C4C Insights
A recent Canadians for CANDU discussion brought together leaders from organized labour, industry and government to consider one of the most important questions facing Canada’s nuclear ambitions: do we have the workforce required to build the next generation of major nuclear projects, and what needs to happen now to ensure that workforce is ready?
The discussion featured Ryan Plante of the Carpenters’ Regional Council, Drew Chittenden of the Millwright Regional Council and Jonathan White of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, with contributions from nuclear industry leaders and the Honourable Trevor Jones, Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and Ontario’s Associate Attorney General and MPP the Honourable Michael A. Tibollo.
The conversation ranged from apprenticeship and training capacity to labour mobility, major project planning, trade disruption and the importance of maintaining Canadian manufacturing capability.
What emerged was a clear message: Canada’s skilled trades are ready to help deliver the next era of nuclear development, but workforce capacity cannot be created at the last minute. It requires long term project certainty, early collaboration with labour and a sustained pipeline of work that gives unions, employers, workers and training organizations the confidence to invest.
Canadians for CANDU Co-Chair, the Honourable Mike Harris, 22nd Premier of Ontario.
Project Certainty Is Workforce Policy
Large nuclear projects require tens of thousands of skilled workers across multiple trades and over many years. But having workers available when construction reaches its peak depends on decisions made well before a project reaches the job site.
Unions recruit apprentices, operate training centres, invest in equipment and instructors, and develop specialized skills based on their understanding of future demand. Employers face a similar challenge when deciding whether to expand their workforce or invest in additional capacity.
That makes project certainty a core workforce issue.
A visible pipeline of nuclear projects allows labour organizations to plan recruitment and training years in advance. It gives apprentices confidence that completing a program will lead to sustained employment. It also makes it easier to retain experienced journeypersons between major projects rather than losing them to other sectors or jurisdictions.
The challenge is particularly important because nuclear does not compete for labour in isolation. Ontario and the rest of Canada are simultaneously pursuing housing, transit, manufacturing, mining, energy and other major infrastructure projects. Many of those projects rely on the same carpenters, millwrights, boilermakers, electricians, operating engineers, and other skilled trades.
The question is not simply whether Canada has enough workers today. It is whether projects are being planned early enough to create the workforce Canada will need tomorrow.
Apprenticeship Must Connect Training to Real Work
Expanding the skilled trades workforce begins with attracting more people into apprenticeship, but recruitment alone is not enough.
Apprentices need access to employers, job sites, mentors and enough working hours to progress through their programs and become qualified journeypersons. Training capacity and employment opportunities need to grow together.
This is where major nuclear projects can play an important role.
A sustained nuclear construction program can provide the long-term employment horizon required to bring a new generation into the trades. Rather than preparing workers for a single construction peak, a sequence of refurbishments and new builds can create career pathways extending over decades.
That continuity matters. Experienced tradespeople can move from project to project, while apprentices gain the hours and mentorship required to develop into the next generation of supervisors, forepersons and highly specialized nuclear workers.
For industry and governments, that means workforce planning should begin alongside project planning. Labour organizations need visibility into schedules, anticipated workforce peaks and the specific skills that will be required so they can adjust recruitment and training before shortages emerge.
From left to right; Carl Marcotte, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Candy Energy, Drew Chittenden, Chief of Staff at Millwright Regional Council, Jonathan White, Executive Director of CSO Boilermakers, and Ryan Plante, Local 222 Coordinator for Carpenter’s Regional Council.
Skills in Nuclear Are Built Over Time
Nuclear construction also demands more than simply increasing the number of people entering the trades.
Workers must operate within a demanding safety, quality and regulatory environment. Many roles require specialized qualifications, nuclear specific experience and an understanding of the standards that govern work on safety critical systems.
That expertise accumulates over time.
Canada benefits from generations of workers who have built, maintained and refurbished the CANDU fleet. Major refurbishment programs have helped preserve that knowledge while allowing experienced workers to pass it to younger tradespeople.
Maintaining that capability requires continuity.
Long gaps between projects risk dispersing experienced workers and weakening the institutional knowledge that has taken decades to build. A predictable program of nuclear work does the opposite. It allows Canada to continuously develop its workforce while improving productivity and retaining specialized expertise within the domestic nuclear ecosystem.
