Toronto, Ontario — Ontario is introducing changes to help tradespeople move to the province, in an effort to fill positions in more than 30 in-demand professions.
The legislation would ensure workers from other Canadian provinces can get their credentials processed within a standard of 30 business days.
“It’s never been more important that we attract more workers to fill in-demand jobs,” says Premier Doug Ford. “To do so, we’re cutting red tape to make it easier for skilled professionals from across Canada to get the papers they need to work in Ontario, faster.”
The move follows Alberta, which announced similar measures last October and aims to fulfill the same goal as Ontario–fill in-demand trades.
“There are hundreds of thousands of paycheques waiting to be collected,” Monte McNaughton, Ontario’s minister of labour, training and skills development. “That is why our government is working for workers and leading the country with changes that rebalance the scales and make it clear – we want more skilled professionals and tradespeople to come here.”
Between July and September of 2021, there were 338,835 vacant jobs across Ontario, including many in the skilled trades, says the government.