This amendment restructures the Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act by introducing a new category called “fully‑regulated trades” and by folding that category together with existing “designated trades” into a broader class labeled “regulated trades.” The bill updates core definitions, renames administrative offices, and adds trade unions to the list of entities the Minister may engage for classroom and industry training.
Those structural edits change how the Board, the Administrator and the Minister identify which tasks are restricted, who may perform them, and who advises the Board. For employers, training providers, and apprentices the bill shifts the locus of decision‑making toward more prescriptive regulation and formalized stakeholder representation — potentially tightening access to certain activities while expanding formal roles for unions and apprentices in governance.
At a Glance
What It Does
It inserts a new statutory category — “fully‑regulated trades” — and defines “regulated trade” to include both designated and fully‑regulated trades. The bill broadens the definition of “activity” for fully‑regulated trades to include prescribed tasks and moves multiple references from “designated” to “regulated” throughout the Act.
Who It Affects
This targets tradespeople and apprentices in common skilled trades, trade unions, employers in regulated trades, post‑secondary and other training providers, and the Board and Administrator responsible for certification and enforcement.
Why It Matters
The change makes the statute more prescriptive about which trades and which tasks are controlled by regulation, elevates unions into the training ecosystem, and imposes new governance requirements on the Board that will alter how standards and restricted activities are set.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill rewrites key definitions at the front of the Act. It expands “activity” to cover not just Board‑recognized tasks for designated trades but also tasks that can be prescribed by regulation for newly created fully‑regulated trades.
It then replaces the old, narrower language (“designated trade”) with the broader term “regulated trade,” so legislative references throughout the Act now encompass two classes of trades.
A new pair of sections inserts a prescriptive list of trades identified as fully‑regulated. The statute also spells out who may legally perform activities in a fully‑regulated trade: holders of trade certificates and apprentices under approved apprenticeship agreements.
The amendment adds a definition of “trade union” tied to the Labour Relations Code and explicitly permits the Minister to engage trade unions, alongside post‑secondary institutions and other entities, to deliver classroom and industry training.Governance changes require the Board to create a standing advisory committee with equal representation from employers and workers in regulated trades; at least one worker member must be a certificated journeyperson and at least one must be a final‑year apprentice (with a fallback if an apprentice candidate is unavailable). The Board must consult that committee before advising the Minister on designation or restricted activities and before issuing orders that specify undertakings and standards.
Finally, the regulations power is adjusted so the Lieutenant Governor in Council must define, within one year of the relevant section coming into force, the activities related to fully‑regulated trades and the Minister may prescribe which activities are restricted.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill adds a new Section 11.1 that lists specific trades as fully‑regulated, including electrician, plumber, welder, automotive service technician, hairstylist/barber and others, with a catch‑all for “any other prescribed trade.”, Section 11.2 limits performance of activities in a fully‑regulated trade to certified trade certificate holders and apprentices enrolled under approved apprenticeship agreements.
Section 15(1.1) requires the Board to appoint a committee of at least six members, evenly split between employer representatives and worker representatives, and to include at least one certified journeyperson and one final‑year apprentice among the worker seats (with a substitution rule if an apprentice cannot be found).
Section 22 adds regulatory powers to prescribe fully‑regulated trades and the specific activities that constitute those trades, and it mandates that the Lieutenant Governor in Council define the activities for fully‑regulated trades within one year of the section coming into force.
Multiple operational changes rename the Administrator to the “Administrator for Regulated Trades,” replace many occurrences of “designated trade” with “regulated trade,” and expand the Minister’s authority to engage trade unions for training delivery.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Introduces 'fully‑regulated trade' and broadens 'activity' and 'regulated trade' definitions
The bill replaces the narrow definition of activity for designated trades with a two‑part definition: Board‑recognized tasks for designated trades and prescribed tasks for fully‑regulated trades. It also inserts a new term, “fully‑regulated trade,” and defines “regulated trade” to mean either a designated trade or a fully‑regulated trade. Practically, this moves the statute from a solely Board‑driven recognition model toward a mixed model where regulation can specify tasks directly for certain listed trades.
