This first volume of a two-volume report presents findings of a task force on the importance of skill development leave as a mechanism for retraining, upgrading, and updating workers in a dynamic Canadian society. The report is designed as a tool for consultation. Volume I contains two parts. Part I, the background section, describes the current situation in Canada and identifies the implications of the current environment for a skill development leave initiative. Three chapters discuss the economic environment for learning, the learning environment, and the international experience with educational leave. Part II, the perspectives section, examines and presents perspectives on the labor, industry, and government attitudes toward skill development leave. Four chapters address the industry, labor, provincial, and federal perspectives. The right-hand pages contain the continuous narrative. On the left-hand pages are found quotations, bons mots, data, information, and tables from many sources to support and detail the learning concerns of Canadians about the advent of new technologies and the restructuring of the world of work. (YLB)