By Dr. Sandy MacDonald, Former President & CEO, Holland College and Governance Group Co-Chair, C2R2
Last month, Paul Armstrong argued that Canada’s workforce challenge is not a shortage of talent, but a challenge of coordination between educational institutions, industry and government. I agree.
However, coordination alone will not solve the workforce challenges ahead.
If Canada is going to build a resilient workforce capable of supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy, we must recognize a fundamental reality: while many of our workforce challenges are national, their solutions are often regional in nature.
The clean economy will not look the same in Charlottetown as it does in Hamilton. It will not create the same opportunities in rural communities as it does in major urban centres. And the skills required to support economic growth will vary across industries, regions, and communities.
Across Canada, industries are facing unprecedented change.
Technological advancements are transforming how we produce energy, manufacture goods, grow food, and move people. At the same time, employers are grappling with labour shortages, demographic shifts, and increasing competition for skilled workers.
With a geographic area of 9,984,670 km² spanning different ecosystems, Canada is in a unique position that sees the impacts of these trends varying significantly from one region to another.
In Atlantic Canada, many communities face aging populations, outmigration pressures, and labour shortages that are often more acute than the national average.
In Central Canada, manufacturers and industrial employers are investing in cleaner technologies while competing for highly skilled workers in increasingly complex labour markets.
In Western Canada, energy producers, resource industries, and emerging clean technology sectors are balancing economic transformation with the need to retrain and upskill existing workforces.
Meanwhile, northern communities face unique realities, including geographic isolation, infrastructure limitations, and the need for workforce solutions that reflect local and Indigenous priorities.
In every province, there are also growing concerns about the impact of social media on our young people, the long-term consequences of COVID, and the interaction of these variables on high school graduates’ preparedness for the post-secondary ecosystem and labour market.
National priorities remain essential, but they must be flexible enough to reflect regional labour market realities.
One of the greatest strengths of Canada’s colleges, cégeps, and polytechnics is their deep connection to the communities they serve.
We work directly with local employers. We understand regional economic priorities. We see emerging workforce needs often before they appear in national labour market reports.
That local knowledge enables institutes to respond quickly and effectively to changing conditions.
At Holland College, like colleges across the country, we see firsthand how economic transitions affect communities differently. The workforce solutions that make sense in Prince Edward Island may not be identical to those required in Alberta, British Columbia, or Quebec.
That does not mean every institution should work independently. If our regional institutions are to be successful, collaboration is key!
In fact, some of the most effective workforce solutions emerge when institutions collaborate nationally while maintaining the flexibility to address local needs.
A strong example of this approach can be found in the hydrogen awareness training developed through the Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2).
As hydrogen emerged as a growing component of Canada’s clean energy future, employers across multiple sectors identified a need for foundational workforce training in hydrogen technologies and their potential applications.
Rather than having individual colleges create separate training programs from scratch, Mohawk College, The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Nova Scotia Community College, Holland College, and Lambton College collaborated to develop a shared national curriculum.
The greatest benefit of this approach was not simply efficiency. It was adaptability.
The foundational content remained consistent, ensuring learners across the country gained a common understanding of hydrogen technologies that would allow them to transfer their skills anywhere across Canada.
At the same time, participating institutes retained the flexibility to incorporate local examples, industry applications, and regional priorities into program delivery.
The result was a program that balanced national consistency while maintaining the quality of program delivery central to the success of the partner institutions. In many ways, this model represents the future of workforce development: ensuring skills are transferable across jurisdictions while remaining responsive to regional realities.
When discussing economic resilience, it is easy to focus on national indicators and large-scale investments.
These factors are important. But resilience is ultimately experienced in communities.
It is experienced by employers who can find the talent they need to grow.
It is experienced by workers who can access meaningful training opportunities close to home.
And it is experienced by communities that can participate in emerging industries rather than watching opportunities develop elsewhere.
That is why workforce development cannot be viewed solely through a national lens.
The most effective solutions are often those that combine national collaboration with local implementation, creating systems that are both coordinated and responsive. Only then will all Canadians be able to take full advantage of the opportunities and challenges that have emerged from the COVID phenomenon.
As I conclude my time as President and CEO of Holland College, I remain optimistic about the future of workforce development in Canada.
Throughout my career, I have seen colleges help communities navigate change, create opportunity, and build resilience. Through C2R2, I have also seen institutes from every region of the country come together to share expertise, develop solutions, and address challenges that no single organization could solve alone.
The challenges facing Canada’s workforce are significant, but they are well within our capacity to address if we continue combining national coordination with regional responsiveness. In fact, our college system is ready and eager to meet the moment and ensure all our citizens are full participants in our economy.
As this series continues, Cebert Adamson will explore another critical challenge: whether our current approaches to curriculum development can keep pace with the speed of economic transformation.
We can create a workforce system that prepares Canadians not only for the jobs of today, but for the opportunities of tomorrow.
If the clean economy will be built locally, are we doing enough to equip communities to lead the way?
Dr Alexander (Sandy) MacDonald
Former President and CEO of Holland College, Dr. MacDonald served in the roles of Vice President of Academic and Applied Research at Holland College from 2015 to 2018, Deputy Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development from 2010 to 2015, and Deputy Minister of Workforce and Advanced Learning in 2015. He has contributed to the development of innovative educational policy and administrative excellence provincially, nationally, and internationally.
