Upskill Canada is a new initiative to connect employers with the talent and skills needed to perform in high-demand roles.

How can a country that boasts one of the most highly skilled labour forces in the world be facing a shortage of skilled workers? According to a recent whitepaper on the workforce by Palette Skills, the problem is not a lack of workers but underutilization of the ones we have. “A highly skilled workforce is only a market advantage if you know how to use it,” says Rhonda Barnet, CEO of Palette Skills, a national non-profit whose purpose is to connect Canada’s most innovative companies with the talent they ne6ed to grow. “Ensuring Canadian companies fully utilize this workforce requires recognizing that existing skills an individual has and their potential for applying those skills in new and different ways,” says Barnet.

Ensuring Canadian companies fully utilize this workforce requires recognizing that existing skills an individual has and their potential for applying those skills in new and different ways

A skilled workforce that isn’t being used to its fullest potential can be a double-sided drag on productivity. “On the one hand, companies aren’t tapping into the skills they need to grow their businesses, and, on the other, Canadians aren’t unlocking their full economic and human potential,” she says. Palette Skills views the problem as one of talent acquisition that requires a two-fold solution: the ability for hiring companies to connect to skilled talent when they need it and the ability to qualify potential candidates that can do the job successfully and quickly.

New investment designed to upskill workers across the country

Thanks to recently being named national delivery partner of a federal government initiative called Upskilling Canada, Palette Skills can now help implement that two-fold solution. This $250 million investment over three years, issued through Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada’s Upskilling for Industry Initiative fund, will be used to upskill 15,000 workers across the country. “Palette Skills’ core competencies as an organization are to develop best practices in employer-led program design that leads to job placement, and to connect with diverse sets of partners across the ecosystem to deliver these programs,” says Barnet. “Through Upskill Canada, we now have the opportunity to scale this work across the country,” she says.

Using the research insights, models, and lessons learned over the past five years, Palette Skills will connect an ecosystem of employers and training partners to collaborate in new ways and help transition mid-career workers, including those from underrepresented groups, into new careers in high-demand roles. “It will put employers at the centre of the program design process and result in new talent pipelines that help address the need for workers across key high-growth sectors, such as digital technology, cyber security, agricultural technology, advanced manufacturing, clean technology and biomanufacturing, with a particular focus on small and medium businesses (SMEs)” she says.

Introducing the Palette model

In running the Upskill Canada program, Palette Skills will apply its own model for upskilling, which it has used to help over 500 individuals transition into new careers. Palette Skills attributes the model’s success to two factors—designing programs with the general standards that job candidates need to meet and taking a holistic approach to skills development, prioritizing job placement as the primary metric of success. The six key components of Palette Skills’ upskilling framework include: demand-driven, employer led, rapidly delivered, potential focused recruitment, experiential and industry-integrated, and robust job placement support. The Palette Skills model will create the common standard that all program proposals supported through Upskill Canada will be required to address to secure funding. “Ultimately, Upskill Canada will drive lasting improvements to the upskilling ecosystem by catalyzing close collaborations across training providers, employers, and other partners to design and deliver upskilling programs and shift mindsets around talent development and utilization,” says Barnet.

Potential employer partners can register with Palette Skills via the Upskill Canada registration portal.

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Robert Ian Thompson

Associate Vice-President (Research), UCalgary

Equip yourself with the tools of tomorrow by completing UCalgary’s Master of Quantum Computing program.

A first of its kind in Canada, the University of Calgary’s Master of Quantum Computing is a one-year master’s program tailored to working professionals and recent graduates who want to gain the competitive skills needed to successfully navigate and contribute to the growing field of quantum technology.

The quantum sector is projected to be a $139-billion industry in Canada. As it grows, fields such as banking, security, IT, transportation, energy, and government will need the qualified talent to fill key roles and solve complex problems in quantum computing.

To learn more about the program, we sat down with UCalgary’s Robert Ian Thompson, Associate Vice-President (Research), and Barry Sanders, Professor and Director of the Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, to understand more about the emerging field of quantum and UCalgary’s new professional program.

What is quantum computing?

Quantum computing utilizes the capabilities of quantum science to transform how we do computing. Quantum physics is quite different from the classical physics that we know.

“In the world around us, we look at particles like billiard balls bouncing off each other and moving in very predictable ways, and then there are waves like the ocean waves you see bending around obstacles and interfering with each other,” says Thompson. “Quantum physics merges those two elements into something called duality, where a single object is simultaneously both a particle and a wave, depending on how you want to look at it.”

