Niagara College gets funding to provide free training to future drywallers and roofers

Labour, Training and Skills Development Minister Monte McNaughton, at Niagara Colleges’s school of trades, after announcing $1.2 million toward training roofers and drywall installers. Eighty individuals will benefit from free training. BOB TYMCZYSZYN / TORSTAR

Kris Dubé
Courtesy of Welland Tribune

A funding announcement made Tuesday by the provincial government is meant to address a shortage of skilled tradespeople in Niagara.

At Niagara College’s Welland campus, Labour, Training and Skills Development Minister Monte McNaughton pledged more than $1.2 million in training for unemployed or underemployed people in the region.

In partnership with the college and Niagara Homebuilders Association, 80 individuals will be afforded the opportunity to get skills they need for well-paying jobs as roofers and drywall installers, leading to job placements with local employers building homes in Niagara.

“We’re giving them and their families a hand up, while growing our local economy, too,” McNaughton said.

In Ontario, there are 300,000 “unfilled” jobs in trades, as the province faces a “once-in-a-generation labour shortage,” he said.

For eight weeks, participants will take courses in Niaagara College’s school of trades on health and safety, tools and techniques, and other skills specific to their trade, which both pay $27 an hour on average.

Each participant will get a hard hat, steel-toed safety boots, safety glasses and professional-grade tools, all of which they get to keep.

Courses will be followed by a six-week paid job placement.

Read More