Making it Work: Local shop owner shares solutions for shops to overcome skilled trades shortage
Guelph, Ontario — A bodyshop repairer speaking with a local paper has shared his thoughts on the skilled trades shortage and has a simple but effective recommendation—keeping your team together amidst a labour shortage. In an interview with Guelph Today, Vince Klimkosz, owner and operator of Vinnie’s Mr. Fix-It said “I find that many customers […]
A Foot in the Door: Northwestern Polytechnic opens 80 trades program seats thanks to government investment
Edmonton, Alberta — Thinking of enrolling in an apprenticeship program at Northwestern Polytechnic? Why not invite 80 of your closest friends to join you, as recent investments into the Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs initiative promises to open up new seats in trade school classrooms. This latest government investment of $341,800 is expected to […]
Planning for Success: Autonomous vehicle trends and predictions for 2023
Toronto, Ontario — Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been drawing a lot of attention in the past few months, rarely in a positive light. Thankfully, business intelligence consultancy firm, IDTechEx suggests that we are getting closer to large scale AV deployments—just not as consumer level vehicles. For instance, Waymo and Cruise have successfully deployed robotaxi services […]
Roots Taking Hold: Maritime skilled labour initiatives succeeding in retaining immigrant tradespeople, StatsCan data shows
Toronto, Ontario — A new report from Statistics Canada shows that the Maritimes are quickly becoming a gateway for immigrants looking for a future in the nation’s rapidly depleting skilled trades workforce. While Ontario continues to lead the country in retention of new skilled tradespeople to Canada, the Atlantic provinces, and PEI in particular, are […]
Outside the Lines: Plans underway for third ‘Tradeswomen of New Brunswick’ colouring book
Saint John, New Brunswick — A New Brunswick-based non-profit has developed an exciting new way to introduce young girls to the skilled trades industry through a colouring book series that features tradeswomen on the job. The first two editions of the “Tradeswomen of New Brunswick” are the results of efforts from New Boots: Progressing Women […]
Supporting Survivors: SATA coupe built by childhood cancer survivors sold for $137,500
Tennessee, United States — This past weekend, the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer auctioned a custom Gen 3 Factory Five Type 65 Coupe for a remarkable $137,500. According to a press release from the Austin Hatcher Foundation, automotive therapy is one of the services provided at no cost to families facing pediatric cancer. This […]
Balancing the Scales: Canada leads G7 in share of degree-holders as trades workforce dips further, StatsCan says
Toronto, Ontario — A report published by StatsCan on Wednesday showed that Canada boasts the largest share of college and university graduates among G7 nations, but is still leaving a lot of talent on the table when it comes to skilled trades. The study, which addressed education levels of working-age people (25 to 64) in […]
Putting it on Paper: B.C. to reinstate mandatory certifications for tradespeople
Victoria, British Columbia — The province of British Columbia is proud to announce more details in its plan to re-launch the provincial certification process for skilled tradespeople, under the name SkilledTradesBC. The province says the new organization, renamed from the Industry Training Authority, will work to “raise the profile of skilled trades, modernize trades training […]
Skills for Jills: Conestoga’s ‘Jill of All Trades’ program to go nationwide with support of RBC investment
Kitchener, Ontario — Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont. is slated to get a slice of some newly announced skills trades funding as the RBC Foundation announced Wednesday that $650,000 of a total $3.5 million investment is on the way to support the national rollout of the college’s “Jill of All Trades” program. The one-day workshop […]
Lost in the LOR: Staffing shortages, parts availability continue to boost LOR nationwide, report says
Toronto, Ontario — Enterprise has released its Q3 Length-of-Rental report which, in spite of an impressive bout of perseverance in Alberta amid several severe weather events, Canada has seen an overall increase in rental periods across the board. Nationally, rental periods increased by 5.1 days from 11.4 in 2021 to 16.5 days over the same […]
