BC will face a shortfall of 160,000 skilled workers by 2015, unless we plan ahead.

The BC Federation of Labour has managed to get some headlines up about the continued shortage of skilled workers in BC by hosting a conference in Victoria. It is a good thing that Labour is concerned about the looming shortage but the ideas being presented are a little outdated for my taste. 
“Jim Sinclair supports a provincial training tax for employers. He recommends that those that train workers would not pay, those that train above the standard would get a rebate and those that do not train, have to pay.”
Having worked for several unionized and non-unionized employers I have strong opinions but I would never support a tax on business to encourage training. There are excellent studies showing the ROI on training and apprenticeships, and most leading employers intuitively know the value in investing in employees.
There are very significant government incentives in place right now that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars for the hiring and training of new employees. With training and hiring plans from HR and help from recruiters, who have the ability to recruit from across Canada and Internationally businesses should not be worried!