Starting in the trades

A union apprenticeship is a paying job. You work on the tools, go to school for a few weeks each year, and get a raise at each level until you write for your journeyperson ticket and Red Seal.

Programs change. Check the official page before you count on any amount.

• How to get in
• Trade by trade
• Red Seal
• Apprentice pay
• Money while you train
• Tax breaks
• By province
• Programs that help
• Sources

How to get in

Each province runs its own apprenticeship system. It registers you, sets your school and exams, and issues your ticket. The union route usually goes like this:

1. Check the entry courses for your trade In Alberta, carpenters, insulators, ironworkers and crane operators need English 10-2 and Math 10-3. Boilermakers, steamfitter-pipefitters and millwrights need English 20-2, Math 20-3 and Science 10. A GED, a recognized pre-employment course or the Alberta entrance exam ($150, 70% to pass) also gets you in. You can register first, but you need the courses before your first school block. Alberta entrance requirements (tradesecrets.alberta.ca), checked Oct. 15, 2026
2. Apply to the union local or its training centre Each local runs its own application. The trade-by-trade list below links each union's official page. Union halls dispatch their members to union contractors; the Alberta carpenters, for example, only dispatch formal apprentices and journeypersons.
3. Get a sponsor and register Your sponsor, usually the contractor you work for, signs you up with the province. In Ontario a union can also be your sponsor. In Alberta you register through MyTradesecrets, in BC on the SkilledTradesBC Portal, in Ontario with Skilled Trades Ontario.
4. Work, then go to school Each level is a set number of hours on the job plus a school block, usually on EI. In Alberta that's 1,560 to 1,620 hours and 6 to 8 weeks of school per level.
5. Write your exams Pass each level's exam, then the Red Seal exam for your journeyperson ticket.

Pre-apprenticeship

A pre-apprenticeship course can give you a head start and a stronger application. Ontario's pre-apprenticeship training is free, covers your tools, books and safety gear, and includes level 1 school and a work placement. In Alberta, the construction trades hub run by the Building Trades of Alberta has free trade-skills material.

Trade by trade

Every trade here is a Red Seal trade. The details are for Alberta, where the apps started; see By province for the rest of the country.

Boilermakers

Three levels of 1,560 hours, with 8 weeks of school a year at NAIT. Entry: English 20-2, Math 20-3 and Science 10, or the entrance exam.

The Boilermakers' Canadian apprentice page has you register your interest, contact the provincial representative listed there, and apply through the applicant login. In Alberta the local is Lodge 146.

Carpenters and scaffolders

Carpenter is four levels of 1,560 hours, with 8 weeks of school each. Entry: English 10-2 and Math 10-3.

In Alberta, scaffolders train through the carpenters' own 3-year scaffolding apprenticeship, run in levels through the union. The Alberta Regional Council of Carpenters says no one is dispatched from its locals unless they're a formal apprentice or already a journeyperson.

Anywhere in Canada, the Carpenters' (UBC Canada) online form puts you in touch with your local.

Insulators

Heat and frost insulator: since August 1, 2025, new Alberta apprentices do four levels of 1,620 hours, with 6 weeks of school each. Entry: English 10-2 and Math 10-3. In Alberta, apply to Insulators Local 110.

Ironworkers

Red Seal in three branches: generalist, structural/ornamental and reinforcing (rebar). In Alberta, structural/ornamental is three levels and reinforcing is two, each 1,620 hours with 6 weeks of school. Entry: English 10-2 and Math 10-3.

The Ironworkers' directory lists Canadian locals and training centres. In Alberta it's Local 720 (Edmonton) and Local 725 (Calgary).

Labourers

Construction craft worker is a Red Seal trade. In Ontario it's an apprenticeship with Grade 10 entry. Apply to your LiUNA local and its training centre; in Alberta that's Local 92. Under the Alberta agreement, new labourers start as trainees and get a raise every 1,000 hours (see Apprentice pay).

