The Ontario government is introducing legislation to replace parts of Bill 148, a labour bill passed by the previous Liberal government just before this past spring’s election. The replacement bill is being called the Making Ontario Open for Business Act. For those in the residential construction industry, these changes would, if passed by Ontario’s Legislature, represent a dramatic overhaul of apprenticeship training in the province, as well as addressing other labour issues. As part of the process, Doug Ford’s government says it will “wind down” the Ontario College of Trades.
“Ontario’s Government for the People is helping employers and workers to better fill the demand for skilled trades and apprenticeship jobs and bringing quality jobs back to Ontario by cutting red tape,” a government news release says. “The province is taking the first steps to modernize and transform Ontario’s skilled trades and apprenticeship system. The current regulatory burdens placed on employers and apprentices create barriers to apprenticeship, making it difficult for Ontario to keep up in training the skilled tradespeople that will be demanded by the economy. About one in five new jobs in Ontario in the coming years are expected to be in trades-related occupations.”
Key to the changes proposed is a change to the apprenticeship ratios in Ontario that will reduce ratios of journeymen to apprentices to 1:1, bringing them in line with most other provinces in Canada. “Currently, Ontario’s ratios are among the highest in Canada, limiting the number of apprentices an employer can train relative to the number of journeypersons they employ,” the release continues.
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