Federal Finance Minister Announces 2015 Budget

Gabriel Dumont Institute; Saskatchewan; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

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Federal Finance Minister Announces 2015 Budget

On April 21, 2015, the Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver presented his 2015 budget speech in the House of Commons. As expected, there was both support and criticism of the budget. The Mining Association of Canada, for example, declared its support of the budget and stated that the “budget invests in essentials.”

Former Prime Minister Paul Martin stated that the “budget has virtually nothing in it for Aboriginal Canadians,” while University of Winnipeg’s Professor Wab Kinew asserted that the budget allocated more funds for Canada’s 150th birthday – $210 million over the next four years – than for Aboriginal education ($200 million over 5 years). Jorge Barrera of the APTN noted that “Finance Minister Joe Oliver didn’t mention the word “Aboriginal” or “First Nation” in his budget speech.” National Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Assembly of First Nations described the budget as “a status-quo budget,” and added “the status quo is not acceptable.” So, does the budget have anything for GDI or the Métis?

One of the most significant proposals in the budget was $215 million over five years beginning this year and $50 million per year thereafter to the Skills and Partnership Fund (SPF), which provides skills development and training for Aboriginal peoples, in partnership with businesses and other levels of government. GDI Aboriginal Apprenticeship Initiative, 2011-2014, was funded by SPF. This is a commendable decision by the government. SPF will complement the $350 million provided annually for the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy (ASETS). GDI Training and Employment is a beneficiary of the ASETS.

The budget allocates $33.5 million over five years for administrative support for Aboriginal labour market programs and to launch a pilot labour force survey on reserve to improve available labour market information.

The budget will continue to fund on-reserve and off-reserve surveys targeting First Nation, Inuit, and Métis people with $33.2 million over the next five years, with $22.3 million coming from existing budgets of Aboriginal Affairs, Health Canada, and Employment and Social Development Canada. The next survey is expected to range from 2016-2017 to 2020-2021 and focus on “participation in the economy.”

The budget included a one-time investment of $65 million to business and industry associations to collaborate with post-secondary institutions to better align curricula with employer needs. GDI can potentially benefit from this funding through partnerships with businesses.

Although not direct funding for GDI, the $1 million over five years to promote the Blue Seal Certification program across Canada will benefit clients of the GDI Aboriginal Apprenticeship Project, who earn their journeyperson status and proceed to Blue Seal certification.

$248.5 million over five years is allocated for Aboriginal labour market programming, along with $4 million over two years for enhanced Labour Market Information to support a new national labour market information portal. This portal will likely benefit GDI’s work in determining labour market information in the MN-S regions. For more details, please visit: Budget 2015

GDI is a Saskatchewan-based educational, employment, and cultural institute serving Métis across the province.