Prime Minister Harper's remarks at the 41st Annual Construction Apprentice Graduating Banquet

Pat Davidson was elected as your Member of Parliament not that long ago in 2006 after a long career in municipal politics.  She's doing great work on your behalf in Ottawa.  She's a member of the House of Commons committee on health, and she's vice-chair of the House of Commons committee on the status of women, so please join me in giving her a big thank you for the work she's doing. 

Greetings to the members of the Sarnia Construction Association, both management and union, and thank you for accommodating me tonight in your event.  Congratulations on your establishment of the Apprenticeship Training Program.  As Pat said, it's unique and I know these congratulations should also be shared with Lambton College, which is turning out this year another, even larger crop of fine graduates.  Greetings to those young people who are here and who we are honouring tonight, the graduating apprentices.

Let me start, graduates, by congratulating you on a great career choice.  As you may know, our Government has made somewhat of a mission of encouraging smart, ambitious young people to consider a future in the trades.  We've done more than just run some ads to encourage this career path.  We've introduced some financial measures to support it, an Apprenticeship Incentive Grant to reduce the cost of schooling, a Job Creation Tax Credit to reward employers who hire apprentices and a Tools Tax Credit to render buying tools less expensive for tradespeople.

Now, why have we done these things?  We have because in the years to come, Canada is going to need literally hundreds of thousands of skilled tradesmen and women.  And all of the data on the emerging labour force of the next couple of decades suggest that such tradespeople, if you work hard, if you grab onto new technology, if you stay current with your expertise, should have long, busy and successful careers.  It also doesn't hurt that you are pursuing your profession in a country with the wealth and breadth of opportunity that we have here in Canada. 

Notwithstanding the slowing US economy, Canada's economic fundamentals remain the strongest in the G7 group of countries.  We've got a growing population, booming natural resource sectors, and a diversified modern economy.  You will be going out there in the workforce, maybe some of you eventually across the country, and you will be building and servicing the next generation of factories, plants, schools, housing and other facilities; the buildings and the infrastructure that all workers and all sectors will need to keep our country strong.  That's what you will be doing: real, concrete work, accomplishments you can see and feel, labour that literally touches the lives of all people in this great country.  So do it with care, do it with quality, do it with pride.  You will literally be building our great country.  Good luck. 
Congratulations once again.  Thanks for having me.

All News