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The City of Ottawa says program cuts at Algonquin College could make it harder to recruit workers. <\/p>\n
An internal city analysis reviewed roughly 30 programs the college was thinking of suspending and ultimately did cancel after a unanimous board of governors vote on Monday. The city found that the elimination of nine programs would affect its ability to hire staff in the future. <\/p>\n
The Office of the City Clerk sent a letter with the findings to the college’s president and to Ontario\u2019s minister of colleges and universities on Feb. 20. The package also included four letters expressing concerns from local industry groups, including local music and festival groups, the Ottawa Film Office, the Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas, and the ByWard Market’s M\u00e9tropolitain\u00a0Brasserie\u00a0& French Restaurant. <\/p>\n
While the analysis says the immediate impact on city services is unclear, it says cuts may increase competition with other municipalities for skilled workers. <\/p>\n
The programs flagged include:<\/p>\n
Nursery Operator \u2013 Forestry Services, Public Works.Nursery Worker \u2013 Forestry Services, Public Works.Software development positions \u2013 Information Technology Services, Finance and Corporate Services.Museum collection specialist \u2013 Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services.Museum heritage specialist \u2013 Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services.Museum registrar specialist \u2013 Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services.Sign shop supervisor \u2013 Traffic Services, Public Works.Sign designer\/fabricator \u2013 Traffic Services, Public Works.Law clerk \u2013 Legal Services.Paralegal \u2013 Legal Services.Graphic designer \u2013 Public Information and Media Relations.Communications officer (photo\/video) \u2013 Public Information and Media Relations.Communications officer (event planning) \u2013 Public Information and Media Relations.Program coordinator – Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services.Departments most affected<\/p>\n
The internal scan shows some departments will be affected more than others. <\/p>\n
For the city\u2019s recreation, cultural and facility services department, one of the biggest concerns involves the college\u2019s applied museum studies program. It says the city hires graduates for entry-level collections and heritage specialist roles frequently. They also participate in its internship program. <\/p>\n
Staff say the college’s undergraduate-level museum studies program is the only one of its kind in Ontario, and that its suspension will reduce the number of qualified candidates available. <\/p>\n
The forestry services branch within the city\u2019s public works department relies on graduates from Algonquin\u2019s horticultural industries program to fill nursery operator and nursery worker roles. It also depends on design foundations program graduates for its traffic services branch, which hires sign designers, fabricators and supervisors. <\/p>\n
Losing geographically close programs<\/p>\n
The internal scan also highlights the potential challenges recruiting law clerks, who make up roughly a third of the city\u2019s legal services workforce. A law clerk diploma is required for those positions, and staff say the majority of past and current staff got their credentials through Algonquin\u2019s program. <\/p>\n
Other areas \u2014 including graphic design, communications, and recreation programming \u2014 could also see a smaller local talent pool if programs disappear. <\/p>\n
The city says, in some cases, similar training exists at other colleges or universities, but losing geographically close programs could still make recruitment more difficult. <\/p>\n
Algonquin College was reviewing the programs amid financial pressures<\/a> affecting post-secondary institutions across Ontario, including the federal government\u2019s cap on international students<\/a> \u2014 a major source of college revenue. <\/p>\n Despite the potential hiring challenges, the city says many departments \u2014 including Ottawa Public Health, transit services and emergency services \u2014 are not expected to see significant impacts from the cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-516593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}