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Apprenticeship Support Project Reduces the Financial Burden of Bringing on First-Year Tradespeople

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This article was published 06/10/2023 (759 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Phil Sampano is the owner of Sampano Electric, an electrical contracting company that has been in business since 2009. Electrical contractors design, install, and maintain electrical systems in facilities such as homes, offices and industrial buildings. Sampano hired a first-year apprentice with the help of the Apprenticeship Support Project offered by First Peoples Development Inc (FPDI). He says that the process was so simple and worthwhile that he tells people about its benefits whenever he gets the chance.

“I have spread the word far and wide about the Apprenticeship Support Project,” he says. “FPDI is awesome. The entire application process took minutes to complete online and we had a cheque in a couple days.” A colleague from a mechanical contractor company first brought the program to Sampano’s attention.

“He told me about the program and we talked about the shortage of apprentices throughout the construction industry,” Sampano says. “He said that it’s a good opportunity to bring young people into the trades and help them succeed. We also talked about how the program is structured to encourage women and visible minorities to follow their desires to become tradespeople. He’s a smart individual with great business savvy, so I took his advice and applied.”

“It presents an opportunity for us to welcome young folks into the trades,” says Sampano. “It makes sense to introduce them to the trades – Future generations will still rely heavily on skilled labour.”

The Apprenticeship Support Project provides a $5,000 incentive for small and medium employers, who have 499 employees or fewer, to hire a first-year apprentice in any of the 39 red seal trades. The federally funded program aims to introduce a new generation to the skilled trades and address the coming shortage – more than 20% of people currently working in skilled trades are expected to retire in the next seven years.

There is special emphasis on empowering people not typically represented in Canada’s skilled labour force. If an apprentice belongs to an equity-deserving group, including women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous people, members of the LGBTQ2+ communities, newcomers and visible minorities, employers can receive an additional $5,000 toward their onboarding/employment. Under the program, an employer can hire two first-year Red Seal apprentices per year, and apply for a grant of up to $20,000.

“It’s helped our business out by making it easier to hire a first-year apprentice and absorb the expenses of having first years on staff” says Sampano. “Hiring and training a first-year is a lot of hard work. As first-year apprentices learn the ropes, they must be under constant supervision, essentially doubling the cost of labour for every task. Wasted EMT (electrical metallic tubing) wire and other materials are part of the learning curve for an apprentice but at the same time are another added cost,” he explains.

Sampano was impressed with the ease of applying and the expediency with which his application was processed. The Apprenticeship Support Project grant allowed Sampano Electric to begin onboarding a new first-year apprentice right away.