Ontario Premier Doug Ford was recently in Hamilton to announce $70 million in support for workers amid ongoing U.S. tariffs.
The funds will specifically go towards expanding training and employment services.
A total of $20 million in funding will go towards the province’s Protect Ontario Workers Employment Response (POWER) Centres, which will reportedly “provide access to training, upskilling, and employment services to workers affected by, or at risk of, layoffs.”
Those centres will reportedly enhance existing action centres that are supported with funding from the provincial government.
The province says that the centres will expand on their partnerships with unions, community organizations, colleges, and universities to connect workers to training opportunities, jobs search assistance, and Employment Ontario programs.
They add that they will be able to launch the centres proactively before a layoff has occurred and will even have the added ability “to respond within 24 hours.”
“Ontario has the best workers in the world. When their livelihoods are threatened by decisions in Washington, we won’t leave them behind,” said Ford.
“By investing $70 million in new training and rapid-response centres, we’re making sure that workers can retrain fast, land good-paying jobs and get back to work building a stronger, more resilient Ontario that can stand up to anything that comes our way.”
The other $50 million will go towards Better Jobs Ontario to “help more job seekers quickly train and upskill for in-demand, good-paying careers.”
Through Better Jobs Ontario, job seekers, including youth and those on social assistance, will be provided with up to $35,000 for costs such as tuition, transportation and childcare to help them receive training for in-demand jobs.
Nearly 16,000 job seekers have already received training through Better Jobs Ontario since January 2021, with access available through Employment Ontario service providers.
Individuals can apply for up to $28,000 for training that is one year or less and up to $35,000 in funding for training that is longer than one year and up to a maximum of two years.
There have also been 10 Action Centres operational across Ontario this past year which have helped almost 15,000 workers. The province will be expanding those existing services.
Ford added remarks at a press conference, saying that he “won’t spare a penny to protect the frontline hardworking people of this province, protect their communities, protect the companies they work for, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure not only do we protect their jobs, but look at future jobs as well.”
“We need to cut the red tape and lower the cost of doing business so we can attract new investments, create jobs, and withstand whatever comes our way, not just from President Trump, but from any challenge we face for decades to come,” he added.
“You know, I can sit here and hammer the you know what out of Trump all day long and that’s pretty easy to do. But let’s start looking internally at what we can do. How can we make ourselves more competitive? How can we create an environment and the conditions to attract new investments from around the world and companies here?”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