Workforce continuity is therefore not simply an employment benefit. It is part of Canada’s nuclear delivery capability.
Turning Trade Disruption Into Workforce Opportunity
The discussion also comes at a time when U.S. tariffs and broader trade uncertainty are creating new pressures for Canadian steel, manufacturing and industrial workers.
Those disruptions create a challenge, but they may also create an opportunity.
Workers coming from manufacturing and other heavy industrial sectors often possess skills that can transfer into energy and major infrastructure projects. With appropriate retraining, upgrading and apprenticeship pathways, some workers affected by trade disruption could help meet growing labour demand in nuclear and other strategic Canadian industries.
The objective should not simply be to move workers from one vulnerable sector to another. Canada should use major projects to strengthen the underlying industrial base that supports both.
Nuclear development creates demand not only on construction sites but throughout the manufacturing supply chain: steel fabrication, machining, components, equipment, engineering and specialized services.
A domestic nuclear program can therefore help create a bridge between workforce policy and industrial policy, supporting workers while maintaining the manufacturing capabilities Canada needs for future nation building projects.
Technology Choice Is Ultimately a Workforce Choice
The workforce implications become particularly important when governments and utilities consider which technologies to deploy.
Nuclear technology choices determine far more than the configuration of a generating station. They influence where engineering takes place, where components are manufactured, which companies participate in the supply chain and where construction and long-term operating expertise develops.
Canada already has a mature CANDU ecosystem encompassing engineering, manufacturing, construction, skilled trades, operations and refurbishment. Choosing a technology supported by that existing ecosystem allows Canada to build on capabilities that are already here.
It creates an opportunity to turn billions of dollars of nuclear investment into Canadian apprenticeships, Canadian manufacturing orders, Canadian engineering work and decades-long careers for Canadian tradespeople.
That domestic capacity becomes increasingly important in an environment where Canada continues to increase its focus on energy security, supply chain resilience, and economic sovereignty.
The economic value of a nuclear project should therefore not be measured solely by the electricity produced when the plant begins operating. It should also account for the workforce, industrial capacity and expertise created during decades of design, construction, operation and refurbishment.
Labour Needs a Seat at the Planning Table
A recurring lesson from major infrastructure programs is that workforce challenges are easiest to solve before construction begins. Governments, utilities, project developers, contractors and labour organizations need to share information early enough to understand when and where workers will be needed.
That includes forecasting demand by trade, coordinating project schedules where possible, identifying training requirements and creating pathways for apprentices and workers transitioning from other industries.
Labour organizations bring an important perspective to those conversations because they see workforce conditions across multiple employers and projects. They understand where shortages are emerging, where experienced workers are available and how quickly training capacity can realistically expand. Bringing labour into project planning early can therefore help reduce execution risk.
The same principle applies across Canada. As interest in nuclear development expands beyond Ontario, greater labour mobility and recognition of skilled trades credentials will become increasingly important. Canada has a national opportunity, and its workforce strategy increasingly needs to reflect that scale.
From left to right: Carl Marcotte, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Business Development Candu Energy & the Honourable Trevor Jones, Ontario Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
Building the Workforce Behind Canada’s Energy Future
Canada’s nuclear opportunity is often discussed in terms of electricity demand, energy security and economic growth; all three ultimately depend on people.
Reactors require engineers to design them, manufacturers to produce their components and skilled tradespeople to construct and maintain them. Those capabilities cannot simply be purchased when a project begins. They must be cultivated through sustained investment, training and real project experience.
Canada enters this period with a significant advantage: an experienced nuclear workforce, strong organized labour institutions, established training infrastructure and a domestic supply chain built around decades of CANDU deployment and refurbishment.
The opportunity now is to build on that foundation. A predictable pipeline of nuclear projects can support apprenticeship, retain specialized expertise, strengthen Canadian manufacturing and provide workers with high-quality careers extending across generations.
But realizing that opportunity requires decisions today.
Governments and industry must provide enough certainty for labour organizations and employers to train ahead of demand. Workforce planning must begin before construction schedules tighten. And technology and procurement decisions should recognize the value of keeping skills, manufacturing capacity and economic activity in Canada.
Canada does not need to build a nuclear workforce from scratch. It needs to give the workforce it already has the confidence and opportunity to grow.
