Here's how this woman saves $1K a month or more on groceries - CBC.ca

If you're walking up to the cashier at a grocery store in Ontario and see Leanne Mathewson in line ahead of you, get ready to wait a little longer than usual.

"Usually, if I catch people early enough before I start my my transaction, I say, you know, I'm going to be a little while. You might want to go to another line. I try to warn them," she told As It Happens guest host Tom Harrington.

That's because the stay-at-home mom of five from Windsor, Ont., is also what some call an "extreme couponer," gathering deals from coupons, clippings and deal-searching apps to cut her grocery bill in half, saving $30 or more in a single visit on the regular.

She's part of the Canadian Savings Group on Facebook, a community of over 96,000 members with a self-described mission to "teach and guide you in saving the most money on your everyday household needs, including groceries, and other everyday items."

There is always a thrill to say, 'I got this for free.'- Leanne Mathewson, avid couponer 

And those lessons have paid off for Mathewson, big time. She's been an avid couponer for about six years, and keeps a detailed spreadsheet of her savings over time. In a given month, she says, she'll save between $1,000 to $1,500 on her grocery bills.

"The best savings I had so far was over $10,000 last year" in 2021, she said. 

More Canadians than before might be tempted to try out these couponing strategies, as the inflation rate recently hit 7.7 per cent, it's highest point since 1983. The price of gas and food in particular have been among the biggest factors putting the squeeze on budgets.

Produce vegetables are displayed for sale at a grocery store in Aylmer, Que., on May 26, 2022. The rising costs of food have been a major cause of concern for Canadians, as the inflation rate rose to its highest point since 1983. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Discount-hunting apps

Dana Calder of Truro, N.S., says she's able to save even more than that with her extreme couponing strategies, as much as $20,000 a year.

Calder, who runs the blog The Coupon Nannie, explained one such tactic on Cross Country Checkup last weekend. By looking at what's on sale in local print fliers and then looking up on discount-hunting apps, she'll try to find ways to double-dip on the discounts for some items.

"So if normally Adams peanut butter [costs] $4.99, it might be on sale this week for $3.99. And then I have a cashback offer on [the app] Checkout 51 for $1.50 back. So that's even reducing the price even lower," she told Checkup host Ian Hanomansing. 

Discount-hunting apps have become a key tool for people hoping to optimize their couponing game without having to travel with a Rolodex's worth of clippings in their wallet.

These apps collect deals from coupons and fliers from stores in your area. Flipp, one of Mathewson's preferred apps, advertises that it includes data from more than 2,000 stores, from supermarkets like Metro to household stores like The Home Depot or Best Buy.

Mathewson admits shes gets something of a rush when she finds a good discount for an everyday item, or even slashes the price all the way down to zero.

"There is always a thrill to say, 'I got this for free,'" she told Harrington.

Still, it's all about the savings and her ability to provide for her family, especially in recent years as the cost of living from everyday expenses continues to go up.

"You know, maybe you're only saving 50 cents. [But] maybe you're saving three dollars. It makes a difference in the end."

---

Written by Jonathan Ore with files from CBC News and Cross Country Checkup. Interview with Leanne Mathewson produced by Arman Aghbali.

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More African Central Banks Are Exploring Digital Currencies - blogs.imf.org

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UBC experts call for proactive approach to prepare for more extreme wildfires - UBC News

Wildfires have grown in frequency, intensity and overall burned area due to climate change. This year, communities in B.C. and Canada are bracing for this pattern to continue.

UBC forestry researchers Dr. Lori Daniels (LD), Dr. Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz (KCG) and Dr. Kira Hoffman (KH) are wildfire experts whose research focuses on how natural disturbances such as wildfires and droughts, human factors and climate interact to affect how easily—or not—forests burn.

In this Q&A, they address how families and communities can prepare for more extreme wildfire seasons.

What does it mean for communities to co-exist with wildfire?

LD: Our decades of research show us climate change and the impact it has on fire-prone landscapes will only escalate in the years to come. We are living in a new era of wildfires, and so we must think about how to co-exist with fire. This means changing our ways of thinking and recognizing that we should approach wildfire management the same way we approach preparing for other natural disasters like earthquakes or floods—we don’t try to fight them; we proactively plan for the eventuality. We should design sustainable and integrated risk management and land-use planning strategies that could include:

• Developing more preventative forest management plans that reduce the risk of high-intensity wildfire, such as through commercial thinning of young timber plantations to ensure regenerating forests are resilient to future drought.
• Dramatically increasing the area of proactive fuel treatments around communities and diversifying the broader landscapes.
• Updating building codes to match local hazard levels or supporting retrofits to existing fire-prone neighbourhoods.

