Why is WSI targeted to employers and employees in the Canadian workplace and not the unemployed?
A comprehensive pan Canadian consultation involving employers, unions, provinces and territories was carried out by HRSDC officials in 2004. The main focus was the state of workplace skills in Canada. This consultation was in line with global trends whereby many countries were sounding alarm bells about emerging skills gaps, the relative lack of innovation and inadequate productivity in many workplaces, and possibly worrisome demographic trends. Countries like Norway, Ireland, Australia, the U.K., and New Zealand moved quickly to put national strategies into place to deal with these issues, and inform public policy by engaging in partnerships and collaboration with all sectors in their respective societies. Canada is no different: the same issues were raised during the aforementioned consultations and this has motivated the Government to adopt a Workplace Innovations Strategy of which the WSI is a key component. WSI is designed to provide funding to promote awareness of these issues an
