As part of its Jobs and Recovery Plans for the Ontario economy, on May 22, the Hon. Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training, and Skills Development announced that the Loans for Tools program will be transitioned and replaced with the Ontario Tools Grant program.
The “Ontario Tools Grant” will provide $2.5 million in 2020/2021 and $7.5 million in 2021/2022 and beyond. This is part of the ongoing economic recovery effort and the goal is to help apprentices and businesses impacted by COVID-19.
The Tools Grant program is targeted to help new eligible apprentices purchase equipment. The funds will be distributed as follows:
- $1,000 for those in motive power sector trades;
- $600 for those in construction and industrial sector trades;
- $400 for those in service sector trades.
To be eligible for the new grant, apprentices must have:
- completed level 1 training on or after April 1, 2020;
- an active registered training agreement; and
- been registered as an apprentice for at least 12 months.
Full details of Friday’s announcement can be found here.
This new program will replace the existing Loans for Tools program. The existing loans in that program will be forgiven and those currently involved with this program will receive information regarding these changes in the coming weeks.