Workers whose jobs have been directly or indirectly impacted by global tariffs will receive support to help them adapt, retrain, and succeed, through a joint tariff-response initiative announced today by the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, and the Honourable David Piccini, Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
Specifically, the Canada–Ontario Workforce Tariff Response will deliver $228.8 million over three years, through the Canada–Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA), to support workers in the softwood lumber, steel and automotive sectors, as well as other directly and indirectly tariff-affected industries. This new funding will help approximately 27,000 workers in Ontario build new skills and seize emerging opportunities.
Canada–Ontario Workforce Tariff Response supports will be delivered through Ontario’s established network of training programs and employment services, as well as through Skills Advance Ontario (SAO), a tariff response initiative designed for employers, workers, and jobseekers, including:
• unemployed workers seeking to gain new skills for in-demand jobs;
• workers whose employers are participating in Work-Sharing agreements, so that they may upskill or retrain as these industries adapt; and,
• employed workers seeking new skills to improve their resiliency within companies directly affected by tariffs and global market shifts or their supply chains, or within communities that rely heavily on those companies, such as single-industry communities.