Ottawa to announce over $350M for skilled trades worker training, recruitment | CBC News

Funding part of effort to hire and train 80,000 to 100,000 new workers by 2031

The federal government will announce plans to help fund new infrastructure, equipment and recruitment efforts by unions and other organizations to train workers as part of a major funding announcement expected on Thursday.

CBC News is not naming the official because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the announcement.

The push is part of an ongoing effort to close a gap of more than 20,000 skilled trades workers per year. It comes as the Liberals' C-39, a bill intended to speed up major project approvals and construction, moves through Parliament.

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The first stream will help fund investments in equipment for unions, colleges and other organizations that train workers in the Red Seal trades. The federal government will temporarily pay up to 70 per cent of the cost of training equipment, up from 50 per cent.

The third stream, innovation, will offer funding for organizations and unions with ideas to recruit, retain and train Red Seal trades, including supporting apprentices in progressing toward certification.

In the 2026 spring economic update, the federal government pledged $6 billion over five years to recruit, train and hire workers.

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It announced plans to offer wage subsidies for employers that hire apprentices, creating paid, entry-level trades-related work that leads to apprenticeship and offering apprentices with a weekly income top-up, as well as training completion bonuses.

Kate McKenna is a senior reporter with CBC’s parliamentary bureau in Ottawa, where she covers federal politics. She previously worked for CBC’s The Fifth Estate and in the Halifax, Montreal and Charlottetown newsrooms. Her investigative and breaking news coverage has won five RTDNA awards. She is the author of No Choice: The 30-Year Fight for Abortion on Prince Edward Island.