Manitoba Stronger Together
Manitoba Bill Analysis
Bill 47
The Apprenticeship and Certification Amendment Act
Topic:
Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship
Sponsor:
Hon. Jamie Moses
Sponsor Position:
Minister of Business, Mining, Trade and Job Creation
Current Status:
First Reading completed — awaiting Second Reading
Date Introduced:
March 12, 2026
Offical Bill URL:
Hansard URL:
Plain Language Explanation
Bill 47 proposes two main changes to Manitoba's apprenticeship and certification system. First, it would require the executive director responsible for apprenticeship and certification to create an online public registry within 60 days after the Act comes into force. The registry must allow members of the public to confirm the qualifications of people who hold a Manitoba certificate of qualification in a designated trade, people who hold an occupational certificate in a designated occupation, and any additional class of persons later added by regulation. The exact information displayed in the registry is not set out in the bill and would be prescribed by regulation. Second, the bill would allow the executive director to share information collected under the Act with an approved service provider. An approved service provider is an educational institution, corporation or organization that has an agreement with the executive director to provide technical training, education or other services under the Act. Personal information may be shared, but only the minimum amount required for the statutory purpose. The bill takes effect on Royal Assent.
What Would It Change
• Public credential registry: The current Act does not require a general online public registry of certificate holders. Bill 47 would require one to be established within 60 days. • Mandatory initial coverage: The registry must contain prescribed information about every person holding a certificate of qualification in a designated trade and every person holding an occupational certificate in a designated occupation. • Additional coverage by regulation: The government could add other prescribed classes of people subject to the Act. • Registry contents by regulation: The information displayed about each person would be determined later through regulations. • Expanded information sharing: The executive director may currently share information with provincial departments and federal or other provincial government departments or agencies for administration and enforcement of the Act. Bill 47 would add approved service providers to the recipients that may receive information. • Privacy wording: The bill expressly defines personal information by reference to The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and requires that any personal information shared under section 42 be restricted to the minimum amount required.
Who Could Be Affected
Manitoba-certified journeypersons; holders of occupational certificates; people who may later be placed in an additional prescribed class; apprentices and other legally authorized workers if regulations include them or if the public interprets their absence from the registry; employers, contractors, unions and industry associations; homeowners and consumers hiring tradespeople; municipalities and public bodies procuring skilled-trade services; educational institutions and technical-training providers; corporations and organizations entering service agreements with the executive director; workers certified in another Canadian jurisdiction; temporary-permit holders, exempt persons and students; Apprenticeship Manitoba; and privacy, information-technology and cybersecurity officials responsible for the registry.
Why It Matters
A reliable public registry could make it much easier for an employer, consumer or public body to confirm that a person actually holds a Manitoba trade or occupational credential. That may reduce fraudulent claims, improve public and workplace safety and support the recognition of Manitoba credentials outside the province. However, the registry's usefulness and fairness will depend almost entirely on the regulations and operating design. The Act permits people to work lawfully in compulsory certification trades under several routes other than holding a Manitoba certificate, including certification from another Canadian jurisdiction, registered apprenticeship, recognized out-of-province training, an exemption or a temporary permit. In voluntary trades, certification is not necessarily a legal prerequisite to working. A registry that does not clearly explain these distinctions could cause the public to treat 'not found' as meaning unqualified or working illegally when that conclusion may be wrong.
New Government Powers
• The executive director is required and authorized to establish and operate an online public credential registry. • The minister may make regulations determining the information published in the registry. • The minister may make regulations adding classes of persons beyond Manitoba certificate-of-qualification and occupational-certificate holders. • The executive director may share information collected or obtained under the Act with an approved service provider that has entered into an agreement to provide training, education or other services. • The shared information may include personal information, subject to the statutory minimum-necessary limitation and other applicable privacy law.
Regulations Required
Regulations must determine the actual information displayed in the public registry and may determine which additional classes of people are included. The bill does not specify whether the registry will display a person's full name, trade or occupation, certificate number, Red Seal endorsement, issue date, current status, expiry date, suspension or cancellation status, location, employer or disciplinary information. Regulations must also resolve whether and how the registry will show apprentices, out-of-province certificate holders, recognized trainees, students, exempt persons, partial exemptions and temporary-permit holders. The bill does not set registry-specific procedures for notice before publication, identity verification, correction of errors, removal of outdated information, review of a disputed entry, bulk access, data reuse or protection against automated scraping. Because the registry must be operational within 60 days of Royal Assent, the regulations and technical system would need to be prepared on a very short timeline.
Potential Unintended Consequences
Employers or consumers may wrongly assume that a person who does not appear in the registry is unqualified or illegally working, even though the person may be an apprentice, hold an out-of-province certificate, have a temporary permit or exemption, or work in a voluntary trade. An incorrect or stale entry could cost a worker employment or contracts before the error is corrected. People with common names may be confused with one another if the registry provides too little identifying information, while publishing too much information creates privacy and security risks. Automated data harvesting could be used for unsolicited marketing, worker profiling or commercial background screening. If suspended or cancelled credentials are shown without context, historical or disputed information may cause disproportionate reputational harm. Approved service providers could become additional points of cybersecurity failure. A rushed 60-day launch could produce inaccurate data, weak security or a registry that is difficult to use and therefore undermines confidence rather than improving it.
