News Release

Ontario Allocates $36 Million to Help Apprentices Become Ready to Work

February 3, 2016

Province Invests in 47 Capital Projects and 84 Training Programs

Ontario is supporting growth in high-demand jobs by introducing more young people to careers in the skilled trades to help ensure Ontario’s future workforce has the skills and training for the jobs of tomorrow.

Today, Minister Moridi was at George Brown College, where he highlighted that, as announced in the 2015 Budget, the province is investing $36 million over two years to help the next generation of skilled tradespeople access the training, equipment and facilities they need to prepare for the workforce. Support will include:

• $23 million over two years through the Apprenticeship Enhancement Fund for 47 new capital projects at colleges and other training organizations for new equipment, new facilities and new technologies such as welding simulators, to provide opportunities for hands-on training
• $13 million through the Pre-Apprenticeship Training program to help support 84 pre-apprenticeship training programs, which will help more than 1,500 people primarily from traditionally underrepresented groups including women, Aboriginal peoples and at-risk youth, consider careers in the trades by developing their skills through in-class training sessions and work placements.

New annual apprenticeship registrations in programs across Ontario have grown from 17,100 in 2002-03 to more than 26,500 in 2014-15. This investment will help support the almost one in five new jobs in the province that is expected to be created in the trades in the coming decade.

Improving training opportunities, equipment and facilities for apprentices is part of the government’s plan to build Ontario up and deliver on its number-one priority to grow the economy and create jobs. The four-part plan also includes investing in people’s talents and skills, making the largest investment in public infrastructure in the province’s history and creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives.

QUICK FACTS The 47 successful Apprenticeship Enhancement Fund projects were selected through a call for proposals open to colleges and employer and union-based training centres issued in July 2015. Ontario is investing in 28 more pre-apprenticeship programs compared to 2014-15, an increase of 50 per cent. Ontario’s investment to support George Brown College includes almost $900,000 through the Apprenticeship Enhancement Fund to build a smart welding facility featuring modern welding simulators to give hands-on training to future construction and industrial mechanic millwrights, a trade in high-demand. Ontario is also supporting the college with more than $600,000 for two pre-apprenticeship training programs to help unemployed and homeless youth develop the trade-specific knowledge, job skills and work experience they need for careers in the millwright, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic and sheet metal worker trades.