A journeyperson-to-apprentice ratio caps how many apprentices a firm can employ in a trade for each certified journeyperson supervising them, and in Ontario the rule that applies is simpler than most firms expect.
Skilled Trades Ontario states plainly: “Under the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act, 2021 (BOSTA), trades with ratios must follow a 1:1 journeyperson-to-apprentice ratio”, and directs firms to “a list of trades subject to ratios” in Ontario Regulation 876/21 — ratios apply only to the specific trades named in that regulation, not to every trade a firm employs.
Alberta runs the same idea differently. Alberta’s trade information portal sets ratios trade by trade rather than publishing one province-wide number the way Ontario’s BOSTA rule does, so an Ontario firm that assumes “1:1 everywhere” and expands into Alberta needs to check the specific trade, not carry the Ontario number across the border.
Section 4 of that regulation names the trades themselves, not just a category, and construction trades dominate the list: brick and stone mason, cement (concrete) finisher, drywall finisher and plasterer, electrician (construction and maintenance), general carpenter, ironworker (both generalist and structural/ornamental), plumber, roofer, sheet metal worker, sprinkler and fire protection installer, and steamfitter are all named as subject to the 1:1 ratio, alongside trades like painter and decorator and precast concrete erector. A trade absent from that section 4 list — even one prescribed elsewhere in the same regulation — carries no ratio cap at all. See O. Reg. 876/21 for the full list.
An Ontario mechanical contractor employs three certified journeypersons in a trade that appears on Ontario Regulation 876/21’s ratio list. Under the 1:1 rule, the firm can indenture at most three apprentices in that trade at once — one per journeyperson, not one per active project. If the firm books enough new work to justify a fourth apprentice, hiring more work does not create the room; the firm needs a fourth journeyperson on staff first, because the ratio caps against certified supervisors, not against job volume.
See also: Certificate of qualification, trade by trade · Compulsory vs voluntary trades · Alberta: OHS duties and trade certification.
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