Manitoba Workforce Tariff Response Program 2026: Who Qualifies and How to Apply

The Canada-Manitoba Workforce Tariff Response Program pays for training for Manitoba workers directly and indirectly affected by tariffs, including in steel, softwood lumber and other sectors. It is funded through a three-year, $18.2 million investment from the Government of Canada under the Employment Insurance-funded Canada-Manitoba Workforce Tariff Response Agreement, and it runs six pathways across workers, employers and service partners.

For employers, the core offer is reimbursement of up to 100% of direct training costs for current employees. A separate wage subsidy of up to 100% of employee wages during training may be available, but only for employees at risk of job loss and only where the employer can show at least a 10% revenue decline over the past 12 months linked to tariffs.

Intake is continuous and starts with a short employer intake form. This guide covers who should apply and who should not, what the program pays for, how to scope a training project that holds up, what to prepare, and the gaps on the official page that you should confirm with a Workforce Development Consultant before you commit money.

Manitoba Workforce Tariff Response Program at a glance

The page does not state a maximum per employer, per project or per trainee, does not state whether the employer must contribute a share, and does not state an end date for employer intake. Treat each of those as a question for your Workforce Development Consultant, not an assumption in your budget.

Who qualifies: employers and sectors

To apply as an employer, your business must:

• Be permanently established in Manitoba
• Have been fully operational for at least one year when you apply
• Identify whether you are in a Work-Sharing Agreement
• Show how tariffs or market changes affected the business and workforce, for example higher material costs, lost contracts or fewer export opportunities
• Show that the training supports adaptation and recovery and leads to at least one eligible outcome
• Operate in an eligible NAICS code

The five outcomes: your project needs at least one

• Retention of the employee in their current job
• Transition to a new job
• Returning a Work-Sharing employee to full-time work
• Skills for new business opportunities
• Preparing a recently hired employee for a position vacated through layoffs

Who should apply

• A Manitoba manufacturer, mill, contractor, distributor or carrier in an eligible NAICS code that can point to a specific tariff effect: a lost U.S. contract, a jump in steel input costs, an export line that shrank
• An employer on Work-Sharing that wants to retrain people so they can return to full-time hours
• A business moving into a new product, market or process because of tariffs, where staff need new skills to make that shift work
• An employer that has backfilled positions after layoffs and needs to bring new hires up to speed

Who should not apply, or should wait

• Businesses outside the listed NAICS codes, or operating in Manitoba for less than a full year
• Employers that cannot describe a tariff or market effect on the business and its workforce. A general wish to upskill staff is not the target
• Employers whose main need is leadership development, conferences or coaching. Those are excluded
• Employers whose training is already funded for the same people by another federal or provincial program
• Employers planning mostly around the wage subsidy without a documented revenue decline of at least 10% linked to tariffs

Which employees can be trained

Each trainee must be:

• A Canadian citizen, permanent resident or protected person
• A resident of Manitoba
• A current employee of the applicant at the time of training, which includes eligible recently hired employees

These people are not eligible:

• Temporary foreign workers, international students and other temporary residents
• Family members employed for less than three months before the application date
• Workers with full-time permanent employment at another company

Check the trainee list against these rules before you file the intake form. In practice the residency and status tests are where lists fall apart, particularly for crews that include temporary foreign workers or staff who live across a provincial line.

What it pays for

The program reimburses up to 100% of direct training costs. The eligible cost categories are:

• External training provider fees
• Mandatory student fees
• Textbooks, software and other materials
• Exam fees
• Wages of internal trainers

Who can deliver the training

External providers must be separate from the employer, have no conflict of interest, have relevant education or experience, and run training as their main business. Internal trainers can be used only for onboarding or for training on proprietary products or internal processes. All other training must be delivered by an external provider.

That split matters when you build the budget. A welding upgrade, a forklift or crane certification, or a CNC programming course belongs with an external provider. Training a crew on your own new line, your quality system or your in-house software can sit with an internal trainer, and that trainer's wages are an eligible cost.

