'We need a lot – we’ll produce a lot – of apprentices and skilled labour,' said Sheehan With ambitious plans to build 500,000 homes per year if re-elected, the Liberal Party has also promised to help train more workers to get those homes built. The Liberals have pledged up to $8,000 towards apprenticeship training costs for people getting into the skilled trades, among other plans, which local candidate Terry Sheehan said will “absolutely” help with the housing crisis. “That's going to remove a lot of financial barriers to skilled training. I used to hear that all the time,” Sheehan said to SooToday. The Liberals also plan to increase funding for the Union Training and Innovation Program from $25 million to $50 million, and provide $20 million in capital funding opportunities for colleges to create more training spaces for apprentices. “The union training centres are state of the art, and they produce great trades people with apprentices,” Sheehan said. “We're establishing the $20 million capital funding stream for colleges like Sault College to support training spaces for apprenticeships, so this is going to bode well for Sault Ste. Marie and the area as well.” For trained workers, the Liberals also hope to make it easier to work around the country. “Mark Carney has already said (he) is removing the inter-provincial barriers, not only for trade, but for labour mobility,” Sheehan said. “We need a lot – we’ll produce a lot – of apprentices and skilled labour. Mark Carney put a date of July 1 to get rid of interprovincial barriers, so this will bode well to accelerate our skilled workforce.” The Conservative Party announced similar plans in recent weeks, pledging a variety of measures under its ‘More Boots, Less Suits’ initiative, such as ‘re-instating’ apprenticeship grants of up to $4,000 – which the party’s website previously announced were set to expire under the ‘Carney–Trudeau Liberals’ at the end of March. The Conservatives have announced plans to train up to 350,000 workers over five years, while the Liberals did not announce a target figure, and similar plans to “harmonize” regulations so tradespeople can work more easily around Canada. Asked whether the Liberal plan was a direct response to the Conservatives, Sheehan said they “were catching up to us… they had zero.” “We already had money on the table before that, which was announced in previous budgets, including the labour mobility tax credit of up to $4,000 of refundable tax credit for an apprentice that travels,” he added. “This is layered on top of what we have already done. “The $8,000 – this is in addition to the $20,000 interest free Canada apprenticeship loan.” When asked about her party's plans for skilled trades, Sault Ste. Marie–Algoma NDP candidate, Laura Mayer, simply highlighted several NDP platform points. Mayer's party plans to build three million homes by 2030, and put forward a "massive investment" in public infrastructure, both of which the NDP say will lead to more trades jobs and apprenticeships. The NDP also plan to restore apprenticeship incentive and completion grants, and - similarly to the Liberals - expand the Union Training and Innovation Program, among other measures. SooToday also reached out to Conservative candidate Hugh Stevenson, who did not respond. The federal election is set for April 28.