Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

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“Due to large budget deficits, particularly at the provincial level, there is considerable public concern over the sustainability of existing
government services. These pressures are not temporary. An aging population means that public services will be under increasing
strain, making rationalization of program delivery necessary.”
M. Mendelsohn, J. Hjartarson and J. Pearce, “Saving Dollars and Making Sense,” 2010, Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation.
Employment and Training Services
Ontario is best positioned to deliver employment and training services that meet the changing
needs of its labour market, and fit coherently into its larger human capital agenda that
incorporates other programs such as post-secondary education.
“Workforce development … has a deep historic relationship to higher and post-secondary education, since many aspects of labour
market training are delivered by community colleges, part of the higher education sector. Devolution has provided provincial
governments with enhanced flexibility to tailor employment and training programs and services that are responsive to provincial and
local labour market conditions and political directions.”
Donna Wood and Thomas Klassen, “Bilateral Federalism and Workforce Development Policy in Canada.”
“Budget 2007 delivers on that commitment through a comprehensive new labour market training architecture that will provide labour
market programming to those who need it…by recognizing that provinces and territories are best placed to design and deliver this
programming…With the full implementation of this new architecture, in combination with existing provincial and territorial labour
market programming, Canadians will have access to integrated labour market programming delivered by provinces and territories that
can be tailored to their specific needs.”
2007 Federal Budget.
Recognizing that provinces are best positioned to deliver training programs, the federal
government devolved responsibility for training programs associated with EI to Ontario in
2007. This devolution, funded through an allocation under the Employment Insurance Act,
requires that corresponding provincially delivered programs need to be similar to the original
federal training programs and that clients must be eligible for EI.
The federal government continued to provide support to provincial training programs by
creating a number of agreements — each with its own client eligibility criteria, program design,
and reporting and accounting requirements. For example, the Labour Market Development
Agreement only supports services for EI-eligible job seekers (only 31 per cent of EI Part II
funding flowing to Ontario). In addition, the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers supports
services for only older workers. For job seekers, this fragmentation presents a confusing
environment comprising multiple offices and locations, exacerbating an already stressful time.