JANUARY 2016
H
business elite canada
3
By Jacquelin Bhandari
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I
n 1991, Statistics Canada recorded a total of 1,070,300 skilled
tradespersons in processing, manufacturing and utilities. The
number of employees in this group has decreased by the hun-
dreds of thousands every four years. And as Canada’s beloved baby
boomers reach retirement age, the labour gap in the industrial trades
sector will only continue to widen.
Many training programs in post-secondary institutions have begun
to answer the call to reverse the labour shortage among industrial
trades. The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices, bet-
ter known as the UA, has also played a large role in promoting train-
ing for technical trades through their constituents all over the United
States and Canada.
Enter the Technical Trades Academy, supported by UA Local 67 and
the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, and spearheaded
by appointed training co-ordinator Ian Harper.
Harper, who remains at the helm of the Technical Trades Academy,
