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By Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development
The Ontario government says it will soon introduce a series of proposed changes to protect workers, including cutting red tape to accelerate the construction of Skills Development Fund (SDF) training centres. The proposed legislative and regulatory amendments would exempt training centres supported by the SDF Capital Stream from certain permit and approval requirements that can slow down construction and impede Ontario’s ability to quickly build essential training facilities. By exempting these projects from certain items related to the land use planning system, while maintaining health and safety focused permits and approvals such as those under the Ontario Building Code and the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, training partners will be able to get these centres built and start training workers faster.
Other proposed changes to support workers include:
- Requiring job posting platforms to have mechanisms to report fraudulent job advertisements to ensure workers are not exploited throughout their pursuit of work;
- Keeping workers on the job by eliminating unnecessary barriers for construction projects required to implement Chief Prevention Officer (CPO)-accredited health and safety management systems as part of the procurement process;
- Allowing Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (ONIP) employer applicants to submit their applications directly and electronically to the new ONIP employer portal that will launch in summer 2025.
The proposal is part of a larger proposed package that will expand on actions across six previous Working for Workers Acts since 2021 and which will be unveiled in the coming days. These will be funded through the Skills Development Fund Training Stream providing training and support centres and Employment Ontario supported through labour market transfer agreements between the government of Canada and the government of Ontario and the Skills Development Fund Capital Stream funded exclusively by the government of Ontario. The new SEED pathway of the Capital Stream will funding the development of capital plans for training facilities while the already-established GROW pathway wukk continues to support projects to build, upgrade and expand new training infrastructure. The Skills Development Fund Capital Stream is currently accepting applications to help build new training centres and renovate existing ones.