Sunday, August 23, 2026

Training Can’t Wait: CLAC and Mohawk College Partner to Tackle Apprenticeship Backlogs

By Ian DeWaard, Manitoba and Ontario Director

Imagine being an apprentice electrician or plumber who is ready for your next level of in-class training, only to learn you could be waiting 24 to 36 months for a seat.

That kind of delay doesn’t just hold back an apprentice. It delays their progression toward becoming a journeyperson, makes workforce planning harder for contractors, and ultimately constrains the supply of skilled workers needed to build Ontario.

CLAC and Mohawk College are working to change that.

This summer, CLAC and the Hamilton-area community college signed a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) creating a strategic partnership to expand skilled trades training capacity, accelerate apprenticeship pathways, and better align training with the needs of workers and industry.

The centrepiece of the partnership is an ambitious plan to establish a new trades campus at CLAC’s Member Centre in Grimsby. The parties are exploring the development of classroom and lab space on available CLAC land, located a short distance from Mohawk’s Stoney Creek Campus for Skilled Trades. The goal is to increase in-class training capacity in the high-demand Red Seal trades: electrical, plumbing, welding, and carpentry.

We will look beyond simply adding more classroom seats. CLAC and Mohawk will explore accelerated, hybrid, and modular training models that can provide apprentices with more flexible pathways through their education. The organizations will look at how to incorporate emerging technologies, including virtual and augmented reality, into trades training.

The partnership also looks toward the future of the trades. CLAC and Mohawk will explore programming and micro-credentials for green and emerging trades, along with opportunities for journeyperson upgrading, safety education, upskilling, and continuous professional development. We will together pursue appropriate provincial and federal funding opportunities to support workforce development, facilities, equipment, and technology.

CLAC is grateful to Mohawk because we are committed to the community colleges that are so important to trade training in this province. Mohawk brings deep expertise in apprenticeship delivery, skilled trades education, curriculum, credentialing, and academic quality.

For its part, CLAC brings its connection to thousands of tradespeople and contractors, industry knowledge, training expertise, specialized equipment, and its Grimsby facilities. CLAC represents more than 9,000 members working in Ontario’s construction industry. For us, this partnership will address the practical issues that our members experience firsthand and bring concrete solutions.

Under the MOU, the strengths of both organizations will combine to expand training access and reduce barriers to apprenticeship completion.

This partnership is important because training works best when it reflects what apprentices encounter on actual construction sites and responds to the skills employers need.

A joint steering committee comprised of representatives from Mohawk and CLAC will help guide that work. Together, our organizations will use labour market information and employer engagement to identify emerging skills gaps and develop targeted, industry-informed programming.

Ontario’s skilled trades challenge will not be solved simply by encouraging more people to register as apprentices. We also need the infrastructure and training capacity to help those apprentices complete their programs and reach their full potential. As I stated at the MOU signing, this is “more than a conversation about the skilled trades shortage, it is a practical solution.”

There is significant work ahead to turn the vision into new classrooms, labs, training opportunities, and ultimately more journeypersons. But the direction is clear. By combining Mohawk’s educational expertise with CLAC’s facilities, industry relationships, and direct connection to workers, we have an opportunity to make apprenticeship training more responsive, accessible, and timely.

Our members are ready to learn. Our contractors need skilled people. Ontario is ready to build. Training shouldn’t be what keeps them waiting.

Training Can’t Wait: CLAC and Mohawk College Partner to Tackle Apprenticeship Backlogs

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