Provincial apprenticeship enrolment down, construction association says training changes to blame

Manitoba’s construction sector says changes need to be made to how tradespeople are trained to address a worker shortage. CTV’s Daniel Halmarson explains.

Manitoba’s construction industry says changes to the way tradespeople are trained in the province may be to blame for a recent dip in apprenticeship numbers.

According to provincial data, there were 2,730 new apprentice registrations during the 2024-25 fiscal year. That’s a drop from 3,128 registrations during the previous fiscal year.

The data shows the number of active apprentices also dropped by 250 during the same period.

“Manitoba is entering into a phase of a large amount of construction, and we need a workforce that is able to deliver that construction. This is a step backwards,” said Darryl Harrison, Winnipeg Construction Association’s (WCA) director of stakeholder engagement.

The WCA said the decline started after the NDP government introduced a 1-to-1 apprenticeship ratio in October 2024.

The ratio means a certified journeyperson can only train or supervise one apprentice at a time—a move the NDP said creates safer working conditions.

“There’s no link between an apprenticeship ratio and the safety of the worker,” Harrison said. “In Canada, almost every other province has at least a 2-to-1 ratio… and nobody would ever say it’s less safe to work in those other provinces.”

The WCA, along with the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba, want the province to revert to a 2-to-1 ratio implemented by the former PC government in 2020 to boost the number of skilled workers.

However, Tanya Palson, the executive director of Manitoba Building Trades, says the focus should be on skilled workers getting their Red Seal certification.

“The career is not to be an apprentice. The goal of our industry should not be to have as many apprentices as possible on-site,” Palson told CTV News. “The reality is we’re getting less than half of the people through to complete their Red Seal and become a journeyperson.”

Palson said apprentice registration numbers vary year-to-year and she’s adamant the 1-to-1 ratio is working as intended.

“It’s about quality, it’s about safety, and it’s about a sort of respect for the skill of the trade,” Palson said. “We have really high completion rates within our union halls and we’ve been working under that 1-to-1 ratio in most cases.”

The construction sector’s call for a shift back to a 2-to-1 ratio came up in question period at the Manitoba legislature on Tuesday. Trade and Job Creation Minister Jamie Moses defended the 1-to-1 ratio.

“Our job is to make sure we grow our economy with good, high-quality skilled workers and make sure that when they get on the job site to learn, they learn to do so safely,” Moses said.