Greetings and thank you for taking the time to check out our new website. As we continue to develop an effective a comprehensive communications platform that provides connectivity to and between a variety of stakeholders, we welcome input from you and your colleagues. Please feel free to reach out and contact us to see how we might explore and develop new opportunities for collaboration across the steel and broader manufacturing sectors of our economy.

The realities of the skills shortage situation across Canada, as well as the opportunities it presents, are top of mind for CSTEC. Over the next five years the steel industry will need to replace approximately 20-25 thousand current employees who will retire. These very experienced and talented people have a tremendous amount of valuable sector-specific knowledge that must be effectively transferred to the next generation of steel sector employees. Finding ways to develop and attract the necessary talent and to efficiently transfer the knowledge of the experienced employees to the new hires is a significant challenge that we are addressing with our steel colleagues.

The future size, scope, and success of the manufacturing and steel sectors in Canada will be impacted largely by the efforts made today by CSTEC, steel and other manufacturers, colleges,  labour unions, and government. More must be done to better identify, clarify and support the pathways to employment in our sector of the economy. There is a bright and rewarding future for those looking for employment in the steel sector and within manufacturing.

The demand for skilled employees insures the security of rewarding employment for those young Canadians, new immigrants, recent college and university graduates who join the steel / manufacturing sectors. CSTEC remains committed to assisting the steel producing community with timely / relevant research, innovative approaches to learning and training, developing programs that are focused on directly addressing the stated needs of the sector, and by serving as the industry facilitator, broker and knowledge transfer agent for common human resource development challenges across Canada.

We intend to use all available tools at our disposal to assist us in this work and look forward to working collaboratively and effectively with our partners in all regions of Canada where steel has a presence in the economy.