The Canada Training Benefit: Empowering Canada’s workforce to adapt and prepare for the jobs of tomorrow

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

News release

New benefit will give workers time and money to keep their skills up to date and in demand

May 16, 2019              Toronto, Ontario              Employment and Social Development Canada

The nature of work is changing. To keep our economy strong and growing, Canadians will need the right skills to take on the jobs of tomorrow. The new Canada Training Benefit will give Canadians the support and security they need to advance their careers.

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, was at George Brown College today to highlight the Canada Training Benefit, a new measure that would give Canadian workers a tax credit to help pay for training, provide income support during training, and offer job protection. The benefit would include:

  • a $250 per year, non-taxable Canada Training Credit, up to a lifetime limit of $5,000, to help eligible workers cover tuition and training-related costs;
  • a new Employment Insurance (EI) Training Support Benefit to provide income support when an individual requires time off work to train;
  • new leave provisions under the Canada Labour Code that would allow federally regulated workers to take time away from work to pursue training; and
  • an EI Premium Rebate for Small Businesses to help offset the upward pressure on EI premiums.

Over the spring, the Government will engage stakeholders, including provinces and territories, on the final design of the EI Training Support Benefit and associated leave provisions.

Quotes

“Canadians at all stages of their working lives should have the opportunity to learn new skills and build a better future for themselves and their families. The new Canada Training Benefit will help Canada’s workforce prepare for the jobs of tomorrow by giving them the time and money to develop their skills throughout their working lives.”
– The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour

“As we look to the future, with automation and new technologies on the rise, we know that the Canadian workforce will need to be more agile. The Canada Training Benefit will play a significant role in ensuring that workers in this country can keep their skills in demand.”
– The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations

Quick facts

  • The Government of Canada proposes to invest more than $1.7 billion over five years to establish the Canada Training Benefit and an additional $586 million per year.

  • The EI Premium Rebate for Small Businesses would be available to employers that pay employer EI premiums equal to or less than $20,000 per year to help offset a possible increase to the EI premium rate resulting from the new benefit.

  • The new EI Training Support benefit would give eligible workers up to four weeks of income support – paid at 55 per cent of their average weekly insurable earnings – to help cover the cost of living expenses like mortgage payments and bills while they are on training.

  • Approximately 600,000 Canadian workers are expected to claim the Canada Training Credit each year.

  • In 2018–19, Saskatchewan received over $76 million through the Labour Market Transfer Agreements.

Associated links

Contacts

Véronique Simard
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour
veronique.simard@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
819-654-5611


Media Relations Office
Employment and Social Development Canada
819-994-5559
media@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
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