Your research, as a group and individually, has studied the importance of Indigenous fire stewardship in promoting the health of forests and human communities. In B.C. and Canada, are we making progress in prioritizing Indigenous land stewardship?

LD: We are certainly headed in the right direction, but we still have much more to do in this area. For example, the 2021 Indigenous-led report on the 2017 Elephant Hill megafire produced by the Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society and UBC faculty of forestry notes that the devastating fire, which burned more than 190,000 hectares, could have been better managed if provincial agencies had engaged the affected Indigenous communities more actively and earlier in the process.

As emphasized in the report, we need to consistently and meaningfully support Indigenous-led land stewardship at all levels. This includes reintroducing cultural burns to establishing a national Indigenous fire stewardship group in Canada.

In fact, Indigenous leadership is an essential component of the recommended integrated and sustainable risk-management approach towards wildfires.

You have also worked to understand the needs and priorities of communities that are developing their own strategies to minimize the threat of catastrophic wildfires. What insights did you gain from this work?

KCG: Many communities across the province are aware of the risk, especially after the three most widespread (based on area burned) fire seasons on record occurred over the last five years. To help communities develop ecologically and culturally appropriate solutions to addressing this risk, our research looks into how important fire was historically. Using tree-rings and in collaboration with Indigenous communities, our research is showing that the disruption of Indigenous stewardship, policies of fire suppression, and climate change is changing the forests so they are more likely to burn at uncharacteristically high severities today.

Moving into the future, it is clear that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to addressing fire risk. We need Indigenous-led strategies, changes to policy to prioritize proactive risk reduction at landscape scales, the reintroduction of prescribed and cultural burning, FireSmart infrastructure, and more investment from the government to make these solutions a reality.

In addition to the work that needs to be done by governments and policymakers to manage fires better, how can people be more prepared within their homes and communities?

KH: Everyone needs to do their part within their communities to be fire smart. Whether you are living on the West Coast or in some of B.C.’s hottest and driest regions, you need to think about how to stay safe in the event of a wildfire.

Much of B.C. is fire-prone, but citizens can take preventative measures to safeguard their families, homes and communities. Evaluate your living space and think about each part of your home. Is your roofing fire-resistant? Are your gutters free of debris? Are your home vents screened? Preparing a go-bag with essential emergency equipment, food, water and blankets is helpful for evacuating on short notice. Familiarize yourself with your evacuation routes and talk to your families and friends about evacuation plans.

KCG: There are fantastic resources out there offering a wide range of easy-to-remember tips and directions to help with keeping you and your family safe. Some of the best ones include B.C.’s FireSmart manual, FireSmart Canada’s Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire Stewardship, B.C.’s wildfire preparedness guide, and BC CDC information on reducing smoke exposure.

Useful links:

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Bank of Canada needs more restrictive interest rates to control runaway inflation - The Globe and Mail

People shop at a Walmart Supercentre in Toronto on March 13, 2020. Canadian inflation accelerated to the highest rate in nearly four decades in May as calls broaden for policy-makers to find new ways of curbing runaway price growth.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters

With every new inflation report, the job facing the Bank of Canada gets that much harder.

The alarmingly rising tide of inflation – reaching 7.7 per cent in May, the highest in an astonishing 39 years – presses the central bank to respond with bigger and faster interest-rate increases. The sweet spot for getting that grim task just right shrinks. The risk of getting it wrong – a recession – grows.

A soft landing for the economy? Sure, that’s still the dream. But as the task of stomping down inflation continues to grow, it may take more luck than skill to get there. Frankly, being delicate isn’t the top priority at this stage.

“The most important thing is to get inflation back to target,” Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers said at a Globe and Mail event a couple of hours after the release of the inflation report. “Of course, we want to do that with the least amount of unintended consequences as possible. ... That’s what we’re aiming to do, that’s why we’re increasing rates. That’s why we’re doing it quickly.”

Super savers are fighting rising grocery costs – and inflation – one deal at a time

What does inflation mean for the cost of living and everyday goods in Canada? Here’s what you need to know

That May inflation report, published Wednesday by Statistics Canada, probably cemented a 75-basis-point (three-quarters of a percentage point) rate hike by the Bank of Canada at its next rate decision in mid-July – which would be the bank’s biggest single rate increase since 1998.

