No, no. I can’t afford it.

A week ago Saturday, I visited the Carpenters and Joiners Union Local 494 training facility in Tecumseh, alongside MPP Leardi and Essex MP Chris Lewis. What a great day it was. We had the incredible opportunity to see the union’s apprenticeship competition and seeing which among the children’s playhouses in competition destined for Hiatus House would win top marks. What a fantastic cause.

Under the leadership of Shawn Ramey, Brandon Fitch and Tomi Hulkkonen, the competition is just one of countless examples of Local 494 giving back to our community.

Local 494 represents general carpenters, acoustic technicians, resilient floor layers and pile drivers and welders in Essex and Kent counties and have truly built a cutting-edge, 21,000-square-foot training facility.

Our government is providing $224 million in the current budget for a new capital stream of the Skills Development Fund to leverage private sector expertise and expand training centres, including union training halls such as the Local 494 site, to provide more accessible, flexible training opportunities for workers.

With nearly 300,000 jobs going unfilled in Ontario, many of which are in the construction industry, local trade unions are doing their part to ensure that their members are well prepared today as we continue to build a better Windsor–Tecumseh and a better Ontario for future generations.