Recruiters working to bringing next wave of trades workers at Skills Canada Provincial Competition

Hundreds of students put their talents to the test in Regina, from welding and carpentry to cooking and photography. Damian Smith has the story.

The future of the trades gathered across a variety of Regina locations, as well as Moose Jaw Saskatchewan Polytechnic for the provincial skilled trades and technology competition on Friday.

“The trades are a hands-on activity, and kids need to do it hands on,” said Mike Partington, the Indigenous trades coordinator with The Educational Partnership Foundation (TEPF). “They need to be able to try it while they’re in school, they need to put their hands on materials.”

“Our children are taught by people who’ve gone to university, and they’ve lived a more sedentary lifestyle than some kids have,” said Barb Simic, the CEO of TEPF. “But now having to be able to work with school districts who are willing to think outside the box and offer opportunities in school but also outside of the classroom at a training center or on a job site, we’re starting to see it come back.”

Grade 11 students competing in heavy duty mechanics from Melville and Yorkton say that fellow classmates still have a desire for the trades.

“There’s a good handful of people that really want to be welders and mechanics, welders or just even millwright people,” said Dylan de Vries, a Grade 11 student from Yorkton.

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“At our school, we have welding and construction and mechanics and machining,” said Allyse Carlson, a Grade 11 student from Melville. “It definitely helps get people interested in it.”

However, getting high school students straight into the trades hasn’t been so easy for recruiters.

According to TEPF, people working in the trades are retiring three times more than those entering it across Canada.

They also say Canada will be down 15,000 apprenticeship roles within the next 15 years. Leaders in trades programs are working on bringing down the median age.

“For folks that are going back to a Polytechnic, they’re typically going to a university setting first and not getting into the polytechnic until age 26,” said Krystal Nieckar, the executive director of Skills Canada Saskatchewan. “To go through a full apprenticeship and become a skilled trades person, that’s like a four year journey.”

According to TEPF, popular trades in 2026 are carpentry, automotive mechanics and welding

Meanwhile, the ones that are harder to recruit are painting, insulation, and bricklaying.

“I tell kids to watch the Los Angeles fires, the Jasper fires, Fort McMurray fires, what’s left at the end?” said Partington. “Chimneys and things are made out of brick. We learned this when we were six years old in ‘Three Little Pigs’, we should be making more buildings out of brick.”

Gold medal winners at the provincial level advance to the Skills Canada national competition on May 28 in Toronto.