Frankly, you could make a compelling argument for even more, given the situation and the timing.

The central bank has said repeatedly it wants to quickly get its key rate at least up to levels it considers “neutral” – i.e. where its rate neither stimulates nor inhibits economic activity. It estimates the neutral rate to be somewhere between 2 and 3 per cent. A 75-basis-point hike in July would put the rate at 2.25 per cent – still toward the low end of the neutral range.

While the odds of a July increase of one full percentage point don’t look high at this stage, there are some good reasons for the Bank of Canada to look seriously at that option. Such a hike would put the bank smack dab in the middle of its neutral range, which achieves at least the first stage of the bank’s rate intentions. It can say that it has withdrawn its stimulative rates, before it shifts into summer mode following the July rate decision – a long stretch of relative public silence that lasts until the next rate decision after Labour Day.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is also scheduled to set its key rate two weeks after the Bank of Canada’s July announcement, and looks poised to make its own jump to 2.5 per cent. The Bank of Canada might want to pre-emptively keep pace with its U.S. neighbour before checking out for the summer.

Regardless of the amount, it’s increasingly clear that merely returning to neutral rates won’t be anywhere near enough. The bank will need more restrictive interest rates if it is going to apply some serious brakes to domestic demand, which is running much too far ahead of the capacity to supply it. Bottom line, the bank needs to slow the economy.

It should be possible, at least arithmetically, to do that without triggering the kind of employment slump that is a hallmark of any true recession. As Statistics Canada reported this week, Canada had nearly one million job vacancies in the first quarter, at a time of 50-year low unemployment – evidence of an enormous gap between labour supply and demand. Bank of Canada officials have said that this leaves a lot of room to dampen demand – like, a million jobs worth of room – before you start hurting employment appreciably.

“We see a path to do that. Our view is we can take some of the excess demand out of the economy, bring it back into balance,” Ms. Rogers said.

But just because the numbers work doesn’t mean that engineering such a feat is easy. Far from it. And any central banker will tell you – it’s so commonly understood that it’s almost reflex – that interest rates are a blunt instrument. They are not at all well suited to the delicate economic surgery that we’re trying to perform here. No one can really say how high, or how fast, rates must climb to hit that sweet spot where we slam the brakes on demand without slamming our collective heads into the windshield.

If you’ve been watching this game for a few economic cycles (old-guy disclosure: I have), you know from experience that by the time you’re hearing and reading the phrase “soft landing” all over the place, that possibility has almost certainly already come and gone. Far more often than not, it’s the wishful thinking of those who can see the ground fast approaching underneath them.

What’s more, the time for the Bank of Canada to worry about being gentle has passed. It just needs to get inflation on the ground – any way it can – before an awful year begins to fester into a generational problem. Yes, things have become that serious.

Brace for impact.

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Sensing finish line, racewalker Evan Dunfee gears up for one more competitive cycle - CBC Sports

Just hours before competing in the 20-kilometre race walk event at his 10th national championship, the usually confident Evan Dunfee had a little bit of doubt in his voice. 

"I've been dealing with some injury stuff," he told CBC Sports, trying to find the words to describe how he was feeling going into the race. "The body is being put back together. Twenty kilometres is a long way."

Dunfee is one of hundreds of athletes in Langley, B.C., taking part in the national championships — a crucial qualification event for the world championships coming up in Eugene, Oregon next month. It begins with the race walk events on Wednesday evening. 

"I'm a little bit nervous because this will be a telling step. The physical meeting the mental part," Dunfee said. "It is a test. It's a necessary thing to see where I'm at. It's just daunting knowing that the answer to that question might not be to my liking."

It's been a topsy-turvy year for the Richmond, B.C. athlete in a sport often overlooked. Last summer he had his moment in the sun by winning bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in the 50km event. 

But it was a bittersweet achievement as it came the same year it was announced the event would be removed from the Olympic programme going forward.

Canada's Evan Dunfee said he was already considering politics prior to the Tokyo Olympics, where he won bronze in the 50-kilometre race walk. (Martin Meissner/The Associated Press)

Hamstring injury

In the weeks and months following his medal moment in Tokyo, there was some darkness for Dunfee. Plagued by a hamstring injury and lacking motivation with his marquee event removed from the Games, it's been a tough grind for the 31-year-old who's never been afraid to stare down a challenge.