Millwrights

Industrial mechanic (millwright): four levels of 1,560 hours, with 8 weeks of school each. Entry: English 20-2, Math 20-3 and Science 10. Apply through the Carpenters' (UBC Canada) form; in Alberta the local is Millwrights Local 1460. The Alberta agreement gives a raise every 6 months.

Pipefitters and plumbers

Steamfitter-pipefitter and plumber are both four levels of 1,560 hours, with 8 weeks of school each. Entry: English 20-2, Math 20-3 and Science 10. Alberta plumbers finish with two tickets: plumber and gasfitter class B.

In BC, Manitoba and Ontario you must be an apprentice or certified to work as a steamfitter-pipefitter.

UA Canada lists every local, including Local 488 Edmonton and Local 496 Calgary. National training runs through NAUSC.

Crane and heavy equipment operators

Mobile crane, tower crane and heavy equipment operator (dozer, excavator, tractor-loader-backhoe) are Red Seal trades. In Alberta, mobile crane is three levels (1,620, 1,800 and 1,620 hours) with 6 weeks of school in levels 1 and 3. In BC, mobile and tower crane operators need certification from July 5, 2027.

The Operating Engineers (IUOE) local finder lists Canadian locals; in Alberta it's Local 955.

Already running a crane? Crane Operator Cheque works out the cheque from the 955, 115, 793, 987, Cape Breton and Quebec crane rates.

Red Seal and your apprenticeship

The Red Seal is the national standard for a trade. Pass the interprovincial Red Seal exam and a seal goes on your provincial ticket, so you can work in that trade anywhere in Canada. The exam is multiple choice, 4 hours long, and you need 70% to pass.

Each level has a set number of on-the-job hours, a school block and a level exam. Your sponsor confirms your hours. Experienced without an apprenticeship? Your provincial apprenticeship office decides whether you can challenge the exam (the trade qualifier route).

In New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and PEI, the boilermaker, carpenter, insulator, millwright and steamfitter/pipefitter apprenticeships are harmonized, so your levels line up if you move between them.

Apprentice pay

You earn a percentage of the journeyperson rate, with a raise at each step. A first-year union apprentice in Alberta usually starts at 50 to 65% (about $27 to $35 an hour in 2026) and steps up every year, or in some trades every 6 months or 1,000 hours, to 90 or 95% before getting the ticket. The province only sets the legal minimum; your agreement sets your actual rate.

Below are the Alberta union agreements the apps use: base hourly wage from May 3, 2026, before vacation pay, benefits and pension. Pay varies by agreement and province.

Money while you train

Grants

Ottawa's apprenticeship grants, the $1,000-a-level Incentive Grant and the $2,000 Completion Grant, closed on March 31, 2025. Your province may have scholarships or a tools grant: see By province.

Loans

The Canada Apprentice Loan is interest-free. It lends up to $4,000 for each school period, up to 5 periods ($20,000), and can cover tuition, tools, equipment and living costs. You don't repay while you stay a registered apprentice (up to 6 years); the first payment is due 6 months after your apprenticeship ends.

You need to be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or protected person, registered in a Red Seal trade apprenticeship and not in high school. There's a credit check the first time you apply. It isn't available to apprentices registered in Quebec.

EI while you're in school

When you leave work for a school block, you can collect EI regular benefits:

1. Get the 16-digit reference code for that block from your apprenticeship office or school.
2. Apply online up to 7 days before your last day of work and enter the code. You can ask to skip the biweekly reports while you're in class.
3. Your benefits end on the last day of the course.

You serve the one-week waiting period only once per apprenticeship, not every block. EI pays 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, up to $729 a week for claims from December 28, 2025.

Some employers and trust funds have a registered top-up plan (a SUB plan) that adds to your EI during school. EI plus the top-up can't go over 95% of your normal weekly earnings. Ask your local whether yours has one.

Tax breaks

Tools

If you're an employed tradesperson and buy new tools for work, you can deduct up to $1,000 a year. Only what you spend above the Canada employment amount counts: $1,471 for 2025. Spend $2,000 on new tools in 2025 and you can deduct $529. Your employer signs form T2200 and you claim on form T777 (line 22900). The tools must be new and needed for the job.

