Dear Prime Minister,
On behalf of Canada’s publicly funded colleges, institutes, CEGEPs and polytechnics, I want to congratulate you on your election as Prime Minister of Canada and on the appointment of your new Cabinet. Your ambitions to build a unified national economy and skilled workforce, strengthen trade by pivoting to new partners, secure the country, and protect our values set a framework to meet the moment and the priorities of Canadians. Achieving this agenda will require big ideas and even bigger actions – we are ready and willing Team Canada partners.
Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is the national and international voice of Canada’s public postsecondary institutions for hands-on, job-ready education and training. Our 129 members are anchor institutions in Canadian communities large and small, from coast to coast to coast, many facing significant disruption from U.S. tariffs and evolving trade relations.
With 95% of Canadians and 86% of Indigenous peoples living within 50 km of a campus or access centre, our members have unparalleled reach, particularly in rural, remote, and resource-intensive communities where skilled labour shortages are most acute, and populations are aging. Through employer-driven skills training, industry-led applied research, and deep community connections, they help Canadians adapt to new economic realities, adopt new technologies like AI, scale production and seize opportunities in emerging markets. In short, they train the builders, growers, makers, caregivers, first responders, innovators and job creators that Canadians depend on.
In everything they do, our members drive bold, lasting impact for Canadians – especially during nationally consequential times like these.
By building up our builders, investing in innovation at the local level, and developing a national workforce strategy, your government can leverage Canada’s dynamic network of public colleges and institutes to meet the moment.
Training the Builders for a Strong Canada
Canada is a country with a wealth of resources from traditional and renewable energies to agriculture and critical minerals, but the national infrastructure to unlock – and unleash – our country’s potential is lacking. To secure new global markets and strengthen long-term economic resilience, Canada must invest in critical national infrastructure projects such as pipelines, port facilities, and transportation corridors. These projects will absolutely require a skilled workforce to design, construct, operate and maintain them. With an estimated 700,000 trade workers retiring in the next five years, Canada is facing a critical labour shortage – we must prioritize generational renewal. Colleges, which train 70% of Canada’s tradespeople, will be crucial to filling this gap.
Investment in the infrastructure and skilled workforce – including youth in Indigenous and remote communities – necessary to develop an end-to-end value chain for critical minerals, agricultural and energy products is imperative. With complex apprentice systems within provinces and territories that create barriers to labour mobility, support is needed now for those who want a career building our homes and our infrastructure and moving our goods.
Our members play a crucial role in training, reskilling and upskilling the current – and future – generation of builders, growers, and makers needed to deliver on your government’s commitments to double the pace of housing construction, strengthen our traditional and clean energy supply chain, and contribute to a resilient economic future.
Given the critical need for more skilled trades and technical talent in the country, we urge you to prioritize the funding promised in your platform for capital funding for new training spaces at colleges and launch this program at your earliest possibility.
Invest in Local Innovation to Grow Canada’s Prosperity
Greater productivity and prosperity require that Canadian small and medium-sized businesses invest more in capital, research & technology, and people. Canada’s college and institutes help SMEs in their local region derisk technology adoption by working with industry partners to rapidly design, test, prototype, and deploy new and improved technologies, including and especially AI. This allows Canadian businesses to innovate their operations, adjust and add value to their business models and pivot to new markets.
Colleges and institutes lead the nation in industry-partnered, problem-driven research. In 2023-2024, our sector worked with nearly 9,000 partners, 61% of which were Canadian SMEs, on more than 8,500 applied research projects, resulting in close to 9,000 new products, prototypes, processes and services in areas like housing construction and advanced manufacturing, climate-smart agriculture and food production, and social innovation. The intellectual property generated through these partnerships stays in the hands of Canadian businesses, retaining and reinvesting wealth here at home.
Putting innovation and impact at the heart of Canada’s research agenda means doubling down on federal investments in college and institute applied research. Putting colleges at the heart of a mission-driven research agenda means greater technology uptake by Canadian SMEs, partnership that works at the speed of business, and commercialization and productivity dividends for Canada’s economy. Ultimately, this means tangible impacts for Canadians.
As you continue your outreach in communities across the country, we will be inviting you and all Parliamentarians to come visit our cutting-edge college and institute applied research centres, researchers, technicians and students to see the real returns our network provides Canadian business and community partners every day.
A National Economy Needs a National Workforce Strategy
A unified Canadian economy means Canada’s thirteen provincial and territorial economies should work together for Canadians at both the regional and national level. Building more new homes, transportation corridors and export infrastructure, removing barriers to internal trade, and increasing labour mobility will require national leadership, coordination, and transformation.
A skilled, agile and mobile workforce starts with colleges and institutes. They provide training not just to Canada’s young people, but also mid-career workers looking for a new skill or a new job, international students and newcomers integrating into Canadian workplaces, veterans transitioning into civilian jobs, and employers ensuring their staff adopt new technologies. Our members have already been developing and sharing the tools to help learners and workers move across the country through various frameworks and articulation agreements for recognizing credentials, competencies, and skills in their provinces and territories and across jurisdictions. CICan recently convened our sector to build coalitions of the willing to scale a pan-Canadian effort.
As talent is trained to work on national projects that will bind the country together, further harmonization where possible, and mutual recognition in program delivery, curriculum, and competency objectives, will be needed to ensure that Canada is fully primed to build critical infrastructure that connects communities for decades to come.
As your government works with the provinces, territories, business and labour to mobilize action towards a national economy, we urge you to invite college and institute leaders to the table to ensure a fully informed policy dialogue on a national workforce strategy.
Canada’s Challenges, College Solutions
Prime Minister, a strong Canada = a skilled Canada.
CICan brings a unified national voice for the sector to Ottawa. We convene, connect and champion our members to do what they do best: work directly with employers to meet today’s and tomorrow’s job needs, and deliver accessible, adaptable, and relevant training, education, and applied research solutions to meet Canada’s biggest challenges.
As our country navigates prevailing head and tailwinds, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to bring to life the story of Canada’s colleges, institutes, CEGEPs and polytechnics in supporting Canadian learners, workers, businesses and communities to adapt and thrive. We stand ready to work with you to help you deliver on your mandate to build a strong and resilient Canada, for all.
Congratulations again to you, and your team, on your election. You have a big job ahead and we are here to help you get that job done.
Sincerely,
Pari Johnston
President and CEO
Colleges and Institutes Canada