On March 18^th, 2014 Ontario’s Premier Kathleen Wynne convened over 200 education and business leaders in Toronto to discuss the topic Talent and Skills in the New Economy. Interested readers can find commentary at #ONjobs.

The focus of the event was clearly post secondary education, with most participants hailing from Ontario’s university and college systems. A limited number of business leaders were also present, largely as part of the three panels.

While the keynotes and panels varied in focus, the central theme was how best to position Ontario in the 21st century knowledge economy. Premier Wynn’s speech was the event highlight, and her passion for education as the vehicle to reposition Ontario as the economic power in Canada was clearly evident. The Honourable Brad Duguid, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, shared the Premier’s passion and assuming the current government remains in power, Ontario’s focus on and investments in education will likely continue at a brisk pace.

Notwithstanding the post secondary focus, the majority of speakers highlighted the fact that the K-12 system in Ontario was an essential element to future success. In this context, perhaps it was unfortunate that the K-12 system was not more in evidence at the event. Although the Honourable Liz Sandals, Minister of education for Ontario was in attendance for a short time, the event was clearly a post secondary show. Fortunately, a number of speakers highlighted the fact that as a feeder system to the post secondary system, nurturing of the talents and skills required in the new economy must start in the early grades.  Premier Wynn acknowledged these observations when she noted that it is far too late to start talking about innovation at Grade 12.

According to public education officials, Ontario’s eagerly awaited vision statement (strategy) on its K-12 public education system is near completion. If Minister Sandals’ ongoing public statements are any indication, Ontario will soon join Alberta and British Columbia with a public commitment to a 21^st century model of learning. However, this is not to say that Ontario is trailing these other two provinces in transforming its system. Large investments have already been made by the province in prototyping and evaluating what the changes would look like in advance of a public and systemic call for change. The outcomes of these investments will hopefully be released in a report in early spring.

If all speakers at Premier Wynn’s event had one thing in common it was recognition that if Ontario was to position itself for success in the global knowledge economy, unified action is required. Premier Wynn committed to reconvene the participants in three months time to continue the dialogue. Hopefully the next event will allow for more active engagement by participants in identifying the way forward. There was a lot of talent in the room, with many participants eager to contribute to building the strategy and framework to match Premier Wynn’s vision.  We would also encourage the organizers to bring together representatives from both Ontario’s K-12 and PSE communities, as both are as essential as the other in moving a 21^st century learning agenda forward.

It is also clear that a growing number of provinces are actively pursuing learning and skills strategies rooted in the vision and principles of the global 21^st century learning movement.  C21 Canada continues to call on CMEC Ministers to show national leadership and issue a vision statement calling on all provincial and territorial jurisdictions to modernize their public education systems consistent with the 21^st century learning model. We recognize that provinces and territories will find their own way forward on this path, but it would help if Canadians were told that CMEC Ministers shared a vision for the future.  It would also serve to support those provinces and territories brave enough to move forward, and encourage the others to move in the same direction.

As noted at the event by Pat Horgan, Vice President of Manufacturing, Development and Operations for IBM Canada, we can all decide to work collaboratively, or all be outcompeted in the global marketplace.