Sunday, June 7, 2026
ADVT 
National

Poilievre outlines plan to boost apprenticeships, training for trades workers

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 21 Mar, 2025 02:14 PM
  • Poilievre outlines plan to boost apprenticeships, training for trades workers

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced a plan Friday to boost training and employment for workers in the skilled trades.

Speaking at a news conference in Ottawa Friday morning, Poilievre said his plan for "more boots, less suits" will expand training halls and provide direct grants and faster access to employment insurance for apprentices in licensed trades.

Poilievre said the goal is to deliver higher paycheques to workers and make Canada less reliant on the U.S. economy.

The plan would see the federal government offer apprenticeship grants of up to $4,000, fund training halls for skills development for up to 350,000 workers over five years, and work with provinces to harmonize health and safety regulations to allow tradespeople to work anywhere in Canada.

"The people who build the homes are not able to buy them," Poilievre said in front of an audience of local construction union members.

"The choice is the next election is very clear."

Prime Minister Mark Carney is widely expected to call an election on Sunday, sending Canadians to the polls as early as April 28.

Poilievre spent much of his news conference talking about how he is different from Carney and claiming the prime minister wouldn't be able to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump as well as he could.

"That's why common sense Conservatives will always stand with our employers and our unions right across the country to unleash the great Canadian promise," he said.

"Canada first."

MORE National ARTICLES

Housing targets on track for Vancouver

Housing targets on track for Vancouver
The City of Vancouver says it is on track to meet provincial targets in housing development in its latest progress report. Vancouver's first annual report on the targets showed that more than four-thousand units were built in the city from October 2023 to September 2024.

Housing targets on track for Vancouver

Dozens of criminal charges laid against 3 people in an alleged fraudulent bank-draft scheme

Dozens of criminal charges laid against 3 people in an alleged fraudulent bank-draft scheme
Dozens of criminal charges have been laid against three people in an alleged fraudulent bank-draft scheme that targeted vehicle businesses for what police say was about 850-thousand dollars in losses. R-C-M-P in Richmond say their officers began an investigation in January over allegations that forged bank drafts were used to purchase high-end vehicles, including B-M-W's, Mercedes-Benz and others valued at between 33-thousand and 103-thousand dollars.

Dozens of criminal charges laid against 3 people in an alleged fraudulent bank-draft scheme

4 arrested in drug trafficking investigation

4 arrested in drug trafficking investigation
Mounties in Burnaby say four people have been arrested and large amounts of drugs and cash have been seized following a four-month interprovincial drug trafficking investigation. They say officers executed two search warrants on properties in Coquitlam and Surrey and seized more than 95-hundred Hydromorphone pills believed to be diverted prescription pills, as well as other substances including more than a kilogram of suspected cocaine.

4 arrested in drug trafficking investigation

Freeland finds safety in numbers on digital sales tax

Freeland finds safety in numbers on digital sales tax
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland isn’t showing signs of worry that the U.S. can now launch a trade challenge against the Liberal government's controversial digital services tax. The Liberals are slapping a three-per-cent tax on the Canadian revenues of digital giants, which will affect major U.S. tech companies such as Google and Apple.

Freeland finds safety in numbers on digital sales tax

Lab confirms Canada's first case of avian flu infection in humans in B.C.

Lab confirms Canada's first case of avian flu infection in humans in B.C.
Canada's Public Health Agency has confirmed that a British Columbia teenager hospitalized last Friday is the country's first ever human case of domestically acquired avian flu. The agency said in a statement Wednesday that testing at Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg confirms the teen did contract the H5N1 avian flu, the same strain related to viruses found in B.C. flocks in an ongoing outbreak at poultry farms.

Lab confirms Canada's first case of avian flu infection in humans in B.C.

Tributes to John Horgan as B.C. New Democrat members are sworn in

Tributes to John Horgan as B.C. New Democrat members are sworn in
Former British Columbia premier John Horgan loomed large over the swearing-in ceremony Wednesday for 47 New Democrat members of the legislature, a day after his death. Dick said Horgan was a "friend of the people," while Legislature Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd paid tribute to Horgan for his service to the people of B.C.

Tributes to John Horgan as B.C. New Democrat members are sworn in