The Government of Ontario announced on July 22, that the Career-Ready with CTMA: Expanding Opportunities program will receive $5.4 million to tackle the province’s labour shortage and connect Ontario workers with high-paying jobs in their communities. CTMA photo
The Career-Ready with CTMA: Expanding Opportunities program has received $5.4 million through the Skills Development Fund (SDF), to tackle the province’s labour shortage and connect Ontario workers with high-paying jobs in their communities.
This funding is enabling the CTMA to create 300 more experiential work placements and provide new machinery and tools to an additional 30 high schools throughout the province. By the end of March 2025, the Career-Ready with CTMA program will have provided new machinery and tools to more than 130 high schools, ranging from CNC milling centres, lathes, and plasma cutters, to CNC desktop milling machines, high precision conventional milling machines, lathes with readouts, and more.
This has resulted in more than 15,000 students being exposed to and benefitting from the new machinery. Of those 15,000 students, more than 3,500 have begun industry-related co-ops or apprenticeships; and these numbers will continue to increase.
Robert Cattle thanked the Premier and Minister Piccini for this significant investment. CTMA photo
“On behalf of the CTMA, I would like to thank the Ontario Government for supporting this important initiative,” said Robert Cattle, CTMA’s executive director. “Through the Career-Ready with CTMA: Expanding Opportunities program, we have been able to offer experiential work placements for job seekers and facilitate the delivery of new machinery to high schools across Ontario. These efforts are pivotal in fostering the growth and sustainability of our industry while enhancing educational opportunities for students.”
From left: Gord Jokic, XL Tool Inc.; Robert Cattle, CTMA; Premier Ford; and Chris Hergott, XL Tool Inc. CTMA photo
The announcement was made at CTMA member company, XL Tool Inc., in Kitchener, where the government also announced it is investing up to an additional $260 million and will open the fifth round of SDF Training Stream funding on July 29, 2024, to address challenges for recruiting, training and upskilling workers for in-demand sectors such as manufacturing, construction and technology.
“Our government’s record investments in the Skills Development Fund are helping connect workers here in Kitchener and across the province to better jobs and bigger pay cheques,” said Premier Doug Ford. “By continuing to work for workers and make these important investments, we are also tackling Ontario’s labour shortage and bringing back good-paying jobs in manufacturing and the skilled trades.”
This will be the largest round of funding since the SDF Training Stream was launched in 2021 and brings Ontario’s total investment through the Fund up to $1.4 billion.
“Under Premier Ford, our government has revived our province’s manufacturing and construction sectors – and the key to our success is Ontario’s workers,” said David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. “That’s why our government is launching the biggest round of our Skills Development Fund yet by investing up to $260 million to train even more workers across the province. Whether your passion is developing the next generation of EVs, building nuclear power stations, or creating homes for new families, our government is making sure you have the opportunity to thrive.”
More information about the Career-Ready program is available here.
This Employment Ontario program is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.
The Government of Ontario and its agencies are in no way bound by any recommendations contained in this document.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Sarah Grandy
Marketing & Communications Specialist
CTMA
marketing@ctma.com
For information about the Career-Ready program, please contact:
Robin McFarlane
Project Administrator
CTMA
robin@ctma.com
Robert Cattle
Executive Director
CTMA
rcattle@ctma.com