The wage subsidy and the 10% revenue test

On top of direct training costs, up to 100% of employee wages during training may be reimbursed. Two conditions apply, and both have to be met:

1. The employee is at risk of job loss
2. The employer demonstrates at least a 10% revenue decline over the past 12 months linked to tariffs

Until you know what evidence the program accepts, keep it ready in more than one form: monthly revenue by customer or export market, lost or reduced purchase orders, and correspondence that ties those changes to tariffs. That is the material that connects a revenue drop to tariffs rather than to an ordinary slow year.

What does not qualify

• Non-job-related professional development, including consulting, coaching, mentorships, subscriptions, trade shows, conferences, annual meetings, networking and seminars
• Leadership training
• Providers that only train a single employer, unless the training covers proprietary products or processes
• Providers who are relatives of the employer
• Training already funded for the same participant by another federal or provincial program

The last point is the only stacking rule the page states. It is participant-specific: the same training for the same person cannot be paid twice.

How to scope a strong training project

The application has to connect three things: what tariffs did to the business, what the training changes, and which outcome it produces. Files that hold together usually look like this:

• Start from the tariff effect, in specifics. Name the contract you lost, the input cost that rose, or the export volume that fell. A line like "tariffs hurt our industry" does not show an effect on your business and workforce
• Tie each training item to one listed outcome. For example, retraining sawmill staff on a new product line to keep them in their jobs (retention), or training a Work-Sharing crew so they can return to full-time work
• Name the people. List each trainee, their role, their eligibility status, and which outcome applies to them
• Separate external from internal delivery. Internal trainers only for onboarding, proprietary products or internal processes; everything else external, with the provider's credentials
• Keep it inside 12 months. Agreements cannot exceed 12 months, so phase the training to finish, with the final report, inside that window
• Get quotes. Provider fees, student fees, materials, software and exam fees, itemized per trainee where you can

If the business is also changing equipment or processes because of tariffs, the training plan reads best when it follows that change: new equipment, then the people trained to run it. Keep the equipment itself out of this budget; the eligible costs are training costs.

How to apply

1. Read the employer page and complete the employer intake form, which determines eligibility.
2. A Workforce Development Consultant reviews the intake and follows up with you.
3. If you are eligible, you are invited to submit a full application.

Intake is continuous. Questions go to workforcetraining@gov.mb.ca. The program overview is on the program index page.

If you are a worker or an apprentice

Workers affected by tariffs are referred to Manitoba Jobs and Skills Development Centres for Employment Services, Skilled Trades, Skills Development and Self-Employment supports. Apprentices affected by tariffs can contact apprenticeship@gov.mb.ca.

What to prepare

• Business basics: proof you are permanently established in Manitoba and have been fully operational for at least one year, and your NAICS code
• Work-Sharing status: whether you are in a Work-Sharing Agreement, and which employees are on it
• Tariff impact evidence: material cost changes, lost or reduced contracts, export volumes, and the effect on your workforce
• Revenue records, if you will ask for the wage subsidy: enough to show the past 12 months and the decline, in a form your consultant confirms is acceptable
• Trainee list: name, role, status (citizen, permanent resident or protected person), Manitoba residency, start date, and the outcome that applies
• Training plan: courses, dates, delivery (external or internal), provider credentials, and why internal delivery fits where you use it
• Quotes and costs: provider fees, student fees, materials, software, exam fees, internal trainer wages
• Payroll setup: a way to pull payroll records for trainees and internal trainers cleanly, since proof of payment is required with the final report
• Consent forms: a plan to get one signed by every participant, ideally before training starts

A realistic timeline

The page does not state a processing time, so the dates below are a planning sequence, not a promise:

• Week 1: confirm NAICS code, the one-year operating test, trainee eligibility and Work-Sharing status; submit the intake form
• After intake: a Workforce Development Consultant reviews and follows up. Use this time to firm up provider quotes, the trainee list and your tariff impact evidence, and to ask about the gaps listed in this guide
• On invitation: submit the full application with the training plan and budget
• During the agreement (12 months maximum): collect consent forms, deliver the training, keep invoices and payroll records as you go. Agreements longer than six months need an interim report at six months
• At the end: submit the final report with proof of payment for all project costs, including payroll records. Proof of payment for every cost goes in with the final report
• Afterwards: participants receive follow-up questionnaires at 6 and 12 months. These are not tied to payment

