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Canada's Atlantic Gateway

www.atlanticgateway.gc.ca

Knowledge and Skills

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A transport worker on site 
Construction of an Overpass on Route 1 Four Lane Highway, New Brunswick

Credit: David F. Watts

The Canadian transportation sector is a knowledge-based sector where innovation, research and development, and science and technology are strategic drivers. A highly mobile, skilled, productive, adaptable and reliable workforce will be essential for the efficient and effective operation of the Gateway. Labour market studies conducted by governments and transportation organizations point to serious labour and skills shortages in the transportation sector in the foreseeable future. For example, the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council noted, in a 2006 survey, that 61 percent of sector employers identified driver shortages as one of their two top challenges.



  A transport worker on site
Credit: Oceanex Inc.

The Atlantic Gateway and Trade Corridor Strategy will provide a coordinated approach among management, labour organizations and higher educational institutions to make transportation skills, logistics training and supply chain management a priority. Post-secondary institutions are already increasing the amount and quality of training options in the fields of transportation, logistics, and supply chain management. Community colleges are working to incorporate logistics and supply chain management into their curricula. Future innovations could include transportation training simulation programs. Continuing to build academic capacity is important to ensure that innovative ideas and products are generated to support and train the transportation labour force.

Skills

Gateway-related skills development and enhancement activities are clearly evident across the region, as educational institutions align with private sector needs. For example:

  • Dalhousie University's Centre for International Trade and Transportation course curriculum blends trade and logistics into a credit-based university course. Its research institute is an informal network of economists, engineers, geographers, policy and management academics that maps out useful Gateway research projects.
  • Memorial University and its Marine Institute set the standard in education, training, innovation and research in ocean science, engineering, and technology development and transfer. With world-class facilities that include North America's most comprehensive suite of marine simulation capabilities and the world's largest flume tank, Newfoundland and Labrador is a global leader in the ocean and marine sectors.
  • The University of New Brunswick Transportation Group is a research group in the Department of Civil Engineering for post-graduate studies in transportation. The program offered by the Transportation Group is multidisciplinary and multimodal in nature. The primary objective is to produce well-rounded transportation professionals. A further objective is to provide for educational and research opportunities in support of regional and national transportation requirements.

The four Atlantic provinces and the federal government are also advancing a skills and human resources strategy designed to attract, develop and retain a highly specialized, adaptable and skilled workforce. The Atlantic Population Initiative's pan-Atlantic approach supports a sustainable pool of skilled workers that contributes to an effective Gateway system.

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Date Modified:
2011-04-18