Questions and Concerns
1. Public information not defined: The bill does not say which personal or credential information will be visible online. 2. Additional classes not defined: Cabinet may expand the registry to other people subject to the Act without those classes being debated in the bill. 3. Meaning of an absent name: The registry initially guarantees coverage only for Manitoba certificate and occupational-certificate holders. The Act also permits many other people to work legally in compulsory trades, and certification is not mandatory in voluntary trades. 4. Out-of-province workers: A person holding a valid certificate from another Canadian jurisdiction may be legally authorized to work but may not appear unless the regulations provide for them. 5. Apprentices and temporary authorization: Apprentices, pending applicants, recognized out-of-province trainees, students, exempt persons and temporary-permit holders may be lawful workers but are not expressly included in the mandatory registry categories. 6. Accuracy and procedural fairness: The bill contains no registry-specific notice, correction, review or appeal process if an entry is wrong, missing, duplicated or incorrectly states that a credential is suspended. 7. Privacy and cybersecurity: Publication of names and credential details may enable identity theft, impersonation, commercial scraping or harassment if too much information is displayed. 8. Service-provider agreements: The term 'other services' is broad. The bill does not set statutory rules for provider security standards, retention, subcontractors, audits, breach notification or destruction of information when an agreement ends. 9. Sixty-day deadline: The deadline may be too short for public consultation, regulations, privacy assessment, data cleansing, security testing, accessibility and bilingual implementation unless substantial preparatory work has already occurred. 10. Cost and maintenance: The bill contains no public implementation budget, service standard, accuracy target or requirement to report outages, errors, searches or corrections.
MST Analysis
Bill 47 is short, understandable and directed at a legitimate problem: members of the public and employers should be able to verify whether a person actually holds a Manitoba trade or occupational credential. A carefully designed registry could strengthen public confidence, deter credential fraud and improve labour mobility. The information-sharing amendment may also improve coordination with colleges and other training providers, and the minimum-necessary rule is a positive safeguard. The principal weakness is that the Legislature is approving the framework without seeing the information that will be publicly disclosed or the full range of people who may be added. Those are not minor administrative details; they determine privacy, fairness and whether the registry communicates an accurate picture of who may legally perform trade work. The registry must distinguish between credential verification and authorization to work. A Manitoba certificate holder should be verifiable, but a missing result must not be presented as proof that a person is unqualified or working unlawfully. The regulations and website should clearly identify apprentices, recognized interprovincial credentials, permits and exemptions, or prominently explain that these categories may not appear. The government should also complete a privacy impact assessment, security testing and data-quality review before launch rather than allowing the 60-day deadline to force a premature public release.
Potential Benefits
• Employers and consumers could verify Manitoba-issued qualifications quickly and without waiting for manual confirmation. • A public verification system may deter false claims of journeyperson or occupational certification. • Accurate current status information could improve safety in compulsory certification trades. • Municipalities, procurement authorities, insurers and prime contractors could verify credentials more consistently. • Easier verification may support interprovincial labour mobility and confidence in Manitoba credentials. • Approved information sharing could reduce duplicate paperwork between Apprenticeship Manitoba and training providers and improve student registration or service delivery. • The minimum-necessary personal-information rule provides an express privacy safeguard. • A well-designed system could allow certificate holders to demonstrate their credentials conveniently to prospective employers and clients.
MST Conclusions
MST recommends support in principle, subject to publication of the draft registry regulations and clear privacy, accuracy and procedural safeguards. The registry should display only the information reasonably necessary to verify a credential: the person's name, credential type, designated trade or occupation, current status and an official verification identifier. Home addresses, personal telephone numbers, birth dates, employers and unrelated personal details should not be public. Regulations should explain every lawful worker category that may not appear, provide a fast correction and review process, require timely updates after issuance, suspension, reinstatement or cancellation, and set security, audit, breach-notification and data-destruction standards for approved service providers. Certificate holders should receive notice of the information to be published and a practical opportunity to correct errors. The government should report implementation costs and confirm that the registry will be bilingual, accessible, secure and operationally tested before it goes live. MST's recommended status is: support with safeguards and regulatory disclosure.
How Citizens Can Respond
Bill 47 has received First Reading and is awaiting Second Reading. Manitobans may register now to make an oral presentation or submit a written brief when the bill is referred to committee. Citizens may also contact their MLA and the Minister of Business, Mining, Trade and Job Creation. Suggested questions include: What exact information will be publicly displayed? Will draft regulations be published before the bill proceeds? Will out-of-province certificate holders, apprentices, temporary permits and exemptions appear, and if not, how will the website prevent a false inference that an absent person is unauthorized? How quickly will errors be corrected? Will credential holders receive notice before their information is published? What privacy impact assessment and cybersecurity testing will be completed? What security, retention, audit and breach-reporting terms will be required in agreements with approved service providers? What is the implementation and ongoing operating cost? How will the province ensure that the registry is bilingual, accessible and reliable within 60 days of Royal Assent?