As the federal government looks to make “generational investments in infrastructure,” it also wants to ensure Canada has enough workers to build it.
In its spring economic update tabled Tuesday, Mark Carney’s Liberal government acknowledged that the country is expected to “face a persistent gap of more than 20,000 skilled trades workers per year.” By 2033, the government said, Canada will need more than 1.4 million additional trades workers, with the planned scale of investments in housing and infrastructure adding to that demand.
“The need is urgent, but long training processes and financial pressures on apprentices contribute to low rates of completion,” the document said. “Too few young Canadians are entering the trades — missing out on well-paid jobs and long-term financial security.”
The government proposed a number of measures that will help in the recruitment, training and hiring of 80,000 to 100,000 new skilled trade workers by 2030-2031. Among the initiatives is a $5,000 bonus when a worker completes their Red Seal certification, a process Ottawa also wants to modernize by introducing online exams, digital logbooks and creating a single national registered apprenticeship number.
Officials said that in 2024, despite more than 100,000 new apprentices registered, only about 34,000 completed the program.
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