The skilled trades need an upgrade.

So said the provincial government in proposing major changes — contained in a labour reform bill introduced last week — that will reduce apprenticeship ratios, phase-out trades with low demand and begin the “orderly wind down” of the Ontario College of Trades, a regulatory body for the profession that was a first in North America.

Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Merrilee Fullerton said getting rid of the college of trades will reduce red tape and put Ontario in line with other provinces, and along with other moves that will help open up jobs and fix a “broken” system.

“One in five jobs in the next five years will be trades-related — but there’s a problem,” Fullerton said in announcing the changes last week. “Employers can’t find apprentices, and apprentices can’t find jobs.

“Yet despite this labour shortage there are those who want careers in the skilled trades who are actually forced to leave this province to find work. They deserve a shot at a job here in Ontario.”

She said Ontario’s apprenticeship ratios are “among the highest in the country and are a major deterrent for employers looking to hire apprentices.”

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The changes in Bill 47, the Making Ontario Open for Business Act, were lauded by a number of unions and associations, including Colleges Ontario, the Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance — representing companies that employ more than 400,000 trades workers — and the 15,000-member Power Workers’ Union.

Unifor and associations representing electrical workers, however, raised concerns about oversight and the need to maintain rigorous training and safety standards.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has warned 82 per cent of businesses can’t find workers with the appropriate qualifications because of a shortage and a mismatch between the skills workers have and those that employers need.

It’s estimated that 560,000 jobs could go unfilled by 2030 because of that gap, costing the economy tens of billions of dollars.

The province is proposing to lower apprenticeship ratios to a simple one-to-one, down from some as high as five journeymen for each, said Fullerton.

And she said the government “heard loud and clear from employers and tradespeople that the Ontario College of Trades is not delivering as it’s currently structured ... many of the roles and responsibilities are overly burdensome” — including how apprentices must be registered with both the ministry and the college of trades.

Linda Franklin, president of Colleges Ontario — which represents the province’s community colleges that help provide skilled trades education — said the system “is awash in red tape.

“We’re pleased the government is taking serious action to streamline and improve skills training.”

But Unifor’s Ontario branch warned that the college of trades is needed “to ensure high-quality workmanship.”

Unifor, which represents 315,000 workers including those at the Toronto Star, also said the reduced ratios are “dangerously high ... (and) would dramatically decrease the time spent receiving training and could lead to apprentices working alone without any support from a journeyperson.”

Associations representing electrical workers, including the Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario and the IBEW/Construction Council of Ontario, are urging the government to listen to those in the trades sector and keep training and safety standards high.

Fullerton said the current trade classification system is “complicated and outdated” and the government will put a moratorium on any new categories as it conducts a review and phases out 24 low-interest trades.

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Those could include wooden boat rebuilder/repairer, saddlery, pool and hot tub spa service technician and swine herdsperson.

The Ontario College of Trades was seen as a way to regulate and promote the trades, though critics said it was an unnecessary level of bureaucracy. The government is hoping to wind it down by 2019.

“Ontario is alone among all provinces in clinging to this model,” Fullerton also said. “The other provinces are doing just fine.”