Question Period Note: APPRENTICESHIP AND THE SKILLED TRADES

What is the Government of Canada doing to support apprenticeship and the skilled trades?

• Canada’s prosperity depends on Canadians having the skills, training and experience they need to get good quality jobs and succeed in a changing economy.
• That’s why the Government of Canada is investing nearly $1 billion annually in supports for apprentices. This is done through the Red Seal Program, loans, tax credits, Employment Insurance benefits and through project funding to unions and other stakeholders
• This includes investments through the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy. In 2023-2024, the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy invested approximately $336.6 million to support over 102,900 individuals, which helped ensure Canada has the workforce it needs to drive economic growth and productivity.

The Red Seal Program, formally known as the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program, is a program that sets common standards to assess the skills of tradespeople across Canada. Industry is heavily involved in developing the national standard for each trade. It is a partnership between the federal government and provinces and territories, which are responsible for apprenticeship training and trade certification in their jurisdictions.

Implemented in 2022, the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy (CAS) aims to support a trades workforce that is skilled, inclusive, certified and productive. It provides funding to help pre-apprentices, apprentices, employers, unions, and other organizations and tradespeople participate in apprenticeships and succeed in skilled trades careers.

• In fall 2022, ESDC launched the Women in the Skilled Trades Initiative, which supports women in the skilled trades by funding projects that recruit, retain, and help exclusively women apprentices succeed in any of the 39 eligible Red Seal trades found predominately in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
o To date, approximately $55.3M has been invested in thirty projects, expected to support approximately 11,666 women between 2023-2024 and 2027-2028.

• Budget 2024 announced $100 million to bolster the labour force in support of housing for the following initiatives under the CAS:
o $90 million for the Apprenticeship Service to help create placements with small and medium-sized enterprises for apprentices.
 This follows the time-limited pilot, which operated between 2022 and 2024, funded over 11,000 employers across Canada who created jobs for more than 14,000 first-year apprentices in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
o $10 million for the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness Program to encourage Canadians to explore and prepare for careers in the skilled trades.

• A call for proposals was launched in June 2024 and closed on September 5, 2024, to fulfil a commitment announced in the 2022 Fall Economic Statement, which included $125 million over five years, starting in 2023-2024, to support unions in leading the development of green training for workers in the Red Seal trades. The new Sustainable Jobs Stream under the CAS is expected to benefit up to 30,000 Red Seal trades workers. Funded projects through this stream are expected to be finalized in Summer 2025 and will support unions in leading the development of green skills training for workers in the trades.
o To account for specificities in Quebec’s apprentice training system (where unions are not involved), the CAS is implemented in Quebec through a separate agreement with the provincial government.

• During the recent federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada announced a plan to build up Canada’s skilled trades workforce, including by providing a new Apprenticeship Grant of up to $8,000 for registered apprentices, doubling the funding of the UTIP Program from $25 million to $50 million, establishing a capital funding stream, upholding the Apprenticeship Service program, and increasing labour mobility for skilled trades people between provinces and territories to address labour shortages.

If pressed on labour shortages in the skilled trades / federal initiatives that support housing

• The Government understands the important role trades workers play in building our homes, powering our cities and maintaining our infrastructure.
• This is why the Government of Canada is investing in Canada’s skilled trades workforce in support of housing, to support the Build Canada Homes plan and speed up the pace of housing construction.
• Under the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy, ESDC is supporting investments that encourage more people to join the skilled trades, as thousands of new skilled tradespeople will be needed in the coming years.
• The Government recently invested up to $48.8 million over the next five years to support trades related to homebuilding across Canada, including efforts to get more women and underrepresented groups into the construction industry.
• ESDC also invested $8.5 million over the two years to provide crucial programming for pre-apprentices, including youth and other groups that face barriers to entering the trades, to help Canadians explore and prepare for careers in the skilled trades, including accessing vital work experience in the construction industry.
• Lastly, the Government is committed to creating apprenticeship opportunities for the next generation of skilled workers through the Apprenticeship Service, which will help create placements with small and medium-sized employers for apprentices, in Red Seal trades to support residential construction.
If pressed on the sunsetting of the Apprenticeship Grants
• The last day to apply for the Apprenticeship Grants was March 31, 2025. While a decision was previously taken to phase out Apprenticeship Grants, ESDC is exploring options to fulfill the new Government’s plan to remove a key financial barrier to skills training through new Apprenticeship Grants.
• Apprentices continue to be supported through: the interest-free Canada Apprentice Loan, Employment Insurance income support during technical training, the Tradesperson’s Tools deduction, the Apprentice Mechanic Tools deduction, the Tuition Tax Credit, the Canada Training Credit, and the Labour Mobility deduction. Apprentices may also be eligible to receive additional measures offered by their province or territory.

“A strong skilled trades workforce builds a strong Canada. That’s why the Government of Canada is investing nearly $1B in apprenticeship supports through loans, tax credits, Employment Insurance benefits during in-school training, project funding, and support for the Red Seal program.”

Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families