The province says it will spend nearly $5 million to help build a new crane training facility, focused on apprentices in mobile and tower crane operation, as well as heavy equipment, in Oro-Medonte Township.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford made the announcement this morning at the Holick Road property, just off Line 4 South and Highway 11, thanking the many apprentices on hand at the construction site.
“These are the future builders who are going to be building our hospitals and our schools,” he said.
“We like to say when you have a job in the skilled trades, you have a job for life. Our skilled trade workers are the backbone of this province and you only need to look at our skylines to see it … we’re building like we never have before. Commercial, residential and mixed-use projects are springing up across the province.
“As I always say, we can’t build if we don’t have the workers,” Ford added. “Our skills development fund is on track to train more than one million people, including more than 20,000 workers in Oro-Medonte and Barrie.”
This modern and high-tech centre will include simulation labs, workshops and an outdoor training area for tower cranes, in addition to classrooms, offices and a cafeteria.
A full-service facility, it is expected train more than 1,600 people seeking work – including youth, Indigenous people and newcomers – and foster innovation, while helping to build a talent pipeline for the construction industry in the region and across Ontario, according to provincial officials.
“With one in three tradespeople retiring over the coming years, we must pass on the skills and expertise from the golden generation of skilled tradespeople to the next generation of workers,” said David Piccini, Ontario’s minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development.
The International Union of Operating Engineers will build the new crane training facility, with help by the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario.
Ontario’s $5-million investment through the skills development fund capital stream will go to support the construction of the $25-million crane training facility.
Ford also announced the Ontario government is launching the second round of its skills development fund capital stream, starting Nov. 29, with more than $74 million in available funding to build, expand and retrofit training facilities for workers in the trades, including construction, manufacturing technology and health care.
“(This) will help thousands of additional Ontario workers find better jobs and bigger paycheques,” Ford said.
