Financial constraints should not prevent you from pursuing or continuing a career in the trades. A list of some of the grants for trades available in Alberta, Canada, is provided below. If you’re thinking about a career or business in the trades, you should take advantage of these possibilities to remove any concerns you might have about paying for the funds and apprenticeship.
The resources listed here are just a few of the many grants and awards available to people interested in doing business in trades in Alberta, Canada. You can explore for more chances by looking into programmes particular to your province.
Following is the list of the grants available in Alberta, Canada, for trades:
International Trade and Labour Funding Program
The International Trade and Labor Stream funds the following projects:
- produce and publish labour-related reports
- monitor cooperation actions and multilateral consultations to foster social dialogue
- supervise independent reviews and dispute resolution in the area of labour law enforcement
Applicants Who Qualify
- International or national labour or labour-related organizations, as well as international and national organizations tasked with assisting countries in achieving their duties under a Labour Cooperation Agreement or other cooperative frameworks
- Non-profit organizations that are legally incorporated, national and worldwide, provide technical support on labour issues.
- Secretariats of international organizations tasked with administering the labour dimension of trade agreements established by Canada and its partners in the undercurrent, prospective, and future Labour Cooperation Agreements.
- Universities and colleges with public funding
Submission Deadline
Open and closes
Contact
- Contact Name: Labour Funding Program- Government of Canada
- Phone Number: 819-953-8494 (facsimile)
Women in Trade – Export Development Canada (EDC)
Women in Trade – Export Development Canada (EDC) assists female businesses in reaching their worldwide potential.
Applicants Who Qualify
Please see the link below for more information about eligibility.
Submission Deadline
Ongoing
Contact
- Contact Name: Export Development Canada (EDC)
- Phone Number: 1-800-229-0575
Dairy Direct Payment Program
The Dairy Direct Payment Program’s goal is to assist dairy producers as a result of market access commitments made under recent international trade agreements, such as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Applicants Who Qualify
For the years 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23, eligible winners include:
- As of October 31 of each year, producers of cow’s milk with a valid dairy quota licence are registered with a provincial milk marketing board or agency. A producer of cow’s milk who holds a valid dairy quota licence has a dairy quota issued by a provincial milk marketing authority. As of October 31 of each year, this comprises farmers participating in a new entrant assistance programme with loaned quota and whole-farm leases with lent quota.
A recipient must be a natural person or a legal organization capable of legally binding agreements or contracts. Sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations are all included.
Those Who Qualify
- Each year, you’ll get a letter verifying your eligibility and comprehensive instructions on how to register.
- To get a reimbursement, you must register each year of the programme.
Date of Submission
Each year’s amounts are available until March 31. Registrations must be signed and sent by March 31f each year in order to receive payment.
Contact
- Contact Name: Dairy Direct Payment Program
- Phone Number: 1-877-246-4682
- E-mail Address: [email protected]
Distributed Energy Management Initiative (DEMI) Project Seed Funding
NAIT, the University of Alberta, ATCO, Siemens Canada, and Alberta Economic Development, Trade and Tourism are working together on the Distributed Energy Management Initiative (DEMI). With the help of NAIT’s Centre for Grid Innovation, the DEMI partners have developed the Project Seed Funding (PSF) programme to de-risk and encourage Alberta small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) to explore grid innovation and distributed energy management technology projects. Electricity/power, energy, alternative energy, and electronics are just a few of the industries that could benefit from such developments.
Applicants Who Qualify
SME applicants must demonstrate the following, in addition to the overall project scope and outcome boundaries mentioned above, to be eligible for PSF:
- Alberta incorporation with at least two years of company filings on file
- At least one full-time employee on the payroll
- A business plan for bringing the proposed innovation to market.
- Ability to contribute cash to the project at the start of the project equal to or more than 25% of the proposed project budget
- Ability to make a meaningful in-kind contribution of up to 25% of the proposed budget if the applicant’s 50% cost commitment to the project is not entirely in cash.
Submission Deadline
Ongoing
Contact
- Contact Name: NAIT – Industry Solutions
- E-mail Address: [email protected]
CanExport Associations
Annual funding of up to $400,000 is available to national industry groups and trade organizations in Canada. We’ll pay up to 75% of eligible costs for new or expanded international business development (IBD) efforts that benefit the whole sector, including members and non-members.
Applicants Who Qualify
Proposals will be accepted from the following:
- National industrial or trade associations in Canada
- Chambers of Commerce and Business Councils from around Canada;
- National horizontal / multi-sectoral organizations in Canada
- National organizations in Canada that represent businesses that are majority-owned by under-represented groups in commerce (e.g. Indigenous, women, LGBTQ2+).
