In her first official appearance in the riding since joining the Liberal government, Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong MP Marilyn Gladu stood alongside Secretary of State for Labour MP John Zerucelli to tout investments in the skilled trades.
Gladu and Zerucelli met with members of LiUNA Local 1089 in Sarnia on Friday to discuss details of the Canada Strong For All plan, which was included in the spring economic statement.
Zerucelli said a new $6 billion nationwide effort will seek to recruit, train, and hire 80,000 to 100,000 Red Seal skilled trades workers in the next five years.
"We're really excited at the opportunity to hire 100,000 new skilled trades workers," he said. "In this country, we're building and we're building big, all across local infrastructure, in defence, in energy, and nuclear, and we need more construction workers. By 2030, we're going to have a gap of 100,000 construction workers, and that's why we've made this big investment."
Plans include investments to support small and medium-sized businesses with up to $10,000 to bring in first-year apprentices. Zerucelli said there's also a $5,000 completion bonus once an apprentice obtains the Red Seal certification.
"This is an excellent time for young people to get into the skilled trades," said Zerucelli.
He said funding will be available in a matter of weeks.
"We're in the process of doing program design," Zerucelli said. "We're in constant contact with the unions and with others, so we'll be putting [out] the applications that will be open very soon."
Gladu said she believes plenty of people will be interested in the program.
"We see LiUNA today, but St. Clair Mechanical, Kel-Gor, LamSar, there's a plethora of union shops in town that do train apprentices," said Gladu. "As well as the locals for the pipefitters, the welders, and the boilermakers. All of them will be very interested in working with partner companies to increase the number of apprentices we can train."
LiUNA Local 1089 Business Manager Tony Valenti said these are the kinds of investments that open doors, strengthen our workforce, and keep projects moving.
"Here in Sarnia-Lambton, we see first-hand how critical union-led training is preparing workers for real jobs and real projects, safely and with the highest standards," said Valenti.
Valenti said they take on roughly 58 students in a single year, and their training includes 3,000 hours.
"On top of that, we do different training in between. Work health and safety is one of the things we keep up with our students and our members," Valenti said.
When asked how Gladu is finding things locally since joining the Liberals, she responded by saying she's proud to be part of the Carney government.
"I think that the spring economic update showed we're fiscally prudent. We are reducing the deficit by $11 billion and at the same time seeing promising things come out," Gladu said. "Of course, as a builder and an engineer, I love the Build Canada Strong theme. I love the nation-building projects that are starting, and I'm excited to be involved."
Zerucelli also said he's "super excited" to be working with Gladu.
"She has a lot of experience and she's already making a big impact for this community back in Ottawa," Zerucelli said.
Zerucelli said members of parliament and ministers were travelling to communities across the country to promote the initiative.
Friday's visit coincided with International Workers' Day, which recognizes labourers across the globe and the fight for workers' rights.
LIUNA Local 1089 also marks its 75 anniversary this year.
