Poilievre continues to court workers with pledge to train 350,000 tradespeople

Peter Zimonjic · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 12:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre continued his efforts this week to gully successful working-class voters with a program to bid 350,000 much commercialized workers crossed the country.

Billing it arsenic "more boots, little suits," Poilievre told reporters successful Ottawa Friday that his program volition "bring location a state that works for the radical that bash the work."

A connection accompanying his announcement said the enactment is "ready to combat for Canada's workers" and that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs mean Canada must "take backmost power of our system from the Americans."

"That means rapidly grooming up Canadians who cognize however to build, make and transport the goods the satellite needs," Poilievre said.

The Conservative person said not lone would his program boost the fig of skilled commercialized workers, helium would harmonize regulations crossed Canada and grow fiscal enactment for training.

Poilievre said the archetypal measurement successful that program volition beryllium to "reinstate apprenticeship grants of up to $4,000" that were introduced by the past Conservative authorities and are acceptable to expire astatine the extremity of the month.  

Former premier curate Stephen Harper's authorities rolled retired 2 apprenticeship assistance programs: the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant and the Apprenticeship Completion Grant. 

Both grants are worthy up to a maximum of $2,000 each. Applications for the assistance tin inactive beryllium made up until March 31.

CBC News asked the Prime Minister's Office if Prime Minister Mark Carney volition widen the assistance beyond the extremity of the month, but has yet to person a response.

Existing apprenticeship supports

Once these grants expire, determination are inactive backing supports successful spot to assistance Canadians implicit their apprenticeships including:

• Up to $20,000 successful interest-free loans to assistance apprentices attend training. 
• Allowing apprentices attending grooming to entree employment security (EI) benefits.
• Up to $10,000 successful enactment to companies that prosecute apprentices.
• A $25-million yearly fund for unions to enactment instrumentality and worldly purchases and partnerships done the Union Training and Innovation Program (UTIP).
• Up to $5 cardinal successful funding for national projects that summation concern successful grooming equipment. 

Courting the enactment of unions, workers

Poilievre said that if helium is elected premier minister, a Conservative authorities volition grow the UTIP to enactment the operation of buildings wherever apprenticeship grooming takes place. 

The Conservative person besides said helium volition make a peculiar people of EI that allows unions and colleges to pre-register apprentices.

And helium said helium volition enactment with the provinces to harmonize wellness and information standards, truthful tradespeople tin enactment anyplace successful Canada.

"This is communal consciousness and we are going to wage for each this by cutting bureaucracy, consultants, overseas assistance and waste," Poilievre said.

The announcement reinforces a Conservative taxable this week that saw Poilievre marque a bid of announcements designed to enactment concern workers and tradespeople.

On Monday, Poilievre visited a alloy ligament manufacturing installation successful L'Orignal, Ont., wherever helium promised to scrap c pricing connected greenhouse state emissions from ample concern emitters.

"There volition beryllium nary taxes connected Canadian consumers, nary taxes connected Canadian industries," Poilievre said.

On Wednesday, Poilievre was successful Sudbury, Ont., to denote that helium would green-light each permits for mining successful Ontario's Ring of Fire. The portion successful the northbound of the state is affluent successful minerals specified as chromite, cobalt, nickel, copper and platinum.

At a quality conference, Poilievre said the Ring of Fire "could marque Canada precise rich. It would beryllium life-changing for bluish Ontario towns, galvanizing thousands of paycheques and modern infrastructure."