Canada’s jobs minister says the federal government is working on agreements with every province and territory to fund retraining for unemployed workers impacted by U.S. tariffs, after announcing a $228.8-million infusion for Ontario on Tuesday.
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said the three-year agreement will help over 27,000 workers across Ontario, with a focus on industries that have been targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump, and comes on top of nearly $1 billion that Ottawa contributes annually to employment programs in the province.
“As of January this year, Ontario’s unemployment rate stood at 7.3 per cent, and this is a red flag,” Hajdu told reporters in Ottawa alongside her provincial counterpart David Piccini, Ontario’s minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development.
“This means that tariffs actually have caused labour market challenges, and in particular in the automotive, steel and softwood lumber sectors have really taken the largest hit.”
Statistics Canada data shows Ontario’s unemployment rate is down slightly from the month prior and from January 2025, before Trump began imposing tariffs on Canada and particular sectors like autos and steel.
The provincial rate is higher than the national rate of 6.5 per cent in January — itself down from 6.8 per cent the previous month — but lower than Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, which tops the list.
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Hajdu noted the agreement with Ontario comes days after a similar one was announced in British Columbia, where tariffs have hurt the already-struggling softwood lumber sector.
“Each province and territory is in the process of signing an agreement with Canada,” she said.
“Ultimately, I think it’s about ensuring that the money is going towards specifically tariff-affected workers in the most efficient way and making sure that we have good agreements around sharing data so that we can also learn from what we’re doing and make sure that what we’re doing is effective.”
The federal government in September committed an additional $450 million over three years to retrain and upskill up to 50,000 workers through provincial and territorial labour market development agreements.
The announcement was part of a suite of measures designed to respond to U.S. tariffs, including a $5-billion strategic response fund and a $50-million workforce innovation fund to help businesses retain their workforces.
The Ontario funding will be provided through the Canada–Ontario Workforce Tariff Response and the Canada–Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement, which supports free employment services and training programs for job-seekers.
Funds will also be distributed by Skills Advance Ontario to retrain unemployed workers for in-demand jobs, and for employed workers to gain new skills.
The government’s announcement said employment opportunities will be created through national initiatives like the Major Projects Office — which is currently considering two Ontario projects, including a new nuclear energy project — and the defence industrial strategy.
Hajdu was in B.C. last Friday to announce almost $71 million of joint retraining funding over three years through the new Canada-British Columbia Workforce Tariff Response.
She said then that “no worker will be left behind” as global trade evolves.
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