To be considered, your company must:
- be a non-profit organization
- not sell things that your members offer
- have sufficient private income to cover 25% of expenditures for projected initiatives, as evidenced by financial statements for the last two years
- having a three-year foreign company development strategy authorized by the board
Date of Submission
The application period for 2022-23 will run from November 30, 2021, to January 11, 2022.
Contact
- E-mail Address: [email protected]
Export Readiness Micro-Voucher Program | Alberta Innovates
The Alberta Export Expansion Package (AEEP), given by the Government of Alberta, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (“EDT”), includes the Export Readiness Micro-Voucher Program (the “Program”). The Program was created to provide a relatively rapid and flexible financial solution to assist Alberta Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that are considering entering new overseas markets by paying the cost of receiving an expert market assessment. Alberta Innovates administers the programme, which is funded by the EDT.
Applicants Who Qualify
An SME must meet the following criteria to be considered an Applicant:
- be a for-profit Alberta SME with a minimum of $20,000 in revenue (sales) in the current or previous fiscal year; have a physical presence in Alberta; have fewer than 500 full-time employees and less than $50,000,000 in annual gross revenue; be a legal entity; be in good financial standing with Alberta Innovates and its subsidiaries InnoTech Alberta and C-Fer Technologies; and
Criteria for Service Provider Eligibility:
- Provide the service(s) and/or product(s) at reasonable market rates; provide a detailed Statement of Work; be a legal entity; be legally permitted to enter, remain in, and perform the services in Canada during the Project Term; and be in good financial standing with Alberta Innovates and its subsidiaries InnoTech Alberta and C-Fer Technologies.
Criteria for Project Eligibility
- Expand study for export to new jurisdictions; be completed by March 31, 2021. Alberta Innovates and Alberta Economic Development Trade and Tourism must both approve the project; it must also meet other criteria that Alberta Innovates may set from time to time.
Date of Submission
New applications are welcome. The initiative will expire on May 12, 2023, or when all funds have been distributed.
Contact
- Contact Name: Technology Development Advisors
- Phone Number: 403-210-5229
- E-mail Address: [email protected]
REPSOL Committed to Communities Programs
We make the most significant influence on local communities by supporting and sponsoring projects in the following areas:
Safety and the Environment: Water and land conservation and stewardship programmes that contribute to the safety of the communities where we operate, as well as the long-term health and biodiversity of local and regional ecosystems.
Innovation & Education: Initiatives that promote and support STEM education while also supporting youth literacy programmes and vocational training programmes ranging from engineering, science, and technology to business, trade, and the arts.
Community Empowerment: Projects that provide local communities with economic opportunities, cultural activities, and social challenges such as equality, poverty, healthy living, and the needs of women and children.
Applicants Who Qualify
- NGO (national/international)
- Registered charitable organizations
- Licensed social businesses
- Under the government structure, well-established grassroots non-commercial community organizations.
- Remote-area public schools
- Shelters and social service organizations
Submission Deadline: Ongoing
Contact
- Contact Name: Repsol
- Phone Number: 403 237 1234
- E-mail Address: [email protected]
Apprenticeship Incentive Grant (AIG)

The Apprenticeship Incentive Reward (AIG) is a taxable cash grant provided to registered apprentices who have completed their first or second year/level (or equivalent) of an apprenticeship programme in a Red Seal trade.
The purpose of the apprenticeship grants is to:
- Increase access to Red Seal apprenticeships by assisting apprentices with costs such as the purchase of tools and other materials needed for on-the-job learning and travel expenditures connected with classroom instruction.
- Encourage progression through their apprenticeship program’s technical and on-the-job training requirements in the early years, generating momentum toward certification.
- Increase the number of apprentices who stay in the Red Seal trades and receive their Red Seal to promote interprovincial mobility.
Applicants Who Qualify
- Citizen, permanent resident, or protected person in Canada
- Not a senior in high school. The AIG is not available to students who are enrolled full-time in high school.
- You are not considered a high school student if you are an apprentice enrolling in adult learning or professional upgrading classes or if you are a Quebec apprentice finishing your vocational training diploma (Diplômed’étudesprofessionnelles).
- You are not eligible for the AIG if you are enrolled in a pre-apprenticeship programme.
- Apprenticeship authority and registered apprentice with employer/training trust fund/union training center/joint apprenticeship training committee
- In a Red Seal trade programme approved by the province or territory where you are registered as an apprentice.
