortage "the most significant socio-economic challenge ahead of us in Canada."

Flickr Photo by: micheal_swan

STORY WRITTEN BY: JENNA MONNEY-LUPERT