Backgrounder: Union Training and Innovation Program

The Union Training and Innovation Program (UTIP), launched in 2017, aims to support a skilled trades workforce that is skilled, inclusive, certified and productive. The UTIP also supports the work of the government’s Team Canada Strong initiative to recruit, train, and hire 80,000 to 100,000 Red Seal trades workers by 2030–31.

Funding provided through the UTIP supports apprenticeship training, innovation and enhanced partnerships in the Red Seal trades across Canada. Organizations can apply for support from three active funding opportunities:

1. Expanding Training Infrastructure - Helps unions and organizations managing training trust funds to expand access to training in Red Seal trades by enabling union-run training centres to renovate or expand existing facilities or build new training centres to increase training capacity across the country.

This funding opportunity supports:

• unions representing workers in the Red Seal trades; and
• organizations managing training trust funds for unions representing workers in the Red Seal trades.

2. Innovation – Attracts and recruits new pre-apprentices, supports apprentices in progressing toward certification, funds innovative approaches and partnerships to address apprenticeship challenges, and helps journeypersons to enhance their skills to train the next generation of tradespeople. This will help eligible organizations to deliver high-quality training, expand access to training, as well as create and strengthen pathways into skilled trades careers. It also supports the recruitment and retention of apprentices in Red Seal trades, including women, newcomers, persons with disabilities, Indigenous people, youth, members from the 2SLGBTQI+ communities, and racialized individuals, through activities such as mentorship, career services, and wraparound supports.

Organizations eligible for this funding opportunity must be in Canada, excluding Quebec, and one of the following:

• unions representing workers in Red Seal trades;
• organizations managing training trust funds for a union representing workers in the Red Seal trades (for example, a joint training fund set up by a union or by a union and an employer association);
• not-for-profit organizations;
• for-profit organizations (provided that the nature and intent of the activity is non-commercial, not intended to generate profit, and supports program priorities and objectives);
• municipal governments;
• Indigenous self-government entities, councils or organizations; and
• provincial and territorial governments, agencies, institutions, and Crown corporations.

3. Investments in Training Equipment – Helps unions and training providers acquire the modern equipment and materials needed to train workers in the Red Seal trades. The Government of Canada is temporarily increasing its maximum contribution rate for the purchase of training equipment from 50% to 70%. This will help eligible organizations manage rising costs of equipment and material while continuing to offer quality technical training.

This funding opportunity supports:

• unions representing workers in the Red Seal trades;
• organizations managing training trust funds for unions representing workers in the Red Seal trades (for example, a joint training fund set up by a union or by a union and an employer association); and
• training providers that provide technical training to pre-apprentices and apprentices as part of a recognized apprenticeship program for a Red Seal trade.

Since the start of the program in 2017, the Government of Canada has invested $340 million in grants and contributions funding under the UTIP and has supported close to 220,000 participants, including approximately 45,500 in 2025–26.

Quebec organizations are not eligible to apply for funding through the UTIP given that unions in the province are not directly involved in apprenticeship training. In Quebec, this training is solely undertaken in the public school system prior to an individual registering with an employer as an apprentice.

To account for specificities in its apprentice training system, the UTIP is implemented in Quebec through a separate agreement with the provincial government. Under the agreement, since 2018, Employment and Social Development Canada has been providing $83.8 million to the Government of Quebec to support the objectives of the UTIP.

UTIP will also complement ongoing Team Canada Strong initiatives:

• An Expression of Interest process for Team Canada Strong Youth Placements remains open until October 23, 2026. The program will connect young Canadians with paid job placements of up to four months to gain hands-on experience and explore careers in the skilled trades.
• Coming later this fall, the Red Seal Completion Bonus will provide a $5,000 payment to tradespeople who complete an apprenticeship and obtain certification in an eligible Red Seal trade designated in their province or territory. Tradespeople who earned their certification on or after April 1, 2025, will be eligible to apply once the Bonus launches.
• The Build Canada Apprenticeship Service will launch later this year to help connect first-year apprentices with jobs at small and medium-sized employers and provide navigation supports and services to help them progress through their apprenticeships. Employers that hire a first-year apprentice in an eligible Red Seal trade can receive up to $10,000 to support recruitment, retention and apprenticeship training.
• The Apprenticeship Training Grant is expected to launch in spring 2027, providing eligible apprentices who attend mandatory in-class technical training with a $400 weekly top-up in addition to Employment Insurance benefits. The grant will help reduce the financial pressures associated with attending technical training and support apprentices in completing their training and transitioning to permanent employment. The grant will apply to eligible weeks of technical training beginning on or after January 3, 2027.
• The Team Canada Strong Apprenticeship Continuation Support will provide income supports to apprentices who experience periods of unemployment between in-class training and on-the-job work placements. 
• As part of the Government of Canada's $8 billion Team Canada Strong investment, discussions are underway with provinces and territories on new bilateral agreements that would provide $2 billion in federal funding to expand access to pre-apprenticeship and technical training.