"The last 10 months have been a real struggle trying to find my identity a little bit and mourn the loss of the 50km event," Dunfee said. "I think my best years were ahead of me in the 50. It wasn't one of those things where I felt I was entering my prime. And dealing with the injury was mentally really tough on me."

That injury forced him to miss an event in Spain recently, but in the time since then he's worked closely with his team and physiotherapist to try and get his body ready for a summer of competition. And it seems to be working.

Two weeks ago at the Harry Jerome Classic in Burnaby, B.C., Dunfee won the 10,000m race walk in a time of 40 minutes 38.99 seconds. 

Things seem to be trending in the right direction. 

"I'm pretty happy these days to be honest. It's been a struggle. But sitting here today I feel content with where my life is going. Cautiously optimistic about the future," Dunfee said. 

He hopes that future includes being a member of Richmond's city council. He's running for election this fall and believes he has a realistic shot at winning. 

"I don't think anyone is going to out-doorknock me," Dunfee said, only partially joking. "I hope I can win. I think I have ideas that will resonate with people once I get the opportunity to share those ideas. I joke about the doorknocking, but I can't wait to get to people's doors and share my vision."

I don't think anyone is going to out-doorknock me.- Evan Dunfee on potential political career

Before getting serious about his campaign, Dunfee will compete at both the world championships and Commonwealth Games this summer for Canada. 

He hints that the end of his race-walking career might be drawing near.

"I'm certainly going to keep going after this year because I know I haven't been able to get the most out of my body this season. I don't want to end on those terms," Dunfee said. "And then the following year [are the Paris Olympics.] It seems silly to finish before that.

"I think I'll try and finish off this cycle but some of it does depend on how the election on Oct. 15 goes. I think so much of it depends on where my life trajectory goes this fall. I don't want to be doing this if I don't love it. That's the deal I've made with myself."

Dunfee is mostly inspired by family, friends and students he gets to share his story with in schools these days. 

As he continued his preparations before his 20-kilometre event Wednesday, he looked at 1,700 cards he autographed that he'll be taking to students in the coming days and weeks — a reminder of his journey and what sport has offered him throughout his life. 

"I didn't realize how much my motivation to train was tied to being able to be in my community," he said. "In Rio, when I was closing in and trying to get third, the motivation was from telling myself to take one more step. It was very internal. In Tokyo, my motivation was thinking of all my family and friends who were walking with me. That's such a perfect microcosm for where I'm heading."

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Cricket Can Add More Runs to Your Portfolio - Morningstar.ca

A new battleground has emerged for global OTT behemoths as they jostle for new subscribers: it’s called the Indian Premier League (IPL), the biggest and the most popular cricket league in the world.

In a recently concluded auction of the 2023-2027 broadcast rights for the coveted cricket league, leading U.S. media giants bid big dollars to snag multi-billion-dollar deals to stream IPL sporting events. These giants hope to connect with a cult-like following from the 600 million viewers in the Indian Subcontinent, its global diaspora, and British commonwealth countries worldwide.

The annual IPL tournament is the world’s biggest platform for the Twenty20 cricket (also T20) - a short, snappy version of the game that arguably borrows its format from baseball. This year, IPL burst onto the international sport scene after it overtook the English Premier League (EPL) in terms of per match telecast rights valuation. At just over US$15 million per game, IPL is now the world's second most valued league, having pipped the EPL (US$11M), the MLB (US$11M), and the NBA (US$2M), only trailing the NFL (US$17 billion). 

While cricket remains an exotic sport for most Canadians, investors looking to play one of the world’s fastest growing sporting events may want to score the following deeply-discounted stocks of American media powerhouses well positioned to benefit from cricket’s Moneyball moment.

The House of Mouse Walt Disney (DIS) owns the rights to some of the most globally recognized characters including Mickey Mouse and Luke Skywalker. It owns film studios such as Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm and operates media networks including ESPN and several TV production studios. The media company’s streaming services include ESPN+ and the Disney+.

In India, Disney has tied up with Star India to offer Disney+ Hotstar, a product offered in the Indian subcontinent with cricket being a big driver of that. Disney+ Hotstar’s about 50 million subscribers account for more than one-third of Disney +’s worldwide subscribers.

Disney splashed a whopping US$3 billion to scoop up the rights for broadcast IPL games on legacy TV. The company has about 70 channels in India, beamed through cable and satellite TV operators, which it uses to promote Disney+ Hotstar.

