Whereas BC is facing both a climate emergency and a housing affordability crisis; And whereas the most affordable housing is that which is already standing, the most affordable of which is aging and in need of climate-smart retrofits which retain embodied emissions, provide resilience in extreme weather and reduce GHGs; And whereas training workers in deep energy retrofits and construction of deeply affordable climate-smart housing, including installing solar panels, solar hot water systems and heat pumps, would help alleviate currently long installation and construction wait-times and enable a faster pace of construction of climate-smart buildings and energy retrofits needed to achieve our climate emergency goals: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM urge the Government of BC to increase support and funding for trades training programs in deep energy retrofits, including installing solar panels, solar hot water systems and heat pumps, and training in the construction of climate-smart buildings including mass timber, Passive House standard and pre-fabricated net-zero-energy wood-frame modular buildings.
Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills Retrofitting existing buildings and the construction of new buildings will be one the top contributors to job openings, with over 76,000 openings expected over the next ten years. These openings are set against a background of labour shortages and changing skills needs across all sectors: BC will have over 1 million job openings by 2032, 80 will need some post-secondary education, and 13 of all jobs, including the trades, will need to update their skill sets. As BC transitions to a zero-emissions economy, the Province has committed, in its Economic Plan and in the CleanBC Roadmap, to develop a workforce readiness plan. The Future Ready Plan will proactively invest in preparing all British Columbians to benefit from a low carbon future. In the meantime, BC continues to expand its investments in micro-credentials and in trades training to ensure journeypersons can respond rapidly to changing skills requirements. Government of BC has provided funding to the British Columbia Institute of Technology BCIT to establish the Zero Energy Emissions Buildings Learning Centre ZEBLC to support the construction and industrys transition to the Energy Step Code and revisions to the Building Code. The Provinces 2022 Mass Timber Action Plan also commits to expanding education and training for people coming into the sector, as well as apprentice and journey persons, and includes the development of the new Mass Timber Construction program at BCIT.