And it’s those characteristics that have opened a new world of science. Quantum computing provides the opportunity for scientists to tackle certain classes of computational problems that are considered difficult, or that a classical computer would be slower at trying to analyze.

Where is quantum computing being utilized today?

“Major IT companies have launched or are launching quantum computing divisions,” says Sanders, a key driver and Scientific Director of UCalgary’s Quantum City. “Many sectors that could use quantum computing just aren’t aware of it, so a big part of what UCalgary is doing is working with major IT companies to build awareness of what quantum can bring to certain fields.”

The Quantum City initiative was established in response to the expanding quantum field to develop talent, nurture collaboration with government and industry partners, and, ultimately, lay the foundation for the university to become an innovative hub in quantum technology.

“A big part of Quantum City is the partnership it shares with Mphasis, a global IT company based in India that’s launching its quantum computing division out of Calgary,” says Thompson. “We’re looking to build on Alberta’s strengths in quantum to create a true quantum tech economic sector here in the province.”

Where does UCalgary’s professional program in quantum computing fit into the scope of the field of quantum technology?

The quantum tech sector has two key pieces: one is the technology developers and creators — the people who are going to build the tools. The other is the users — the companies that are going to utilize and apply them.

“In speaking with the companies that are trying to build the sector, we ask them ‘What do you need?’” says Thompson. “The response is: we need the experts to work with — the partners and universities to help us figure out the problems. And secondly, we need the talent — we need skilled people in our companies.”

Ultimately, the Master of Quantum Computing program was created for people with a range of technical backgrounds who want to upskill their career over the course of a year and take part in the quantum revolution. 

What does the professional program in quantum computing format look like?

The program is a stacked-certificate program: students can start with a graduate certificate and then work through the diploma and masters. In term one, students are given a solid foundation in understanding quantum, followed by term two, where they can gain practical skills for the corporate sector by building use cases.

In the third term of the program, students complete a four-month professional or research internship. Here, they get the opportunity to work as embedded employees within the user companies or to contribute to teams of the creator and developer companies.

What sets UCalgary’s professional program in quantum computing apart from other programs?

“Quantum computing is about mastering the tools of the future and having the creativity to solve key problems,” says Sanders. “Companies are looking for that creativity and we’re training people with that knowledge and skill set, so they not only know how to use the quantum computer, but are also applying that knowledge and thinking outside the box. And that outside-the-box, forward-thinking way is what brings value to a lot of companies.”

Learn more at science.ucalgary.ca.

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We sat down with video-creator and lifelong learner, Sky Cowans, to learn more about her journey that her led her to success as well as skills and lessons she’s learned along the way.

How did you learn the skills that got you to where you are today?

What’s the biggest lesson you learned in building your career and following?

Have you ever taken any courses that helped you in your career?

Watch Sky’s Retreat in Costa Rica.

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In a fast-moving world, learning new skills and continually evolving have become essential — and herein lies the power of lifelong learning.

While the economy is cyclical — moving between expansion, peak, contraction, and trough — the reality is that a highly skilled workforce is always in demand. At every stage of the economic cycle, employers need workers who are capable of flexing to accommodate the challenges of the day, whether it’s implementing new technology, entering new markets, streamlining operations, or pivoting to a new business model. Regardless of the circumstances, skills simply don’t go out of style.

The appeal of continuing education 

Few people still believe that formal learning ends on graduation day. While barriers to lifelong learning remain, many Canadians are choosing to stay abreast of new developments in their industry or occupation, or pivoting to new careers and opportunities in growing sectors. Canada’s polytechnics report hundreds of thousands of registrations in continuing education courses each year, most with the implicit buy-in of employers.

In a recent study, we found that more than 90 per cent of Canadian workers and employers believe that skills development remains important regardless of the stage of one’s career. Nearly half of the 1,500 workers we surveyed said that lifelong learning has become critical for both job advancement and career change. Meanwhile, employers said that supporting lifelong learning among their employees improves competitiveness, increases retention, supports economic recovery, and facilitates internal job transitions. 

With the job market changing so quickly, it can be hard to know what skills will be important in the years ahead and where to go to develop them. As Canada’s experts in continuing education and lifelong learning, Canada’s polytechnics are a good place to start.

Learn what polytechnics have to offer.

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