Six PBCTCO projects receive $4 million in funding
The Government of Ontario has issued another $4 million in funding for a program that will train construction workers.
Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development Monte McNaughton announced the funding at an event at United Association Local 527’s Training Centre in London on June 21.
The money will be used to fund six projects that were created in part by the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario. The projects aim to promote the trades, train future workers, and ensure that current workers have the right tools and mental health supports they need.
“Construction workers make our dreams come to life – it’s on their backs that we have the homes our families live in, the schools where we learn, and the hospitals and health care centres that have been crucial to us over the last 18 months,” said McNaughton. “We need to take care of these talented workers by giving them what they need to build with confidence and vision – while training our future generation for these in-demand jobs.”
The projects include a pre-apprenticeship program for 460 workers to learn about rodworking typically used in transit and light rail bridge construction. The Ontario Ironworkers District Council will provide two weeks of in-class training and an eight-week work placement. Training will be available in Ottawa, Toronto, Sudbury, Hamilton and Windsor. Those who successfully complete the program will be registered and employed as apprentices.
The Tomorrow’s Trades project, meanwile, will introduce 96 underrepresented youth to the skilled trades in Hamilton, London, Ottawa and Sudbury. This project will include 12 weeks of hands-on training and a 12-week work placement to learn about being carpenters, electrical workers, pipe trades, sheet metal workers and ironworkers. Upon completion, participants can enter a union-sponsored apprenticeship.
A new Building and Construction Tradeswomen project aims to attract more women to the trades through marketing and free training.
The funding will also be used to enable Ironworkers Local 759 in Thunder Bay to purchase necessary equipment used in training, testing and certifying 140 apprentices and journeypersons so they do not need to travel to upgrade or maintain their certifications.
Finally, a research project at the De Novo Treatment Centre in Huntsville will study and provide support for addiction and suicide issues in the construction industry. This project will develop a report and create tools for training centres, unions, and employers to better understand and address mental health.
"This type of research project will help us identify some of the main factors causing these high rates of suicide and addiction,” said Aaron Sinclair, Executive Director, De Novo Treatment Centre. “From there, we hope to provide resources to address these needs, address the addiction and suicide issues, and save lives."
The need for the projects, says the province, is great. In the fourth quarter of 2020, there were 11,805 job vacancies across Ontario’s construction sector, up from 10,125 in the fourth quarter of 2019.
"The Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario applauds the government’s funding announcement,” said business manager and secretary treasurer Patrick Dillon. “This investment will encourage young people from diverse and underprivileged backgrounds to join the construction trades, support mental health for our construction workers, deliver cutting-edge skills training to thousands of workers across the province, and help attract and retain more women in construction."
Funding for the projects falls under the government’s $115 million Skills Development Fund to address challenges to hiring, training and retraining workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The province is investing a total of $288.2 million in 2021–22 in its Skilled Trades Strategy. The strategy aims to modernize and evolve the skilled trades and apprenticeship system by reducing the stigma related to a trades career, simplifying the apprenticeship system, and encouraging business participation.
A cornerstone of that strategy is the recently announced Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act. The legislation was created to make the province’s skilled trades and apprenticeship system more efficient, accessible and easier to navigate. The new legislation will help tradespeople get their certification from one reliable, streamlined destination through a new Crown agency, Skilled Trades Ontario, that would replace the Ontario College of Trades.
Featured image: Labour Minister Monte McNaughton at the announcement event on June 21. (Monte McNaughton Twitter)