ABSTRACT
Canada is the second largest country in the world, with significant geographical distances between population centers. The country's constitution evolved in response to these distances and gave considerable political autonomy to the Canada's 13 provinces. Owing to these historical and geographical circumstances it is incorrect to talk about a single labor market, as Canada has a large number of regional labor markets. The restructuring of these labor markets over the past 15 years has increased the numbers engaged in non-standard forms of employment and those working in knowledge-based activities. However, the responsiveness of the country's education and training system to these changes is open to debate. For example, on the one hand government expenditure on education is very high, amounting to nearly 7% of the country's GDP, enabling it to have some of the highest post-secondary education participation rates in the world. On the other hand, the current system is criticized for not offering a coherent vocational training route for young people once they have completed their compulsory schooling. Numerous studies have also found that employers experience difficulties in recruiting employees with the appropriate skills and aptitudes necessary for working in a knowledge society. All of these issue are debated further in this chapter, especially in relation into how specific features of Canadian society have shaped the skill trajectories being followed by provinces in Canada. Moreover, the chapter identifies what role a modern state should play in supporting skill development in a post-industrial economy and analyses the degree to which such conditions are present in Canada. By using such an approach we are able comment on the extent to which the present education and training system is facilitating structural change in Canada or not as the case may be.
