If you have thoughts on how the entity that eventually replaces the Ontario College of Trades should operate, Ontario’s skilled-trades panel wants to hear from you.

The first phase of the panel’s work is underway, and it is seeking input from stakeholders on which services of the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development and of the former college should be essential components of a new service delivery model—and how those services could be provided.

Issues the group will consider include the role of industry advisory committees, improvements that could be made to the trade-equivalency assessment process, guiding principles for compliance and enforcement, and what digital tools could be used to support skilled trades workers and apprentices in starting, progressing through and completing their programs, and maintaining their certifications.

The panel, which was appointed by the Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development in September, is composed of chair Michael Sherrard of Sherrard Kuzz LLP; Jason Ottey, director of government relations and communications for Laborers' International Union of North America Local 183, Shaun Scott, director of organizational development with Linamar; Melanie Winter, regional human resources director for Western and Central Canada at Cascades; and Melissa Young, the executive director of the National Electrical Trade Council.

The panel will work for nine months, during which time it will gather advice from the public and stakeholders on how to improve the province’s skilled trades and apprenticeship system. It operates at arm’s length from the government, and will provide advice and recommendations to the minister on how to replace the College of Trades.

Phase one of the panel’s work is currently underway, and the group will accept submissions through November 12. Phase two sees the panel provide advice and recommendations on matters related to the classification and training for trades, and will begin early next year.

The provincial government wound down the Ontario College of Trades in November 2018 as part of its commitment to reduce regulatory burdens and to modernize apprenticeship. In place of the college, it expects to create a new service delivery model that is more streamlines, and which includes a new digital system for apprentices, skilled tradespeople and sponsors.