Working away: the labour mobility deduction

Starting with the 2026 tax year, tradespeople and apprentices on temporary construction work can deduct up to $10,000 a year for temporary lodging and travel, when the lodging is at least 120 km closer to the site than your home. For 2025 the limits were $4,000 and 150 km. The change became law on June 19, 2026.

You must be away at least 36 hours and pay for your own lodging. The deduction can include one round trip and the meals on that trip, and it can't be more than half of what you earned on that job. On subsistence or in camp? Check before you claim: it's for lodging you pay yourself.

Tuition

Trade school tuition can earn the federal tuition tax credit when the fees are over $100 at that school, and the school is a post-secondary school or an occupational-skills school certified by Employment and Social Development Canada (you must be 16 or older). Exam fees to get your trade certificate also count.

Canada training credit

A refundable credit toward training fees. You build up $250 of room a year, to $5,000 in your lifetime, if you're 26 to 65 at the end of the year. Income limits apply.

By province and territory

Each province registers its own apprentices and issues its own tickets. The federal help above works everywhere, except the apprentice loan in Quebec. Tap a province.

Programs that help

Veterans and military families

• Helmets to Hardhats Canada is a non-profit backed by Canada's Building Trades Unions. It connects veterans, Canadian Armed Forces members and their families, plus cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers, to union construction careers. helmetstohardhats.ca, checked Oct. 15, 2026

Women

• Build Together is the building trades' program for women, with chapter mentoring for women apprentices and tradeswomen. Women in the trades (buildingtrades.ca)
• Office to Advance Women Apprentices. womenapprentices.ca
• Women Building Futures (Alberta) runs a Journey to Trades program; check its site for the next intake. womenbuildingfutures.ca
• Provincial pages: BC women's trades training, Saskatchewan women in trades, Ontario women's pre-apprenticeship. Alberta's Women in STEM Scholarship, Nova Scotia's Women in Trades grant and Quebec's experience route are under By province.

Indigenous people

• Indigenous Skills and Employment Training (ISET): federal money, delivered through Indigenous organizations, that pays for job and trades training for First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous people. Find your local organization on the second link. ISET (canada.ca) and find your organization, checked Oct. 15, 2026
• In Alberta: Trade Winds to Success (Indigenous pre-apprenticeship with a living allowance), Rupertsland Institute (Métis training funding) and Oteenow (First Nations employment and training, Edmonton area).
• Provincial pages: BC Indigenous people in trades, Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw and Indigenous peoples. Manitoba's Indigenous apprentice bursary is under By province.

Youth

• Start in high school: Alberta's RAP, Ontario's OYAP, Saskatchewan Youth Apprenticeship and BC's Work in Trades (all under By province), plus SkilledTradesBC youth and Nova Scotia youth apprenticeship.
• CAREERS: The Next Generation (Alberta): paid high-school internships, including RAP, and an Indigenous Youth Internship Program. careersnextgen.ca
• Skills/Compétences Canada: Try-a-Trade and trade competitions. skillscompetencescanada.com

Everyone

• Canada's Building Trades Unions explain earn-while-you-learn and link to each province's construction trades hub: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, BC. Apprenticeship, get started (buildingtrades.ca), checked Oct. 15, 2026
• Job Bank has a search for apprentice jobs. Apprentice job search (jobbank.gc.ca)

Where this comes from

Every page below was read on October 15, 2026. Amounts above link to the exact page they came from.

• Federal Skilled trades, apprenticeship grants, Canada Apprentice Loan, EI for apprentices, EI amounts
• Tax CRA guide T4044, Bill C-30, tuition credit, Canada training credit
• Red Seal trades list, the program
• Alberta trade profiles, entrance requirements, scholarships
• Other provinces SkilledTradesBC, SATCC, Apprenticeship Manitoba, Ontario money for apprentices, CCQ, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador
• Unions Boilermakers, UBC Canada, UA Canada, IUOE, Canada's Building Trades Unions; the agreements are linked under Apprentice pay.