Grow Your Business With Apprenticeship

We Are Hiring!

Manitoba is home to a vibrant community of Landscape Horticulturist Journeypersons who have successfully completed the apprenticeship program. They own their own businesses, work in all sectors of the green profession and employ apprentices. For obvious reasons, they are great supporters of the program and excited to talk about their experience as an apprentice, Journeyperson and employer. Connect with someone on the MBNLA Professional Development committee to learn how to grow your business with Apprenticeship:

As an employer in the landscape and horticulture industry, the odds are pretty good that you have struggled with staffing your business at one time or another. Maybe even right now. Posting job openings, interviewing, and on-boarding probably take up more time than you care to admit. Add training and supervision to the mix and you quickly realize you have a lot invested in each employee.

Staff turnover means you continue to repeat this activity; sometimes from one season to the next, other times within a single season. This can make it difficult to add shifts or work crews, prepare employees for additional responsibilities and promotions, reduce or focus your personal workload, and, ultimately, grow your business.

Follow in the footsteps of other successful businesses such as yours and become an employer-sponsor for an apprentice. Grow your own talent and shape their skills and knowledge to meet the needs of your company. They will become your core workforce who will share their skills with new apprentices, fill in skills gaps and become the future managers and leaders for your business.

How Does Apprenticeship Work?

A landscape horticulture apprenticeship includes both paid on-the-job work experience and in-school technical training. As the employer-sponsor, you are responsible for the work experience portion of the training at your place of business and job sites. Your apprentice will work regular hours with you and attend in-class technical training at Red River College. Once all requirements have been successfully met, your apprentice becomes a certified interprovincial red seal journeyperson.

It’s easy to get started!

• Identify an employee. Your apprentice can be a new hire or existing employee who is interested in building a career in the landscape and horticulture industry.
• Determine who will train your apprentice. Apprentices are typically trained by a certified journeyperson. However, if one is not available, as a qualified, experienced tradesperson in the landscape and horticulture industry, you or one of your staff can become a designated trainer.
• Review your responsibilities. As an employer-sponsor, you will need to set up your online profile in AccessManitoba, allow your apprentice time away from work for classroom technical training, and track and submit apprentice hours.
• Register your apprentice. You and your apprentice will complete the Apprenticeship Application and Agreement and submit it to Apprenticeship Manitoba.
• Once your apprentice is registered, sign up for technical training with ca. Click here to learn more about how to apply for the in-class technical training.
• In between the levels of technical training, apprentices are required to track their hours and have their employer submit their hours every 6 to 8 months through the online reporting systemHome Page | AccessManitoba | Province of Manitoba .  Apprentices are required to gain 1500 hours between levels of technical training. These hours are to be completed while working with an employer-sponsor.
• Once the apprentice has successfully completed all levels of technical trainingthey are ready to write the Inter-provincial red seal exam.  Your final certification exam is usually scheduled at the end of training during your final level of technical training. You will be tested on the learnings of your entire apprenticeship. Your instructor will spend some time on exam preparation, including a review of the theory from all levels of technical training. Take advantage of this review and plan on spending time on your own to prepare. You are required to pass the exam with a 70% or higher.
• Once the apprentice has passed all levels of technical training and the red seal certification exam, completed all 6,000 hours for the trade of Landscape Horticulturist along with completing the four year calendar time for the trade the apprentice is eligible to receive their Red Seal certification.  The training ensures the apprentice is qualified at a standard recognized across all of Canada.  An Inter-provincial red seal journeyperson is qualified to work throughout Canada. A red seal certified employee with the knowledge and experience gained throughout their apprenticeship can go onto other opportunities such as team lead, Manager or eventually start their own business or more.

        More information about the inter-provincial red seal program can be found here.

What if I have been working as a landscape horticulturist but I am not a registered apprentice?

If an employee has been working in the trade for 6 years or more and has accumulated 9000 hours of experience, they are qualified to challenge the exam.  More information about challenging the exam can be found here.

Employer-Sponsor Incentives

There are a number of provincial and federal grants, tax credits and other incentives available to employers who employ apprentices and to apprentices to help cover the cost of their education*. Following is a brief description of the incentives currently available to you as an employer-sponsor. Please visit Apprenticeship Manitoba for more detail on these programs and those available to your apprentice.

• The Province of Manitoba subsidizes the cost of classroom training with no direct cost to you as the employer-sponsor.
• The Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit (AJCTC) is a non-refundable tax credit available to employers or sponsors who hire and train apprentices in certain skilled trades such as landscape horticulturist. This credit is equal to 10% of the eligible salaries and wages payable to eligible apprentices in respect of employment after May 1, 2006. The maximum credit an employer can claim is $2,000 per year for each eligible apprentice. If your business hires an eligible apprentice, you qualify to claim the credit.
• Manitoba Paid Work Experience Tax Credits (PWETC) provide incentives to employers who offer work experiences to qualified apprentices and recently certified journeypersons. Eligible trades include both Red Seal and non-Red-Seal trades, including landscape horticulturist. A 15% credit on wages and salaries to a maximum of $5,000 per apprentice per year is available for hiring apprentices through all levels of apprenticeship and for hiring journeypersons for the first two years. The rural and northern bonus for hiring Level 1 and 2 apprentices provides a total 20% credit on wages and salaries, with a cap of $5,000 per year per apprentice.

*It is the employee-sponsor and the apprentice’s own responsibility to apply for these incentives.  Apprenticeship Manitoba does not automatically apply them to you.

In-Class Technical Training

The in-class technical training for landscape horticulturists is currently completed in four blocks. Levels 1 through 3 are 9 weeks long each. Level 4 is 8 weeks long. Apprentices typically complete one block of in-class training per year. Those apprentices with a year or two of work experience prior to registering for technical training tend to be the most successful.

Wondering if this is the right fit for your business?

Manitoba is home to a vibrant community of Landscape Horticulturist Journeypersons who have successfully completed the apprenticeship program. They own their own businesses, work in all sectors of the green profession and employ apprentices. For obvious reasons, they are great supporters of the program and excited to talk about their experience as an apprentice, Journeyperson and employer. Connect with someone on the MBNLA Professional Development committee to learn how to grow your business with Apprenticeship:

Jackson Mitchell (jackson@gellerswinnipeg.ca)
Guy Dowhy (dowhydesign@gmail.com)

Ready to register as an employer-sponsor or want a little more information?

Please contact:

Peter Goodson
Apprenticeship Training Co-ordinator
Apprenticeship Manitoba
100-111 Lombard Ave, Winnipeg, MB  R3B 0T4
Phone Number : 204.391.6605
Email :  Peter.Goodson@gov.mb.ca
www.manitoba.ca/tradecareers

Useful Links

Trade Description
https://www.gov.mb.ca/aesi/apprenticeship/discover/mbtrades/landscape.html

Designated Trainer
https://www.gov.mb.ca/aesi/apprenticeship/generalinfo/pubs/2022_dt_enhanced_app_updated_eng.pdf

Downloadable Apprenticeship Forms
https://www.gov.mb.ca/aesi/apprenticeship/generalinfo/forms.html#general

AccessManitoba
http://www.accessmanitoba.ca/

Apprenticeship Manitoba
https://www.gov.mb.ca/aesi/apprenticeship/generalinfo/index.html

Canadian Red Seal Program
https://www.red-seal.ca/eng/trades/l.1ndsc.1p.2h.4rt.3c.5lt.5r.3st.shtml