FSA Statement on "Look West" Strategy
December 8, 2025
The FSA welcomes the province’s recent announcement regarding expanded skills training through the Look West: Jobs and Prosperity for a Stronger BC and Canada strategy and shares its goals of advancing a highly skilled and educated workforce in BC. FSA members are at the forefront of preparing the next generation of skilled workers and supporting the upskilling of those already active in the labour market. Of particular interest to our members, the strategy includes a 3-year target for investing in skills training in pillar one, Strengthening our Workforce.
We also wish to highlight that post-secondary institutions across BC and Canada are experiencing significant shortfalls, which have resulted in widespread cuts highly detrimental to education. Through two rounds of layoffs at BCIT since 2024, the FSA (which does not represent all unionized employees on campus) has lost approximately 50 full-time equivalent positions. It is in this context that we question the capacity of the provincial post-secondary sector, as a whole, to sustain the scale of training expansion envisioned by the plan without a renewed and sustained emphasis on the needs of those responsible for delivering that training. We are concerned that educators and education professionals will once again be expected to do more with less.