Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Chapter 20: Intergovernmental Relations
As discussed in Chapter 9, Employment and Training Services, the fragmented nature of
these agreements also limits the province’s ability to maximize the benefits and savings that
fully integrated services and streamlined reporting requirements would provide, and results
in fragmented and distorted policy-making.
TABLE 20.4 Labour-Market Transfers
Agreements Eligibility
Labour Market
Primarily targeted to Employment Insurance (EI) clients.
Development Agreement
Labour Market Agreement Unemployed individuals who are not EI eligible such as social assistance recipients,
immigrants and other key groups.
Targeted Initiative for
Older Workers
Labour Market Agreement
for Persons with
Disabilities
Source: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
Employed individuals who are low skilled (no high school diploma or recognized certification).
Laid-off workers aged 50 and over (primarily targeted to those aged 55 to 64).
Must be in communities of less than 250,000 people that have high unemployment or a high
reliance on single industries.
Employment-related programming for persons with disabilities.
The devolution is not complete. In its 2007 budget, the federal government committed
to exploring the transfer of around $500 million annually to allow provinces to deliver the
remaining federal training programs. These programs include services for youth and persons
with disabilities, which overlap with existing provincial programming. Despite this commitment,
the federal government has not yet consulted the provinces on further devolution.
Ontario’s services for youth and persons with disabilities are effective. Client surveys indicate
that both participants and employers are satisfied with programs. The transfer of responsibility
for the training of these groups would allow the province to integrate remaining federal
programs into the existing suite of effective provincial services. This would improve the quality
of programming and outcomes for job seekers, while achieving efficiencies through
administrative savings.
TABLE 20.5 Outcomes from Select Summer Jobs Services
Year Number of
Client Satisfaction
Placements
Participant Employer
2009–10 48,108 96% 99%
2010–11 59,161 96% 99%
Source: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
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