McGuinty Government Invests in Opportunity for Ontarians

Monique Smith announced Friday that the McGuinty government developing 283 apprentice classroom instruction opportunities in the North Bay area.

The $628,976 investment is part of the government’s JOBGROW program and will take place at Canadore College.

Full details are contained in the release below.

********************

The McGuinty government is creating opportunities for 283 apprentices at different stages of their training in North Bay and area by funding their classroom instruction, Nipissing MPP Monique Smith announced today.

“The McGuinty government is on the side of Ontarians who want to find opportunity. That’s why we’re investing in apprenticeship classroom spaces to help people get the education the need,” Smith said. “We are helping apprentices complete their training so that they can meet the needs of industry.”

During 2006-07, the provincial government plans to invest $628,976 in the in-class training for 283 apprentices at Canadore College. This investment is directly connected to local industry needs as the total number of apprenticeship spaces in each community is driven by the number of apprentices hired by local businesses.
Classroom instruction is an essential part of an apprentice’s training. Ontario’s $31 million investment will help more than 27,000 apprentices undertake the classroom portion of their training at 24 community colleges and 39 training centres.

"Canadore has greatly benefited from the support provided by the McGuinty government. The additional funding has allowed us to increase the number of seats available to apprentices and address the much publicized skilled trade shortage and it has also enabled Canadore to purchase state-of-the-art equipment that more closely resembles the work environments in North Bay and makes the apprentice that much more productive to the company," Darrin Caron, Dean Trades and Technology.

“The McGuinty government’s support of apprenticeships goes a long way towards encouraging people to pursue careers in the skilled trades,” Smith said. “This investment is great news for Nipissing as the best jobs and the most investment go to the places with the best-educated and most highly skilled workforce.”

Ontario has Canada’s largest apprenticeship training system. The McGuinty government is working to provide more opportunities for Ontario’s youth to become apprentices by:

- Increasing the number of registered new apprentices to 26,000 annually in 2007-08

- Introducing the Apprenticeship Training Tax Credit to make it easier for employers to hire and train new apprentices

- Establishing the Co-op Diploma Apprenticeship Training Program as a new route to apprenticeship for college students.

For more information about Ontario’s apprenticeship training system, contact the Job Grow hotline at 1-888-JOBGROW.

********************