Province announces capital stream for Skills Development Fund
The Ontario government has announced a new stream within its Skills Development Fund that will support the construction of and upgrades to trades-training centres.
Applications for the $224-million Skills Development Fund (SDF) Capital Stream open on June 30.
The stream is created to provide unions, Indigenous centres, and industry associations with funding to build new training centres, or upgrade and convert existing facilities into new training centres with state-of-the-art equipment and technology.
“This new program will help boost the province’s training infrastructure, providing more people opportunities to learn new skills and advance their careers into good-paying, in-demand jobs,” said Premier Doug Ford. “We’re taking the steps needed to create a bigger pipeline of talent to ensure we continue to have the best workforce in the world to keep attracting investments and to build Ontario.”
The province says that as many as 300,000 jobs are going unfilled in Ontario every day, costing the province billions of dollars in lost productivity. The new capital stream will be open to a wide range of applicants in in-demand industries and support facility expansions, renovations, repairs and retrofits, and new building construction. Over their lifetimes, these new and improved training centres are projected to help more than one million workers get the training they need to land better jobs and ensure businesses can find the skilled workforce they need to grow the economy for everyone.
"Our council applauds this announcement as those funds will assist in securing the physical infrastructure that our province needs to increase training capacity for the skilled trades,” said - Marc Arsenault, Business Manager of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario. “These investments represent a common approach by labour, employers, and government to help improve Ontario's construction industry."
Applications for the SDF Capital Stream will be accepted until September 25.
The province has also announced an investment of $535,000, also through the SDF program, to launch two innovative projects that will expand apprenticeship opportunities to future boilermakers in Northern Ontario and across the province. Led by the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 128, these free programs will provide 1,350 participants with the opportunity to explore rewarding careers as boilermakers.
The first project will give 1,200 high-school students hands-on experience with welding, cutting and rigging work and the opportunity to pursue apprenticeships in the trade. It will prioritize women, Indigenous people and others in rural Northern Ontario communities interested in learning about work in the skilled trades.
“To meet the demand for skill trades in the province, it is vital that we develop the skills and abilities of those individuals that are interested in a career within the trades, which is our mission with these projects,” said Jonathan White, International Representative - CSO at International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. “The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers commends the tremendous decision of the Ontario government to further invest in the trades through their Capital Stream of the Skills Development Fund, which will add to and improve training centres that will be used to build the highly skilled workforce needed to support Ontario’s infrastructure and to expand opportunities within industry.”
The second project will provide free lodging, travel and food for 150 new jobseekers from around the province as they begin introductory apprenticeship training. Participants will complete rigorous course work covering rigging, working at heights and construction safety as they prepare to become boilermaker apprentices.
The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers represents workers throughout Canada in industrial construction, repair, and maintenance; manufacturing; shipbuilding and marine repair; railroads; mining and quarrying; cement kilns; and related industries.
Through its first three funding rounds, the SDF has supported 596 projects to help half a million people around the province take the next step in their careers.