November 17, 2015 – The Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA), the administrator of Canada’s Red Seal Program, has announced its Harmonization Initiative will include construction electricians and industrial electricians in Phase 2.

The Harmonization Initiative was launched in 2013 to align apprenticeship systems across Canada by making training requirements more consistent in the Red Seal trades, says CCDA. It “aims to improve the mobility of apprentices, support an increase in their completion rates and enable employers to access a larger pool of apprentices.”

As a part of this work, the CCDA identified four main harmonization priorities in consultation with industry and training stakeholders: use of Red Seal trade name, consistent total training hours (in-school and on-the-job), same number of training levels, and more consistent sequencing of training content (at each training level) using the most recent National Occupational Analyses.

CCDA says changes are now underway in most jurisdictions for six of the first 10 Red Seal trades (carpenters, welders, ironworkers and metal fabricators), aiming for implementation of harmonized training by September 2016.

Phase 2 of the Harmonization Initiative, which includes construction and industrial electricians along with millwrights, plumbers, pipefitters and more, is expected to be implemented by September 2017, according to the CCDA.