Helping more students enter skilled trades

McGuinty Government says record numbers are participating in the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program.

Full details contained in the media release below.

********************

The Ontario government is helping record numbers of high school students start their formal skilled trades training while still in high school, Nipissing MPP Monique Smith announced today.

“The McGuinty government is on the side of Ontario families who want their sons and daughters to find opportunity,” said Smith. “That’s why we’re helping high school students in Nipissing who want a career in the skilled trades get started on their apprenticeships.”

Offered through Ontario’s secondary school system, the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program provides cooperative education and workplace-based experiences in the skilled trades to high school students.

A record 24,000 students across Ontario are expected to take part in the program in 2006-07. This is almost double the 12,700 participants in 2002-03. More than 19,000 employers participated last year.

Details of local funding are as follows:

Near North District School Board
$89,730

Nipissing Parry Sound Catholic District School Board
$87,144
Conseil scolaire catholique Franco-Nord
$90,760

Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l'Ontario
$86,561
Total $354,195

As more students go into the program, the government is getting closer to meeting its commitment to raise the number of annual apprenticeship registrations to 26,000 annually in 2007-08.

The government is also working on other initiatives to provide opportunities for Ontarians, including:

• Investing $6.2 billion more in postsecondary education and training by 2009-10 – the most significant multi-year investment in Ontario’s higher education system in 40 years
• Investing $127 million this year in Employment Ontario’s Job Connect services to link employers with both youth and adults, including three new centres with a special focus on helping newcomers.

“Investing in apprenticeship benefits everyone,” said Smith. “Through the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, we’re working to make sure Ontario’s apprenticeship system provides Ontario with the skilled workforce needed to compete in today’s economy.”

For more information about the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, contact Employment Ontario, online at www.ontario.ca/employmentontario, or by calling 1-800-387-5656.

********************