{"id":27938,"date":"2026-05-01T16:43:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/27938\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T16:43:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:43:04","slug":"spring-fiscal-update-boosts-colleges-trades-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/27938\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring fiscal update boosts colleges, trades training"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0spring economic update<\/a>, which Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, April 28, announced a\u00a0$6 billion\u00a0investment in training young people for skilled trades,\u00a0mainly through\u00a0colleges, union training\u00a0centres, and on-the-job apprenticeships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s strategy aims to train up to 100,000 skilled trade workers by the 2030-31 fiscal year. \u201cThat\u2019s going to divert some students, understandably and correctly, from programs at universities perceived to not help them get a job, to start to look at the trades,\u201d said Ian Lee, a professor at Carleton University\u2019s Sprott School of Business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Gabriel Miller, president and CEO of Universities Canada (which publishes University Affairs) says the trades strategy does not come to the detriment of universities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUniversities want to be a big part of preparing the Canadian workforce for the changes that are coming and for the federal government\u2019s objectives,\u201d Mr. Miller said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said that new opportunities for universities will arise through collaboration, such\u00a0as\u00a0one announced earlier this week<\/a>\u00a0between the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Roads University to\u00a0establish\u00a0a new program aimed at increasing access to subsidized officer education at Canadian civilian universities. Starting in September, about 40 naval and officer cadets will arrive at the Victoria-based\u00a0university\u2019s\u00a0campus as part of the Subsidized University Training List \u2013 Enhanced Pathway program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr. Miller also expects new partnerships to emerge between universities and colleges, which received a financial boost in the recent economic update through a $165-million investment in the\u00a0Tri-agency College and Community Innovation program<\/a>\u00a0that was renewed for five years, and which is one of the largest vehicles for funding applied research at colleges, including polytechnics and CEGEPs, across Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrific\u201d emphasis on trades:\u00a0CICan\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) applauded the creation of the trades-training program, which the government calls Team Canada Strong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was terrific to see the strong emphasis and central focus on trades,\u201d said Pari Johnston, president and CEO of\u00a0CICan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been saying for months that by investing in major projects we are going to need to invest in those people who are actually going to build them, and that has started.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She noted the announcement of an apprenticeship grant that will provide apprentices with $400 per week while they are attending mandatory in-class technical training, and a Build Canada initiative for employers to train apprentices through up to $10,000 in wage subsidies for the new hire\u2019s first-year salaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019re\u00a0more to do.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0going to need investments in capital and equipment at public colleges and polytechnics to handle the waiting lists for\u00a0trades\u00a0folks, but it was great to see the value put on the careers that skilled tradespeople have,\u201d said Ms. Johnston.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sounding a supportive note, Mr. Miller said that \u201cto drive an economy like Canada\u2019s in the 21st century,\u201d the country needs both university and college-educated people with a wide range of skills, and that he views the idea behind Team Canada Strong as \u201ca very specific measure related to a particular moment in this government\u2019s economic agenda.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know in the near term that Canada is desperately trying to improve its productivity by building a lot of new ports, pipelines, highways and houses,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s sensible that the government would want to move quickly to get people into jobs that will help them build that infrastructure and provide incentives to ensure that people go into the trades.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr. Miller noted that while enrollment at community colleges has fallen over the past decade, it has increased at universities \u2014 a trend he expects to continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect enrolment to continue to rise in the next five or six years because there\u2019s a demographic wave of younger Canadians coming,\u201d he explained. \u201cOur challenge\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0convincing people\u00a0they should\u00a0go to university. They know\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the single best investment people can make for their future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Promise to increase student grants and loans confirmed\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the spring economic update provided no new funding for universities and for students, it reiterated a March 23 announcement to increase annual Canada Student Grants from $3,000 to $4,200 and interest-free Canada Student Loans from $210 to $300 per week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But this financial support will have\u00a0little impact\u00a0on students compared to \u201cthe impact of AI on entry-level employment\u201d that they face, according to Dr. Lee. \u201cThere\u2019s a real sense that it\u2019s sabotaging the number of jobs available.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

By contrast, he noted: \u201cThere are a significant number of analysts who believe that the trades are mostly immune from AI job-destruction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Mr. Miller said he believes AI will drive demand for university education, as well as providing jobs for graduates. \u201cAI is a perfect example of where we need university talent, whether it\u2019s on the research front or to turn research into new commercial opportunities or to take AI tools into workplaces across the country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cArtificial intelligence for all\u201d is how the federal government described its forthcoming AI strategy that features six pillars, including one \u201cempowering Canadians\u201d by giving \u201call Canadians\u201d access to AI training and education, and another to build the Canadian Sovereign AI Foundation and \u201cgrow Canada\u2019s exceptional AI researchers and talent pool,\u201d according to the economic update.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0spring economic update, which Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, April 28,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,6360,2069,13278],"class_list":{"0":"post-27938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-policy","10":"tag-skilled-trades","11":"tag-workforce-development"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}