Canada’s Building Trades Unions and Affiliates Awarded $67 Million in Union Training and Innovation Program Funding for Sustainable Jobs

Today, the Hon. Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Jobs and Families joined Canada’s Building Trades Unions and representatives from the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and other affiliates to announce $67 Million in funding to support unions in enhancing training to ensure that skilled trades workers are at the forefront of the transition to the clean economy of the future, through the Union Training and Innovation Program, Sustainable Jobs Stream.

“These funding awards mean that our union training centres will have the resources they need to build the advanced training curricula, programs, and online learning tools to help skilled trades people across Canada skill up for the new clean technology future,” says Sean Strickland, Executive Director of Canada’s Building Trades Unions, “well-paid union jobs in the clean economy are real – whether that’s in energy generation, high performance building retrofits, or building the next generation electrical grid to power our economy, skilled trades workers are at the center of it all. This funding will help ensure every skilled trade worker has a chance to reap the benefits in the clean economy.”

Minister MacKinnon announced funding for ten union-led projects across Canada and their training partners which will train nearly 29,300 tradespeople with the skills that they’ll need to succeed in the clean economy. Minister MacKinnon announced the funding awards at the SMART 47 Local training centre in Ottawa, one of the beneficiaries of the announcement today.

“We’re thrilled that the government has awarded this project to SMART,” said Jack Wall, Canadian Director for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, “This funding will go a long way to significantly improving the quality of the training our members receive, and will help more than 2,000 of our members upgrade their skills, and build a new permanent resource for every apprentice and journeyworker in our trade.”

Canada’s Building Trades Unions and SMART were awarded funding to develop a national online training curriculum that will enable sheet metal workers across the country to access always-on, online training to enhance their skills for the clean economy projects of the future.

Other building trades unions and their partners that were also awarded funding include  the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers (IAHFIAW), International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC), and United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA), and the UBC Millwrights. Other recipient unions include the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and the Power Workers’ Union. Funding from the Government of Canada was awarded through the Union Training and Innovation Program, Sustainable Jobs Stream, part of the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy.