If governments want more apprentices in the trades, they must make it easier for employers to say yes.
Governments should take aggressive income tax relief more seriously as an affordability measure. Employers do not hire apprentices out of charity. They do it when they have enough confidence, work and margin to take a risk on someone still learning.
Canada does not lack attention on the skilled trades. Governments have invested in campaigns, grants, incentives and outreach, and that work has helped. Statistics Canada reported new apprenticeship registrations reached 101,541 in 2024, a record high since the series began in 2008.
But certifications were still 9.6 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. The pipeline is fuller at the front than at the finish line. The issue is not only attracting young people to the trades, but part of it is also whether employers can afford to carry them through.
That is the missing link.
In Ontario, the sponsor is typically the employer, responsible for ensuring the apprentice receives required on-the-job training. Skilled Trades Ontario is right to emphasize that sponsorship builds the future workforce and the province has made meaningful efforts to promote the trades.
But sponsorship requires capacity: qualified staff, equipment, supervision, classroom-release time and compliance. None of that is free. A small contractor facing payroll, fuel, insurance, materials, debt costs and taxes is not anti-apprentice when they hesitate in hiring.
While there are supports in place from both levels of government to help employers, there is still room for improvement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has put a serious marker down with Team Canada Strong: a proposed $6-billion national effort to recruit, train and hire 80,000 to 100,000 new Red Seal trades workers over five years, including first-year wage support, training modernization and completion incentives.
Ontario, under Premier Doug Ford, has also made the trades a hallmark priority throughout his tenure as premier, especially in training to connect more young people and workers to apprenticeship pathways.
These are the right instincts. Carney is right that Canada cannot build more homes, infrastructure, defence capacity or industrial strength without more skilled trades workers. Ford is right that Ontario’s prosperity is built with the hands of skilled workers and that training must be practical, local and connected to real jobs.
But credits, grants and training programs are not the same as a business environment that makes hiring easier before the decision is made.
Lower income taxes would put more oxygen into the system up front, improving margins before an employer chooses whether to take on an apprentice. This is something Ford continues to call on the federal government to do.
Of course, none of this should come at the expense of wages, safety, training quality or completion standards. Tax relief should complement, not replace, the apprenticeship infrastructure built by unions, colleges and employers.
Governments’ next step should focus not only on the apprentice, but on the employer deciding whether to create the seat.
If governments want more homes built, more infrastructure maintained, more vehicles serviced and more industrial work done in Canada, then employers need to produce more. To produce more, they need to invest more. To invest more, they need to keep more of what they earn. Many employers want to grow, train and help build Canada. Industry leaders should continue to advocate for lower taxation. Public policy should make that easier wherever possible.
The apprentice crunch will not be solved by asking employers to be braver while every added worker feels like a financial gamble. Thoughtful income tax relief would widen the margin, reduce hesitation and help more employers open the gate to the skilled trades.
Wellington Advocacy is a national public affairs firm. Benjamin Lamb serves clients through Wellington’s Ontario Business Line, specializing in labour advocacy.
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