Canada’s Building Trades Unions are grateful for the ongoing support of our union training centres provided by the Government of Canada through the Union Training and Innovation Program (UTIP) and the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy (CAS). These critical funding streams have allowed our union training centres to substantially improve our already word-class training for apprentices, and improve diversity and inclusion in the skilled trades, driving higher the numbers of women, indigenous, and members of equity-seeking groups who are finding life-long careers in the skilled trades.  While these programs have been very successful, a major bottleneck in the ability for our union training centres to expand and extend training capacity remains support for building and classroom infrastructure.

Canada’s Building Trades Unions recommends that the Government of Canada introduce a dedicated Union Training Infrastructure Fund, funded by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED), and administered in partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) under the existing UTIP program infrastructure. Such a fund could be modeled after the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund which was introduced in Budget 2016, and provided funding for up to 50% of the project costs for eligible investments, but was not made available to union training centres. We recommend the government develop a 70/30 funding model alongside a 50/50 partnership funding model for investments in classroom infrastructure that recognizes the diversity of union infrastructure across all of Canada’s regions.

Such a ‘Brick and Mortar’ funding would amplify our union affiliates own $300 million annual commitments, enabling our union training centres to maximize the existing UTIP investments and expanding training capacity to meet the forecasted labour demands expected through the transition to a net-zero economy, and national housing construction targets. Canada’s Building Trades Unions has identified more than 24 ‘shovel ready’ classroom expansion and training facility construction projects that could benefit from such funding, significantly expanding training capacity across Canada.