- Able to demonstrate that you have successfully completed the first or second year/level (or equivalent) of an authorized apprenticeship programme through relevant supporting documents.
- You have been registered as an apprentice for at least 12 months for the Level 1 grant and at least 24 months for the Level 2 grant authority in Ontario.
Date of Submission
The standard application deadline is 12 months from the date of progression; the new application deadline is 18 months from the date of progression.
Contact
- Contact Name: Service Canada
- Phone Number: 1-866-742-3644
Dairy Farm Investment Program
The Dairy Farm Investment Program is a $250 million, five-year programme that will help Canadian cow’s milk producers enhance productivity by upgrading existing equipment.
Its goal is to help dairy farmers adjust to the expected effects of the Canada–EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Applicants Who Qualify
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- In Canada, legal entities are permitted to enter into legally binding agreements.
- Must be licenced cow milk producers in Canada.
- must have a current dairy licence with a production quota
- A provincial milk marketing board must be registered.
*Applicants who were not authorized in Phase 1 must reapply if they want their project to be considered in Phase 2.
Submission Deadline
Please visit the link mentioned below for updates.
Contact
- Contact Name: Government of Canada
- Phone Number: 1-877-246-4682 (toll-free)
- E-mail Address: [email protected]
Book Publishers Operating Grant
Eligible organizations may be awarded funds to invest in their organization’s operations, administration, and particular business development initiatives in order to promote their mission and increase their organization’s and industry’s capabilities.
The funding aims to boost the Alberta book publishing industry’s financial viability and corporate growth while also acknowledging the industry’s cultural significance.
Organizations that Qualify
Your organization must be primarily involved in the creation of books, ebooks, or both to be deemed eligible.
Your business must also:
- be properly registered and in good standing under applicable provincial legislation
- having been in business for at least 12 months in Alberta before applying
- An Albertan or Albertans must own at least 51 percent of the company, and effective managerial and editorial authority must rest with Alberta residents.
- Other than the organization’s principals, board members, or stakeholders publish books
- not take author compensation for services as a regular element of their publishing programme, nor publish more than 25% of titles by firm principals or owners.
- be principally engaged with and earn at least 51% of operating income from the above-mentioned creative products
- have a physical address in Alberta
- For publishers who are part of an affiliated group, corporations must be able to show a reasonable and unambiguous difference between their publishing programmes and their corporate structures depending on their publishing programme.
- have at least two trade or educational publications published in the 12 months prior to application
- have at least $15,000 in qualifying book sales in the previous fiscal year, and no more than $2,000,000 in yearly sales averaged over the previous three fiscal years
- University Presses, for example, must be recognized as a separate department or body inside a post-secondary university.
- Institutions of higher learning are not eligible.
Published and Digital Works That Are Eligible
A book must meet the following criteria to be considered eligible:
- Except for children’s books, which can be less than 48 pages, a printed book must have at least 48 pages.
- Likewise, if a digital version of a book, including an audio version, is accessible for sale over the internet or other non-physical transmission, it must meet the same rules as a printed book.
- Be a new title: a new title is a print or digital book that has more than 50% unique content.
- Or be a new edition: a new edition is a reprinting of a book previously published by the same or a different publisher in a revised form. A new edition must include significant modifications to at least 25% of the original text or new written content or significant changes to the illustrations (excluding the cover).
Books with several editions are only counted as one title.
Submission Deadline
The application period for 2022-23 begins on MaMay 15nd and ends at 11:59 p.m. on JuJune 272022.
Contact
- Phone: 780-422-8584
- Toll-free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
- E-mail: [email protected]
Conclusion
Skilled trades are an important part of Canada’s workforce and contribute to the country’s economic strength and diversity. Trained tradespeople have been crucial to essential industries throughout the COVID-19 epidemic, and demand for skilled tradespeople is likely to continue strong over the next ten years as Canada’s economy recovers.
One in every six Canadians is employed in the skilled crafts. In 2018, half of all journey people who had finished a Red Seal apprenticeship programme in one of the top 14 Red Seal trades five years before made more than $68,750 per year. Some journeymen earn more than graduates of university master’s programmes in equivalent positions. Despite these facts, just one out of every ten 15-year-old pupils intends to pursue a trades profession, and people from underrepresented groups continue to be underrepresented in the trades.
That is why the Government of Canada is investing heavily in removing obstacles and assisting apprentices and tradespeople in obtaining the skills they require to thrive and pursue a rewarding career in a skilled profession. Between 2004 and 2020, the proportion of new women registrations in male-dominated Red Seal trades has more than doubled.
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