In every conversation I have with employers – from mining and construction to energy and manufacturing – the message is consistent: We need more skilled workers, and we need them faster.
Across Canada, hundreds of thousands of tradespeople will retire by 2028. Employers are sounding the alarm. Here in Saskatchewan, we’ll need thousands of new apprentices and journeypersons just to maintain momentum, let alone deliver the ambitious nation-building the federal government envisions. Canada helps feed the world, powers global industries and anchors the future of energy and mining. But even the strongest engines sputter if they run out of fuel – and right now, our labour force is running dangerously low.
Robust apprenticeships are the immediate answer. For years, pundits framed polytechnics as one option among many to address our skilled labour crisis, but as labour needs accelerate, it’s clear that polytechnics are the model best suited for apprenticeship training – structurally, pedagogically and operationally.
Polytechnics know how to prepare learners to succeed on day one of a job site, support employers with mentoring and supervision, tie practical experience back to competency-based assessment and ensure workplace learning is structured, monitored and of high quality. Workplace integrated learning (WIL) isn’t an add-on – it’s a defining feature. It’s time for Canadian leaders to lean into our polytechnics as the obvious solution. Every year, polytechnics graduate large cohorts in high-demand trades – electricians, HVAC technicians, welders and other critical construction and mechanical trades. Yet we remain an overlooked resource.
Globally, apprenticeship systems are modernizing. The U.K. is shortening minimum durations and allowing more flexible, competency‑based training, while the U.S. is expanding apprenticeships into clean energy, IT, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing. These are signals that applying the polytechnic apprenticeship model of training to 21st-century professions is both smart and timely.
Apprenticeships require four things, and in Canada, only polytechnics deliver all four. We need to harness this strength, and now.
First, apprenticeships depend on consistent, accredited technical training tied to national and provincial standards. No individual employer can provide that. It requires curriculum oversight, quality assurance and regulated assessment. Saskatchewan Polytechnic, for example, delivers training for more than 20 trades across multiple communities in partnership with the provincial apprenticeship authority.
Skilled trades are the backbone of our economy. The institutions that train them are the backbone of the apprenticeship system itself.
Second, apprenticeships require broad-based learning. Workplaces are essential partners, but no employer can expose apprentices to the full range of equipment, technologies, safety scenarios and practical skills they must master. Polytechnics invest in welding labs, simulation suites, virtual mine environments, robotics facilities and technology‑rich workshops – spaces that turn “job experience” into “trade readiness.” Skills training must also include business skills such as financial literacy and marketing – vital for apprentices who will one day hang their proverbial shingles in communities across the country.
Third is alignment with industry – at scale. Industry partnerships are critical. Program advisory committees, applied research collaborations, co‑developed curriculum and constant employer feedback keep training current, tied to real-world needs and at a scale that union training centres can’t match.
Finally, WIL by design is essential, including teaching models that connect classroom learning, lab practice and real-world application. Learning should flow seamlessly between campus and workplace, exactly what today’s apprenticeship landscape demands.
Polytechnics combine the strengths of employer‑led training, union support and private‑sector flexibility without the limitations of any one model. They bring rigour where workplaces cannot, and scale where unions fall short. And because they serve entire regions, apprenticeships don’t rise and fall with individual employers or sectors. If Canada wants a modern, productive apprenticeship system capable of producing the skilled tradespeople this critical economic moment demands, it must recognize and invest in the institutions built for the job and, indeed, already doing the work.
Skilled trades are the backbone of our economy. The institutions that train them are the backbone of the apprenticeship system itself. If Canada wants to build homes, expand energy production, modernize infrastructure and fuel economic growth, we don’t need to reinvent apprenticeship training; we simply need to invest in the institutions that already deliver it best.
