New federal retraining program accepts employer applications
The federal Workforce Retention and Retraining Program is accepting applications, with training support and more flexible work sharing arrangements for qualifying employers.
HR · Workforce Planning
Canadian coverage, focused on workforce planning, with verified short holdings, original analysis and links to the underlying sources. A publication date isn't the same as a decision date. The dates below identify which is shown.
29 verified publications. Showing the 29 most recent.
Express Entry changes put employer job offer evidence in focus
November 3 changes remove the LMIA requirement for qualifying Express Entry job offers while retaining scrutiny of the employer, position and offer.
Canada’s skills problem is not just a shortage of training
New Future Skills Centre research points to a harder problem than course availability: employers need capacity, better job matching and training that fits the work they are actually trying to do.
Canada lost 68,000 jobs in September, but the hiring market still is not one market
Employment fell for a second month and unemployment rose to 6.5%, but Alberta gained jobs while Quebec and British Columbia lost them. National softening is not a universal local hiring story.
Women are entering apprenticeships, but Canada's trades gap remains
An October Canadian research review shows progress in apprenticeship registrations but persistent concentration in a narrow range of trades. Hiring campaigns alone won't resolve the gap.
Canada has vacant jobs and available workers. The skills still don't line up
Canadian vacancies have steadied at about 501,000, yet employers still struggle to find particular skills. New national research points to training access and the design of hiring itself.
Alberta's WorkFirst program gives employers another way to find skills
Alberta's WorkFirst employer tools include targeted postings, skills matching and candidate outreach. Their value will depend on how employers describe the work they actually need done.
PEI's rural hiring program covers up to half of wages on one position, capped at $18 an hour
Prince Edward Island's Rural Enhancement Employment Program supports up to 20 weeks of wages for one position per year at eligible businesses outside Greater Charlottetown and Summerside's urban core.
New Brunswick eliminates $85 weekly tuition for apprenticeship technical training
The province says apprentices no longer pay the $85 weekly fee and estimates the average saving at $2,720. Other costs remain, and the government's workforce goals are not proven outcomes.
Churchill Falls workforce rules turn local hiring into project infrastructure
Newfoundland and Labrador is extending an 85% local person hours commitment across major Churchill Falls related construction. For HR, the important question is how a hiring promise becomes a workforce plan.
PEI is building a correctional officer pipeline before hiring starts
A 12 person PEI correctional officer program combines 17 weeks of coursework, seven weeks of on the job training and a guaranteed interview. It is a small program with a useful workforce planning idea behind it.
Canada’s skilled trades plan is becoming a workforce pipeline employers can use
Team Canada Strong combines apprenticeship modernization, training capacity, completion supports and youth placements in a national effort to recruit, train and hire more Red Seal trades workers.
Alberta puts up to $1.5 million per project behind industry led skills training
Alberta is accepting proposals through October 30 for industry led training projects that address labour and skills gaps. Eligible projects can receive from $300,000 to $1.5 million.
Express Entry is selecting stronger labour market outcomes, but the employer lesson is more specific
New IRCC research finds stronger employment, income, wage and occupational outcomes among Express Entry immigrants. For employers, the more useful finding is which kinds of experience and matching appear to travel with those outcomes.
Canada’s job vacancy market is stable nationally and moving in different directions provincially
Canada had 501,000 job vacancies in July and the national vacancy rate barely moved. Underneath that stability, Alberta and Manitoba were gaining vacancies while Ontario and Quebec were losing them.
What the provinces are telling us about work in Canada: October 2026
A month of workplace developments across Canada doesn’t produce one neat story. That’s the point. Read together, the provinces and territories are showing where accommodation, labour relations, workforce shortages, benefits and changing job design are beginning to overlap.
AI use is moving from experiment to workforce planning
Statistics Canada says one in four Canadian businesses plans to use AI over the next year. The bigger HR question is no longer whether AI is arriving, but how work, skills and staffing will change around it.
NWT links workforce training grants to jobs expected from major projects
The Northwest Territories is tying local skills funding to anticipated jobs, starting with the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The design offers HR teams a practical model for connecting training, recruiting and major project workforce planning.
Saskatchewan puts more than $10 million behind disability employment
Saskatchewan says it has invested more than $10 million in 2026 and 2027 workforce development programming for people with disabilities, putting inclusive employment into a broader labour force strategy.
Yukon is asking employers what its nominee program should become
Yukon's review of its nominee program is asking employers, participants and the public how a constrained immigration tool should respond to changing workforce needs. The consultation closes October 8.
PEI Renews $1.67 Million Agreement With Mi’kmaq Confederacy for Indigenous Employment Support
PEI says SkillsPEI and the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI have renewed a four year, $1.67 million agreement covering employment programs, mentorship and workplace skills training.
The workforce alliance model is becoming an HR planning signal
Six sector alliances are connecting labour shortages, training investment, worker mobility and technology adoption. For HR teams, they offer an early map of where talent pressure and public investment may be heading.
Canada is redesigning slowdowns around retention and retraining
A proposed federal program would give employers another option when work drops: keep people attached to the business, use reduced hours for training, and plan the payroll mechanics before layoffs become the default.
Canada’s labour mobility push is becoming a recruiting issue for employers
Faster credential recognition and national mobility standards are beginning to change the practical assumptions behind recruiting regulated workers across provincial borders.
Older workers are becoming a workforce planning issue, not just a retirement issue
Record labour force participation among Canadians aged 65 and older is making retirement timing, retention, succession and pension conversations part of the same workforce plan.
Canada still has 501,000 job vacancies, but wage growth is cooling
Statistics Canada reports 501,000 job vacancies in July while payroll employment edged higher and average weekly earnings rose 3.2 per cent from a year earlier.
AI training is becoming part of Canada's talent pipeline
Canada is moving AI literacy beyond software adoption. New national programs are tying it to training, early career experience and workforce readiness.
Rural Temporary Foreign Worker Measures Vary Across Canada
Temporary federal relief for rural employers depends on the worksite and provincial participation. Employers need to check the current rules before relying on a different foreign worker cap.
Federal labour-mobility law takes effect for selected regulated occupations
Selected provincial credentials now have a route to federal authorization. It can widen recruiting for covered roles, with conditions.
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