Disney+ added 7.8 million customers globally in fiscal 2022 second quarter. “New customer growth was concentrated outside the United States, with 1.5 million added in the U.S./Canada, 2.1 million in international markets excluding Hotstar, and 4.2 million in Hotstar countries,” says a Morningstar equity report.

Wide moat Disney’s OTT offerings “Disney+, Hotstar, Hulu, and ESPN+ are taking over as the drivers of long-term growth as the firm transitions to a streaming future,” says Morningstar equity analyst Neil Macker, who pegs the stock’s fair value at US$170.

Formed via the reunion of Viacom and CBS, Paramount Global (PARA) is a global media empire with television assets including the CBS television network, 28 local TV stations, and 50% of CW, a joint venture between CBS and WarnerMedia. Viacom brought several leading cable network properties, including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, and Comedy Central.

Paramount operates in India through Viacom18 Media Pvt., a joint venture between Paramount Global and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. Viacom18 splurged US$2.7 billion to clinch the global streaming rights to the popular annual cricket tournament, IPL, for the next five years.

Paramount produces original motion pictures and owns a library of 2,500 films, including the Mission: Impossible and Transformers series. The media conglomerate operates a number of streaming services, most notably Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

Paramount’s wide moat stems “from the CBS broadcast network, a valuable portfolio of cable networks with worldwide carriage, production studios, and a deep content library,” says a Morningstar equity report.

The company has a strong portfolio of sport rights, including NFL, college football, and college basketball, and more recently the richest cricket league IPL. 

Paramount’s product offerings benefit from “the firm's strong content creation abilities, deep programming library, and the secular trend toward greater streaming adoption,” says Macker, who pegs the stock’s fair value at US$58.

Media behemoth Comcast (CMSSA) acquired NBCUniversal which owns several cable networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, and USA, the NBC broadcast network, Universal Studios, and several theme parks. The company acquired leading British broadcaster Sky in 2018, which owns multiple media properties including Sky Sports.

While Comcast isn’t a pure IPL play, the company’s Sky Sports is a leading broadcaster of some of the biggest cricketing events including the Cricket World Cup, and enjoys a significant viewership.

“Sky is the U.K.'s largest pay-television operator, with about 13 million retail subscribers, equal to about 45% of the households in the country,” says a Morningstar equity report, noting that the company was “early to build critical mass in the pay-TV market, enabling it to gain exclusive rights to premium content, notably the English Premier League.”

Sky, which also owns Sky News and an entertainment studio, claims more than half of the content viewed on its services comes from its own portfolio. “Rolling Sky into the Comcast family promises to further enhance this content position, helping Sky cement its position with customers even as distribution methods change,” says Morningstar sector director Michael Hodel.   

Sky is also the dominant pay-TV provider in Italy, Germany, and has launched service offerings in Spain and Switzerland. “The firm is following the same strategy in these markets as it has in the U.K., building proprietary content,” says Hodel, who appraises the stock to be worth US$60.

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Scott outlines new workforce initiatives to fill available jobs and create more opportunity - Vermont Biz

Click image to view press conference. Vermont Precision Tools President Monica Green is at the far right; Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington is to her right; VSAC President Scott Giles is on the far left, next to him is ACCD Secretary Lindsay Kurrle, and HCR Director Ena Backus is in the blue dress. Image courtesy of the governor's office.

Vermont Business Magazine At his weekly media briefing, Governor Phil Scott in Swanton highlighted initiatives and investments passed this year to help train, retain and recruit more workers to address Vermont’s workforce shortage.

The governor was joined by state leaders from the Department of Labor, Agency of Commerce and Community Development, Agency of Human Services and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) to discuss newly passed legislation that will help grow and strengthen the workforce, including regional workforce expansion program, loan forgiveness and incentives to retain nurses, and investments in higher education and adult training programs.

A recent study concluded that Vermont has the second tightest labor market in the nation, behind only Missouri.

Commerce Secretary Lindsay Kurrle, Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington, Director of Health Care Reform Ena Backus and VSAC President Scott Giles laid out new opportunities available through Act 183.

These include:

• $3M Regional Workforce Expansion and Work-Based Learning and Training to expand regional support at the Department of Labor, connecting and assisting jobseekers and employers who are hiring. This initiative will also fund statewide on-the-job learning and training experiences to subsidize costs for employers and create opportunity for career changes and upskilling for workers.
• $3M Vermont Trades Scholarship Program will be administered through the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation and provide scholarships for individuals enrolled in an industry-recognized training and certification program that leads to employment in high-demand sectors in Vermont.
• $10M to address healthcare workforce shortages through various grants, loan forgiveness and incentive programs to support, recruit and retain healthcare workers in the state.
• $3M New Relocating Worker Program to continue the state’s work to recruit new residents to the state through grants that help pay for their moving expenses.

