Ontario Changing Apprenticeship and Skilled Trades System

June 3, 2019

The Ontario 2019 Budget sets out the government’s plan to modernize the apprenticeship and skilled trades system. Ontario will introduce portable skill sets to help speed up certification and training in the skilled trades, without compromising health and safety. Portable skill sets are a new competency-based system to provide workers and employers with more flexibility. Currently, Ontario’s tradespeople are required to master the full scope of a trade to complete an apprenticeship and obtain certification.

“There are important and rewarding opportunities available in the skilled trades in Ontario,” says Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. “We are listening to industry and tradespeople, and we know we need to get workers interested, trained and working faster. Portable skill sets will help us deliver on our promise to modernize the skilled trades and apprenticeship system, match people and training with good quality jobs, and grow our economy.”

Portable skill sets also offer cross-skilling through the trades by letting apprentices, skilled tradespeople and employers to choose skills that they need for the jobs that are available today. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Bruce Power have estimated that between 2021 and 2026 they will need about 1,000 boilermakers.

With the new portable skill sets system, training, retraining and certifying workers in the specific skills needed for these opportunities will be more efficient than ever before.

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