On July 31st 2024, The Ontario government announced that they were investing over $500,000 through the Skills Development Fund (SDF) Training Stream in two projects in Brampton which will provide free training to more than 1,200 internationally trained jobseekers. The Brampton Board of Trade is thrilled about the potential opportunities this investment can create for economic development in the City of Brampton.
The projects will help tackle the province’s labour shortage and match Ontario workers with high-paying local jobs. Funding is going to Sri Guru Nanak Sikh Centre, which will receive $350,000 to provide job-ready training to internationally trained newcomers, and Dynacare Gamma Laboratory Partnership, a proud member of the Brampton Board of Trade, which will receive $200,500 to provide training to students to become medical laboratory technologists in the healthcare industry and support the critical need for more health system capacity.
The Brampton Board of Trade is particularly excited about this investment as it aligns with one of our major advocacy goals: addressing access to labour. This issue has been identified as a top business concern by our membership. By providing training and connecting internationally trained jobseekers with local employers, these projects directly address this critical need and support our efforts to foster economic growth and development in Brampton.
Although the Canadian labour market is growing rapidly and participation rates have reached record highs among some groups, labour shortages remain a pressing issue. In June, Ontario saw a small increase in employment with 9,800 more jobs. Employment in both the goods-producing sector and the services-producing sector saw marginal gains, with the former adding 400 jobs (0.0% increase) and the latter adding 9,500 jobs (0.1% increase). The increase in jobs indicates a strong demand for workers.
Immigration has been the primary driver of population and labour force growth, with immigrants accounting for 84 percent of labour force growth in the 2010s, according to a 2022 Statscan report. The federal government aims to increase the intake of permanent residents to 500,000 annually by 2025, with over 60 percent entering through economic programs. We are happy to see the Ontario government is taking seriously the issue of access to labour. The Brampton Board of Trade believes that immigration is essential to meeting labour shortage challenges and encourages the federal government to continue collaborating with subnational governments, postsecondary institutions, and industry to meet this problem head on.
Applications are open for the government’s fifth round of SDF, which opened on July 29th, 2024, with up to $260 million in available funding, the largest funding round since the Fund launched in 2021.
Since its launch, the SDF Training Stream has supported nearly 600,000 people in training for high-demand jobs, including over 92,000 manufacturing workers, more than 60,000 construction workers, and over 36,000 personal support workers and healthcare workers. In the Toronto Economic Region, which includes Brampton, nearly 106,000 jobs were unfilled in the first quarter of 2024, while the province-wide figure stood at approximately 195,000 in May.
Those interested in participating in the newly announced programs should contact the lead organizations directly. Eligible organizations, including non-profits, Indigenous Skills and Employment Training agreement holders, unions, industry and employer associations, municipalities, and other entities, can submit innovative project proposals for funding through Transfer Payment Ontario, with inquiries directed to skillsdevelopmentfund@ontario.ca.
