TORONTO – Bell Canada has rallied to form a group of Canadian organizations to address a widening shortage of IT professionals. The Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow’s IT Skills plans to work together to ensure the country retains healthy IT workforce by addressing factors contributing to the shortage.
“If left uncontested, the IT skills gap will create gaps in our economic performance, gaps in our productivity, and gaps in our ability to compete globally. It is in everyone’s interest to close those gaps as quickly as possible,” said Bell Enterprise Group president Stephane Boisvert, who is the coalition spokesperson.
The economic impact of an IT labour shortage was outlined in a new Conference Board of Canada study commissioned by Bell Canada. The report, entitled Securing our Future, includes an analysis of the economic cost of not filling the estimated 90,000 IT positions that will open in Canada over the next five years.
The research identified several major factors that contribute to a growing IT talent gap, including declining enrolments in IT-related post-secondary programs; demographic shifts such as population aging and a low fertility rate; under-representation of key population groups, including women and immigrants; and mismatches between the skills of available workers and the ever-changing requirements of employers.
“The coalition, together with the corporate and public sectors, can help turn the tide of the professional IT shortage, and reverse the flow of outsourcing of these important, high-paying jobs beyond our borders,” said Boisvert.
Coalition members include Bell, Hydro-Québec, Mouvement des caisses Desjardins, CGI, Gaz Métro, Nortel Networks, Rogers Communications, Canadian National Railway Company (CN), TD Meloche Monnex, Avaya Canada, Pratt & Whitney Canada, BMO Financial Group, The Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada, Air Canada, Loto-Québec, Canadian Tire Corp. Limited, Ericsson Canada, Métro Inc., Société des alcools du Québec, LGS / IBM Canada, Exfo, Sapphire Technologies, National Bank of Canada, Cisco Systems Canada, SNC Lavalin, Bombardier, Ultramar, Pfizer, SAP Canada, Conference Board of Canada, TechnoCompétences, TechnoMontréal, Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), Manufacturiers et exportateurs du Québec (MEQ), Computing Technology Industry Association (Comptia), Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), and the Toronto Board of Trade.