Creates a prescriptive list of fully‑regulated trades and limits who may perform them
Section 11.1 enumerates numerous trades (for example: electrician, plumber, automotive service technician, hairstylist/barber, welder, heavy equipment technician) and allows the regulations to add more. Section 11.2 then restricts who may carry out activities in those trades to individuals holding a trade certificate or apprentices in approved agreements. That pairing both identifies priority trades for prescriptive regulation and ties legal permission to perform work to certification status or active apprenticeship.
Conditions Board advice and order‑making on committee consultation
The Board’s existing powers to consult industry and to make orders about standards and undertakings are qualified: before advising the Minister or making orders that specify undertakings, activities, or certification standards the Board must consult the new advisory committee established under Section 15(1.1). This creates a procedural gate that embeds committee input into rule‑making and recommendations to the Minister.
Mandatory advisory committee with equal employer and worker representation
The Board must appoint at least six members to a committee advising on designation, restricted activities, and certification standards. Appointments must equally represent employer and worker interests; among worker representatives at least one must be a certificated journeyperson and one must be a final‑year apprentice (or alternates if an apprentice candidate is unavailable). This is a concrete governance change that gives apprentices and workers a statutory seat at the table.
Gives the executive power to prescribe trades and activities and imposes a one‑year definition requirement
Regulations can now explicitly prescribe fully‑regulated trades and the specific activities that make up those trades. Critically, the Lieutenant Governor in Council must define the activities related to fully‑regulated trades within one year of the section’s coming into force, creating a legally binding regulatory timeline for translating statutory categories into operational task lists and restricted‑activity rules.
Operational renames and expanded training partners
Throughout the Act, the Administrator title is changed to “Administrator for Regulated Trades” and references to “designated trade” are updated to “regulated trade.” The Minister’s authority to engage training providers is broadened to explicitly include trade unions alongside post‑secondary institutions and other entities, bringing unions into the formal training delivery ecosystem.
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Explore this topic in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Apprentices — the bill guarantees statutory representation for apprentices on the Board’s advisory committee and recognizes apprentices as authorized performers of fully‑regulated trade activities when enrolled in approved agreements.
- Trade unions — the statute explicitly authorizes the Minister to engage trade unions to deliver classroom and industry training, formally expanding their role in apprenticeship education and potentially in curriculum design.
- Certificated tradespeople — by codifying a list of fully‑regulated trades and tying activities to certification, journeypersons gain stronger legal protection for the exclusivity of certain tasks and clearer standards that support credential value.
Who Bears the Cost
- Employers (especially small businesses) — may face higher compliance costs as activities are prescribed, restricted activities are enforced, and certification becomes the statutory gatekeeper for work; engaging with the new committee process may also require more formal consultation.
- Training providers and post‑secondary institutions — will need to coordinate with unions and government on revised curricula and may face new administrative requirements to align programs with prescribed activities and standards.
- The Board and the Department — must stand up the mandated advisory committee, incorporate its input into rule‑making, and implement the one‑year regulatory definition requirement, all of which will consume staff time and possibly require additional resources.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between standardization and access: the bill advances clearer, centrally prescribed standards and strengthens organized labour’s role to protect credential value and safety, but those same measures can reduce flexibility in labour markets, raise compliance costs for smaller employers, and limit pathways for workers without traditional certification to perform trade work.
The bill balances prescriptive clarity against flexibility. Listing fully‑regulated trades and requiring the executive to define the activities for those trades creates certainty about what tasks are controlled by statute, but it replaces a more flexible, Board‑driven designation process with a regulatory pathway that can lag or overreach.
The one‑year deadline for defining activities forces action quickly, yet translating broad occupational scope into granular task lists is technically complex and politically sensitive — rushed definitions risk gaps, overbroad restrictions, or litigation.
Embedding trade unions into training delivery and mandating equal employer‑worker representation on the advisory committee strengthens worker voice but raises implementation questions: how will appointment processes avoid capture, how will committee consensus be reached across diverse trades, and what happens where union presence is uneven across regions or sectors? The bill also tightens the link between certification and legal permission to perform work, which supports public safety and credential integrity but may erect barriers to entry for workers switching careers, newcomers with foreign credentials, or small firms that rely on flexible task allocation.
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