Article content continued

Employers can receive grants up to $3,000 per placement or up to $5,000 for a participant with disabilities. McNaughton didn’t disclose the hourly wages for students saying it will depend on the type of placement.

The deadline for employer applications is Feb. 25 with the successful applicants announced by March 31.

More than 1,000 students participated in the first round of the Career Ready Fund’s Auto Stream opportunities through Toyota, Honda, Ford, FCA, the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association and the Canadian Tooling and Machining Association. The province invested $5 million for the first phase of the program.

“The core of any manufacturing operation is the skilled workforce,” said Tim Galbraith, sales manager of Cavalier Tool. “We are all aware of the current skilled trade shortages and the demographic reality that it will get worse.

“Access to, and funding of, the resources required to bolster the numbers of trades is imperative if Ontario is to maintain its leadership role as the manufacturing heart of Canada.”

McNaughton said more than 100,000 people are directly employed in the auto assembly and parts industry producing thousands more spinoff jobs. The automotive industry represents two per cent of Ontario’s GDP or almost $14 billion annually.

“It’s my mission to shatter the stigma around skilled trade because our economy relies on skilled trades,” McNaughton said.

“On any given day in the Windsor area there are 9,600 vacant jobs. These are pay cheques waiting to be collected.”