Alberta is investing $4 million in an adaptive training pilot to fast-track trades certification for over 200 workers.

In what the association’s labour relations specialist called a move that can maximize all workers’ career potential, the Alberta government and the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) have announced a two-year pilot program with $4 million in government funding.

Through a personalized training system, the pilot is set to support more than 200 workers in high-demand trades, including welding, steamfitter-pipefitting, instrumentation, and ironworking, according to a government-issued release.

Joseph Schow, Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration, said that helping more Albertans move efficiently through certification will strengthen labour supply, support employers in upgrading their skills while they’re still working, and keep projects moving.

The training will be delivered using established eligibility criteria under Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training’s Trades Qualifier Program and will maintain existing skilled trade certification standards. 

The system will analyze what learners already know and focus on what they still need. It adjusts the learning path so they can progress faster without missing any required content, according to the release.

“This pilot does not create a new certification system, nor does it change Alberta’s existing certification or Red Seal standards,” Schow said.

“This initiative is about strengthening the path to certification while maintaining the high standards Alberta is known for and the impact of that approach will extend well beyond this initial pilot.”

Candidly, Curtis Haugan, labour relations specialist with CLAC, called the announcement extremely exciting.

“What we’re doing, with this adaptive technology, it has literally never been done before ever,” he said.

“Our members are skilled, committed, and ready to be part of the solution to Canada’s growing skills trade shortage, but way too often they face barriers that slow that progression.”

This initiative is about breaking those barriers down with strong collaboration between industry and government, according to Haugan.

“This approach will deliver real and measurable impact in the near term and help relieve the pressure that we’re facing not only here at CLAC in our membership, but the wider Canadian workforce as well,” he said.

Specifically, Haugan imagined the program helping a working mother who’s a carpenter earning a top wage.

“She’d have to take that time away from that job and responsibilities, as well as take a pay cut to go to school, so economically there are just simply barriers, the same way that anyone who has to go to school has to come up with their tuition and take that time and dedicate it,” he said.

“The same is true for our tradespeople, but we don’t think there should be a barrier for people who have already attained a journeyperson trade to upskilling.” 

Currently, CLAC is building the courses offered. Haugan said the programming will be marketed across the board, including to tradespeople outside of the association.

“It’s available for anybody, whether you’re a CLAC union, whether you’re another union, or whether you’re not union. If you’re a construction worker in Alberta, you’ll have access to this,” and so that threshold is a goal that we think is achievable, attainable, and I think it’s going to make an impact,” he said.

Solidifying Alberta as a high-end working province

Myles McDougall, Minister of Advanced Education, said that this announcement will reinforce Alberta’s place as a top-tier province to work in today, while also securing that spot for the future.

“Alberta’s apprenticeship and certification system is already one of the province’s greatest strengths; this pilot builds on that foundation by enhancing advanced education’s well-respected trades qualified program,” he said.

“We are ensuring that experienced tradespeople can earn certification faster without compromising standards.”

Bill Black, President and CEO of the Calgary Construction Association, previously said that from his point of view, skilled trades workers will become continue to be in high demand in Calgary.

“I think that 10 years from now, we’re going to be in an even more stressful situation because of retirements,” Black said.

“The volume of retirements that is going to start coming into play here over the next five years and beyond is likely to mean that the workforce challenge could actually get worse before it gets better.”

According to McDougall, the provincial government is committed to strengthening post-secondary education and skills training to meet the demands of an ever-growing economy.

“We know Alberta’s publicly funded post-secondary education system is critical to the province’s economic future, and we are serious about that responsibility,” he said.

“To make sure we are successful, our government will continue to seek opportunities to partner with industry, employers and post-secondary institutions to improve alignment between educational outcomes and labor market needs.”

No matter how you enter the industry, furthering your knowledge is never a bad thing, Black said. Opportunities like the new pilot project can help with that.

“Success should be finding meaningful employment that gets you out of bed in the morning, allows you the opportunity to earn well, potentially start your own business and grow,” he said.

“How you start is not necessarily where you’ll end up, and the portability between the different career possibilities and roles, that’s what we hope people start to see, making real-life decisions, learning teamwork, learning leadership skills are all the things that make you a better individual, not just a better tradesperson.”