November 15, 2012
By Sally Harvey CLT, CLP
Manager Education and Labour Development

Sally HarveyApprenticeship is a gift to employers and employees. If you are considering a layoff, a prudent employer, who understands that a trained and skilled team will enhance your business, will register staff in the apprenticeship program.

I feel like a broken record, but apprenticeship is truly a win-win program, and provides financial incentives for both the employer and apprentice.

Register your selected staff in the program by completing the pre-registration form available at: www.horttrades.com/lo-apprenticeship. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Apprenticeship Pre-Registration form, and then fax it in to your local office shown under the MTCU Apprenticeship Offices in Ontario tab.

Employers are eligible for Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit. http://bit.ly/taxscredit.

Apprentices are also eligible for www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/employmentontario/training/financial.html.

The Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities will contact you to arrange a meeting with a consultant, you and the hopeful apprentice at your shop or office. The employer commits to provide training in the workplace and the employee commits to attending class and being a willing trainee in the workplace. The in-class portions are offered across Ontario at approved institutions during the winter season. This allows the apprentice to be available for work each landscape season.

In-class training is available in 2013 at Fanshawe College in London, Mohawk College at Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Humber College in Etobicoke, Loyalist College in Belleville and University of Guelph – Kemptville Campus in Kemptville.
 

Professional development

I regularly receive communications that indicate to me that many are not aware that www.horttrades.com is the industry website. It is an amazing hub of information full of news, coming events, professional development opportunities and tools to help all industry members to improve ourselves and our businesses.

This message is timely, as the website becomes populated and updated with the new 2012-2013 Landscape Ontario Professional Development Seminar Guide, Congress 2013 and other events planned for the winter months. We also have updated the safety information on the site to improve navigation and to provide better resources. Check it out and let us know what you think. Send feedback to sharvey@landscapeontario.com.


Safety

As always, there is a lot happening in the world of safety. You should know that the Ministry of Labour is now responsible for enforcement and prevention. They have more resources on the website to help employers. I highly recommend that you bookmark it and subscribe to the Safe at Work Ontario newsletter. Remember to check out the schedule for safety blitzes, as they often include our industry. Subscribe at: www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/sawo/index.php to stay informed.
 

More resources and tools

Thanks to our partnership with Workplace Safety Prevention Services (WSPS), we expect to release the landscape horticulture industry Small Business Guide to help employers understand the meaning of compliance.

Many of you have referred to Landscape Ontario Tailgate Talks book as the ‘little green book.’ As many of you know, we ran out of stock on the little green book, and thus once again Landscape Ontario partnered with WSPS to update and expand the scope of topics in Tailgate Talks.

We expect to release the new Tailgate Talks at Congress 2013, just in time for the 2013 season. Those talks should happen at least weekly. The book will continue to be in the small size format for convenient storage and use wherever a tailgate talk opportunity may happen.
Contact Sally Harvey at sharvey@landscapeontario.com

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