When government released the Skills Task Force report, All the Skills to Succeed, in May, 2007, we made the commitment to see that the recommendations would be implemented in a timely manner and that this important work would not lose momentum. With that in mind, government established the Industry Co-ordinating Committee (ICC) with representation from business, labour, industry, non-governmental agencies, education and the Provincial Government.

Today the ICC is hosting the first Skilled Trades spring forum. More than 100 registrations have been received, with the bulk coming from representatives outside government. Participants are discussing achievements to date in implementing the task force recommendations, as well as future opportunities to continue to build this province�s skilled labour force.

I�m pleased to report that much progress has been made on implementing the 50 recommendations contained in the report for government, industry, education and labour.

Government has committed more than $50 million toward the Skills Task Force action plan, supporting apprenticeship, science and technology, programming, training and infrastructure. Of the 25 items identified for government, some have been fully implemented or are at various stages of implementation.

Industry and employer stakeholders have shown dedication to addressing their 12 action items, and indeed have been able to assist in addressing items beyond their responsibility.

Non-governmental agencies continue to provide valuable input into this process and our post-secondary institutions have been very active. All eight education items are being addressed in some way and our post-secondary institutions are dedicated to offering the training our labour market requires.

Finally, labour has been a consistent player in the implementation of the Skills Task Force report. As just one example, the Office to Advance Women Apprentices, which I referenced in the House just last month, now has 171 female apprentices and journeypersons registered in their database.

The level of commitment shown by our partners to this initiative is very encouraging. It is through strong partnerships and mutual commitment to our goal that we are seeing growth in our labour force. And our investments are paying off. From 2007 to 2008, the number of registered apprentices grew by 23.3 per cent, while the number of Red Seal certificates issued was up 19 per cent.

I thank all partners who have worked with us over the past couple of years to help build our labour force and look forward to continued success in the future.