Skilled Trades Deficit

The skilled trades’ deficit and lack of young people joining the industry is still the single greatest challenge facing OGCA and the construction industry today. Reports from BuildForce estimate that Canadian construction employers need to hire over 300,000 people - 108,000 in Ontario by 2028. We know that if our members are to meet their construction labour force needs, it will require a focused effort on recruiting, training, and retaining new workers.

A major challenge getting young people into the trades is the operation of the Training Delivery Agencies (TDAs) who hold a monopoly over the skills training process in the province. The process limits the ability of training programs to evolve to meet the needs of the labour market. The current process is unable respond to the demand of employers in the market and limits the number of young people that can be trained into the industry. A clear example of the problem is where one union training centre is solely responsible for certifying and training sprinkler fitters: any new program would have to get approval from this existing TDA. We continue to lobby for reform to the existing TDA approval guidelines so that we can open up new training opportunities across Ontario.

This is a long, detailed process to make sure that Ontario will meet our skilled trades challenge. It is important that we continue to hear from our members on your challenges and add your experience to the solutions.

Please don’t hesitate to contact David Frame or Steven Crombie if you have any questions.