Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover visited Red River College today to launch the new Canada Apprentice Loan, which provides interest-free loans of up to $4,000 for apprentices in Red Seal trades.

Glover toured the College on behalf of Canada’s Employment Minister Jason Kenny. While here, she reiterated that enhanced support for apprentices and apprentice training are key to powering and growing the Canadian economy.

“Our government has recognized the important role that apprentices play in Canada’s economy and to this end has made significant investments to help apprentices and the employers that hire them,” Glover said. “Now, thanks to the Canada Apparentice Loan, more Canadians are able to complete their training and become skilled journeypeople and fill in-demand jobs.”

In addition to the Canada Apprentice Loan (a 2014 budget commitment that provides up to $4,000 per period of technical training), the government also supports apprentices through a number of other initiatives, including tax credits and nearly $700 million in grants since 2006.

It’s estimated at least 26,000 apprentices a year will apply for over $100 million in Canada Apprentice Loans. According to Statistics Canada, almost 360,000 people are currently enrolled in apprenticeship training; as RRC Interim President David Rew points out, the College is in a unique position to help meet the growing demand.

“In 2015, RRC and the Province of Manitoba will break ground on a new 100,000-sq. ft., state-of-the-art Skilled Trades and Technology Centre, as jobs in the skilled trades are in high demand and one of our strategic priorities is to fuel Manitoba’s economy,” said Rew.

“We applaud the Government of Canada on today’s announcement and their commitment to continue to provide additional opportunities that further support the work being done by Apprenticeship Manitoba and our industry partners to help our apprentices achieve success.”

(Above photo, from left: Mike Watson, Chair, Trades and Technology, RRC; Brian Gebhardt, RRC Masonry Instructor; Nancy Wheatley, Dean, School of Construction and Engineering Technology, RRC; David Rew, Interim RRC President and CEO; Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages; Guy Poirer, Program Coordinator, RRC; Christine Crowe, Interim Vice-President, Academic and Research, RRC)