Harrington said the regional program could be expanded as the state seeks to bring jobs to all sectors and regions of the state. 

Kurrle said the successful relocation program has already helped hundreds of families with moving expenses as the start a new job in Vermont or start a new business here.

Much of the focus of the health care worker program is intended to retain and recruit nurses. This includes training, scholarships and grants.

Vermont Precision Tools hosted the event and the company’s president, Monica Greene, also shared details on the company’s efforts to train, retain and recruit employees.

Green is the second generation owner and president of VPT, which includes Vermont Gage. 

VPT is a major metal fabrication supplier for surgical, aerospace and automotive equipment. They employ about 200 at their Swanton headquarters and another 115 at their plant in Kentucky. She said pre-pandemic they employed about 350.

She said they have lost workers, as many other businesses have, to early retirement and competition from other employers. On top of that, they are experiencing the "supply chain nightmare" and "super-inflation" related to freight hauling.

"We're all fighting the battle of not having enough help," Green said, even as they ramp up their recruiting and training. 

More details can be found in the below transcript of Governor Scott’s remarks or by clicking here to view the press conference.

Governor Scott Remarks

Thank you all for being here and thanks to Vermont Precision Tools for hosting us.

We’re here today to talk about a familiar theme – one that I’ve focused on since my very first day in office, and that’s workforce.

At the start of each legislative session, I outline my Administration’s priorities for the year. I’m sure most of you have heard me talk about our strategic priorities before: growing the economy; making Vermont more affordable; and protecting the most vulnerable.

To accomplish each of these goals, we keep coming back to our Achilles’ heel: The lack of workers in our workforce.

Now, as you might remember, during my first term as governor I spoke a lot about three numbers: 6-3-1. Each of them representing concerning trends we were facing – and this was long before the pandemic. On average, we were seeing six fewer workers in our workforce, three fewer kids in our K-12 schools, and one child born to addiction, every single day.

We were beginning to make progress, but then along came a once-in-a-century pandemic that had ripple effects far beyond public health.

If you talk to any employer – and you’ll hear from a great one here at Vermont Precision Tools – finding people to fill the good jobs they have available is a challenge.

That’s why, with record state surpluses and all the federal funding, I thought it was so important to invest in areas I knew would make a difference.

All the proposals we put forward were tied together to address this issue: To have more workers, we need more housing. To have more housing, we need water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure. To support workers and give them reasons to come here, we need broadband, childcare, and safe, healthy and thriving communities. And to keep costs down and protect the environment, we need to invest in things like weatherization.

But we also need workforce training and development programs, which is why we’re here today.

My team worked closely with the Legislature, in particular the economic development and health care committees, to pass S.11, now Act 183, which includes major investments to expand and strengthen our workforce. There were also important workforce investments in the budget for higher education and VSAC to make getting the needed skills more affordable. And I want to mention H.518, now Act 172, which gives more financial assistance for Guard members to continue their education.

It was great to see support for so many initiatives that will help move the needle on our workforce shortage – though we all know we need to do more.

I want to acknowledge all the members of the House and Senate here today, and in particular, the Chair of House Economic Development Mike Marcotte for your close collaboration and commitment to getting these initiatives passed.

Members of my team will speak more about some of the specifics in a moment, but you’ll hear about ways employers and potential employees can better connect; support for refugees entering the workforce; and incentives to recruit workers to Vermont. And while we have shortages in every sector, we know healthcare is a big one, so S.11 included tools specifically for healthcare workers and nurses. We’ll also hear from Scott Giles of VSAC which received funding to help more students access post-secondary education and training, and a forgivable loan program to keep more of them here after they graduate.

This is just a handful if initiatives that were passed this session, and we’ll highlight more as these programs get up and running.

But no matter what government does, this work is not possible without strong leadership and partnership from the private sector. Employers finding new ways to attract, train and retain workers is essential to our success.

Vermont Precision Tools is not just our host today but a great example of an employer who is running their own training program. It’s now my pleasure to turn the podium over to Monica Greene, president of Vermont Precision Tools, to talk more about the work the company does, as well as some of the challenges they face because of our workforce shortage.

Governor June 21, 2022. Swanton, Vt. –  www.vermont.gov

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