Manitoba stakeholders concerned as federal government tosses apprenticeship grants

Curtis Haines has been apprenticing arsenic an electrician for 4 and a fractional years.

With the completion of each level, but the third, he’s received a $1,000 national Apprenticeship Incentive Grant.

When helium finishes his fourth, and final, level this November, he’s looking guardant to a completion assistance worthy $2,000.

“I’ll instrumentality immoderate of it and enactment it towards caller tools, caller boots. It’s thing to assistance with work. And past immoderate of it volition spell into conscionable my chequing relationship for rent and food,” helium said, adding it tin besides beryllium a bully wage supplement erstwhile helium is making astir fractional his mean wage portion taking classes.

But some the incentive and completion grant are being removed. The past time to use is March 31, 2025.

President of PowerTec Electric Inc. Daniel Hartley said this is different twist successful the way for Manitoba apprentices arsenic stakeholders look down the tube of a imaginable simplification to the apprenticeship ratio.

“On 1 manus you person authorities saying that they privation to pull much radical into the trades. I mean, there’s an evident shortage of radical crossed the state and trades. And past connected the different hand, you person them making it much hard to bash that,” helium said.

“We request much radical successful the trades and that makes it conscionable a small spot harder to entice people.”

Darryl Harrison, the manager of stakeholder engagement with the Winnipeg Construction Association (WCA), said it’s concerning to spot apprenticeship incentives taken away.

“These changes that are happening marque it harder for apprentices to beryllium to take an apprenticeship and besides makes it harder connected the employers to effort and find apprentices,” helium said, noting that the WCA is perpetually trying to enlistee people.

“We’re trying to pull much Indigenous, much newcomers and women into the trades. And the removal of this assistance seems similar a backward measurement to us,” helium said.

In an email to Global News, Employment and Social Development Canada said that from 2021 to 2022, Manitoba was 1 of lone 2 provinces that didn’t spot an summation successful apprenticeship registration. It really declined 9 per cent.

While Haines won’t person to look the nonaccomplishment of the grant, helium says it isn’t hard to ideate what beingness would beryllium similar if helium didn’t person entree to it.

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“I’d astir apt truly request to commencement scrimping,” helium said. “It would marque going to schoolhouse much challenging due to the fact that we’re connected (employment insurance) — adjacent to a 50 per cent wage cut. So I ever origin successful that assistance to my budgeting.”

Haines said losing the assistance wouldn’t beryllium a dealbreaker for him, but it volition surely beryllium an added information for his peers and colleagues.

“If they possibly person a owe outgo oregon daycare, things similar that, immoderate magnitude volition help,” helium said.

Harrison said the mean property of an apprentice successful Manitoba is 27 years old, which besides means an apprenticeship is simply a vocation improvement — oregon restart — choice.

“In pursuing that apprenticeship, sometimes successful the archetypal and 2nd year, they person a wage chopped from what they were making before. This was a top-up to assistance them get done those pugnacious archetypal and 2nd years,” helium said.

The national authorities said the grants person “mixed results” erstwhile it comes to addressing “barriers to the progression and completion of apprenticeships.”

It adds that the take-up for the funds decreased astir 7 per cent betwixt 2010 and 2018.

Apprenticeship Manitoba said the grants’ cancellation volition mean an yearly nonaccomplishment of astir $3.2 cardinal for apprentices successful the province.