The Ontario government has announced it will wind down the Ontario College of Trades (OCOT), an institution it describes as “a source of unnecessary and burdensome complexity for skilled trades employment in the province.”
The fate of the college, as well as planned minimum-wage hikes and other employee benefits, will be sealed with the passing of the Conservative Party’s “Making Ontario Open for Business Act.”
The government announced today it will wind OCOT down next year. A new body will be created to deal with some of what the college handled, while other functions will return to the provincial Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities (MCTU).
Further details have not been released.
According to a press release, “The Making Ontario Open for Business Act, if passed, will also address the backlog in Ontario’s skilled trades by replacing Ontario’s outdated model with a one-to-one journeyperson-to-apprentice ratio for every trade for which ratios apply, thereby better aligning Ontario with other provinces and territories.”
OCOT was established in 2009 as a means to administer skilled trade apprentices, enforce licensing requirements, and protect the public from poor workmanship.
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