Because reimbursement depends on proof of payment, expect to pay providers and trainee wages yourself first. Ask your consultant how and when reimbursement is paid out.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the wage subsidy as guaranteed. It applies only to at-risk employees and only with a 10% or greater revenue decline linked to tariffs
• Including temporary foreign workers, international students or family members employed for less than three months in the trainee list
• Using an internal trainer for general skills training that has to go to an external provider
• Budgeting for leadership courses, conferences, coaching or trade shows
• Naming a provider who only trains your company, or who is a relative, without the proprietary-training exception applying
• Starting training without a signed consent form. No consent form means no payment for that participant
• Losing track of invoices and payroll records. Incomplete reporting may mean less than full reimbursement
• Claiming training that another federal or provincial program is already paying for the same person
• Scoping a project that runs past 12 months

How it fits with other funding

Work-Sharing. The program asks whether you are in a Work-Sharing Agreement, and one of the five outcomes is returning a Work-Sharing employee to full-time work. Being on Work-Sharing is not listed as a barrier; disclose it and use the training to support the return to full hours.

Other training programs. The only stacking rule stated is that training already funded for the same participant by another federal or provincial program is ineligible. If you have other training funding in place, map each course and each person to one program before you apply.

Capital and R&D funding. This program pays for training, not equipment or development. If tariffs are pushing you into new products or production methods, the equipment and scale-up side may fit prairie regional development agency BSP funding, and consortium manufacturing projects may fit NGen. SR&ED is unrelated to training costs; it covers eligible experimental development work, which you would claim separately. To see other programs your business may fit, try the Grant Finder.

Service partners. A separate stream funds non-profits, sector councils, industry or employer associations, unions and training providers established in Manitoba for at least one year, for unemployed trainees laid off on or after January 1, 2025. Details are on the service partners page. If your industry association is running a project, it may be worth asking whether laid-off workers in your sector are covered there.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Canada-Manitoba Workforce Tariff Response Program?

It is a training program for Manitoba workers directly and indirectly affected by tariffs, including in steel, softwood lumber and other sectors. It is funded through a three-year, $18.2 million Government of Canada investment under an Employment Insurance-funded agreement, with six pathways across workers, employers and service partners.

How much does the program reimburse employers?

Up to 100% of direct training costs: external provider fees, mandatory student fees, textbooks, software and materials, exam fees, and internal trainer wages. The page does not state a dollar cap per employer, project or trainee, or whether an employer cost share applies. Confirm both with a Workforce Development Consultant.

Will the program pay employee wages during training?

It may. Up to 100% of employee wages during training may be reimbursed, but only for employees at risk of job loss, and only for employers that demonstrate at least a 10% revenue decline over the past 12 months linked to tariffs. The page does not state how the decline must be documented or a cap on the subsidy.

Which sectors are eligible?

Employers in NAICS 3311 and 3312 (steel); 113, 1153, 321 and 322 (softwood lumber); and 11 Agriculture, 23 Construction, 31-33 Manufacturing, 41 Wholesale Trade, and 48-49 Transportation and Warehousing.

Can I train temporary foreign workers under this program?

No. Temporary foreign workers, international students and other temporary residents are not eligible trainees. Trainees must be Canadian citizens, permanent residents or protected persons, live in Manitoba and be current employees at the time of training.

Can my own staff deliver the training?

Only for onboarding or training on proprietary products or internal processes. All other training must be delivered by an external provider that is separate from your business, has no conflict of interest, has relevant education or experience, and runs training as its main business.

When can training start, and how long can the project run?

Training on or after April 1, 2026 is eligible, and funding agreements cannot exceed 12 months. The page does not state whether approval is required before training starts, so confirm that with your Workforce Development Consultant before you book providers.

How do I apply?

Complete the employer intake form to determine eligibility. A Workforce Development Consultant reviews it and follows up, and eligible applicants are invited to submit a full application. Intake is continuous. Questions go to workforcetraining@gov.mb.ca.