Yesterday’s budget handed down by the Conservative-led Canadian federal government is being roundly criticized for its lack of help in the skilled trades shortage in that nation. A paper in the national capital covers it as well as anyone:
The Ottawa Sun on the Canadian Federal Budget

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Since everyone from AP to the Wall Street Journal to thesequitur.com is covering this, well, we have to, too. Yes, there is now a trade school where you can learn to grow Mary Jane… the green… herb…you know what we mean. And it’s not in Canada. Oaksterdam University (yes, we’re serious) is a new trade [...]

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SkillsUSA wants to remind you of their Drive for Five. Trade school teachers and others who sign up five new members to SkillsUSA will receive a certificate and a pin. SkillsUSA has a goal of reaching 3 million members this year. More details can be found here:
http://www.skillsusa.org/educators/championscampaign.shtml

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A couple of interesting new sites have popped up on our radar recently.
Weekly Toll is Tammy Miser’s blog about death in the workplace. We’re adding it to our blogroll/links. Tammy is also the founder of the United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities. See http://www.usmwf.org.
Shoprat.org seems to share some of the same interests as [...]

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The Canadian federal government’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has announced that it will provide $3 million over the next four years to the Construction Sector Council in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia, to help the Council deal with its shortage of skilled labor.
The Minister of Human Resources, [...]

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In Colorado’s, Ouray County, the Fortuna Tierra Club (FTC) is accepting applications for educational scholarships.
The Club, made up of women in the Log Hill Mesa area, has announced its scholarship program for 2008. It’s open to seniors from local Ridgway High School seniors.
FTC will be awarding scholarships ranging from $2,000-3,000 to graduating students, thanks to [...]

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The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announces the fifth annual Cliff Weiss Essay Contest in memory of its former senior director of communications. ACTE sponsors the yearly contest as an opportunity for writing-oriented career and technical education students to strut their stuff. The essay contest is open to all high school or college [...]

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We seem to be building a library of links to inspirational features like this one:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1038721.html

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Here’s a story on the skilled trades shortage in Australia and the proposal of an old solution: vocational schools. Read more at TheAge.com.

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East Hartford, Connecticut is yet another municipality addressing the growing skilled trades shortage. Last week, in an open-ended meeting between local business leaders, Senator Gary LeBeau and three state representatives, the agenda was the municipality’s inability to deal with a variety of problems due to a lack of skilled workforce.
Harold Harris, of Concepts and [...]

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