Hunter Cresswell 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced $4.7 million in funding to enhance training for people working in the automotive sector.

“This investment will support a new job placement program led by the Auto Parts Manufacturers’ Association of Canada to provide people with hands-on training focused on manufacturing basics, health and safety, and other critical skills,” Ford said Wednesday at a press conference held in a Transform Automotive Canada plant in south-east London, Ont.

“The second project, led by the Automotive Industries Association of Canada, will provide workers with classrooms and in-shop training to get the skills they need to transition and launch their careers in the electric vehicle industry.”

Both programs are free for workers and funded through Ontario’s $700 million skills development fund.

Auto Parts Manufacturers’ Association of Canada president Flavio Volpe said this funding continues the “greatest investment run in automotive history in this province.”

“We’ve got to train people for these new kinds of technologies,” he said.

Automotive Industries Association of Canada also celebrated the new funding as vital to helping workers adapt to technological shifts.

“It’s ensuring that we continue to have in Ontario a vibrant manufacturing sector as well as having the people and skills needed to ensure that we will be able to continue to service, maintain, and report the vehicles of today and tomorrow,” said Jean-François Champagne, the group’s president.

Ford said his government is “putting Ontario’s auto sector back on the map,” pointing to investments in new technologies in the industry. He also said these investments were helping to build an “electric vehicle supply chain” in the province, which would connect “critical minerals in northern Ontario and clean steel makers in Hamilton and Sault-Sainte-Marie to automakers and battery and auto part manufacturers right across this province.”

“The future is electric and we’re leading the charge,” he added.

Ontario Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development Monte McNaughton framed the training funding as crucial to addressing Ontario’s “historic labour shortage” that threatens to “hold back” the province’s economy.

“Each of these unfilled jobs is a missed opportunity for someone to earn a paycheque and build a better life for themselves and their family,” he said.

“Good jobs are coming back to southwest Ontario and right across our province … If you’re willing to work, we need you.”

More information on the training programs are available at apma.ca/dei and ev-training.ca.

Both training programs are free for workers and funded through Ontario’s $700 million skills development fund.

Ford announces $4.7M for two automotive sector training programs

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