The federal government is set to invest in a multi-year McMaster University aerospace training program to help strengthen and grow small and medium businesses (SME) in the sector.
Ottawa is set to drop $3.8 million into a two-year targeted curriculum designed in collaboration with aerospace professionals in southern Ontario to educate and upskill some 300 workers.
“This new program delivered through McMaster University (in Hamilton) is equipping workers and businesses across southern Ontario with the skills and training they need to soar into the future,” said Federal Economic Development (FedDev) minister and Hamilton-area MP Filomena Tassi.
The initiative is meant to provide aerospace SMEs with the means to integrate technologies with green operations enhancing competitiveness and is part of a regional aerospace recovery plan that has earmarked some $250 million for the sector over three years.
FedDev Ontario will give southern Ontario $67.5 million in that support.
Since 2016, Ontario’s aerospace industry has generated some $6 billion annually in revenues via just over 200 firms employing at least 44,000 people.
The latest initiative is expected to train nearly 340 aerospace professionals, 100 of which will be Indigenous learners.