The Effectiveness of Training Boards in Canada. Training Discussion Papers No. 109.

In January 1991 the Federal Minister of Employment and Immigration announced the establishment of the Canadian Labour Force Development Board (CLFDB) as Canada's national training board. Training boards at the provincial and local levels are still in the developmental stage. The lack of a national coordinating mechanism for all aspects of training in Canada until only recently is a reflection of Canada's unique historical context. Both the CLFDB and Canada's first provincial board in Ontario have taken elements from the national training boards of Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere and adapted them to the Canadian context. The following topics pertaining to the CLFDB are discussed in this report: enabling legislation, training board composition, training board structure and functions, finance, delivery of training, institutional planning and operations, testing and certification, and perceptions of training and training boards. Even though the reform of the Canadian training infrastructure and establishment of the CLFDB are too recent to permit any definitive assessment of their success, there is reason to hope that changing employer, government, labor union, and education/training institution attitudes will foster the development of a "training culture" such as exists in Germany, Japan, and elsewhere and will thus make it possible for the CLFDB to succeed. (Contains 26 references.) (MN)