Canada-Alberta Job Grant

Eligible employers can get government funding to help employees and unemployed Albertans access training opportunities.

Overview

Existing MADI-B users and Organization accounts have been transferred to the new Alberta.ca Account for Organizations.

See instructions below under the updated Canada-Alberta Job Grant Portal section.

The Canada-Alberta Job Grant is a training program where an employer applies on behalf of their present or future employees for eligible training costs. Employers decide who gets training and what type of training may be needed for their employees.

Funding provided by the Government of Canada through the Workforce Development Agreement.

Canada-Alberta Job Grant Portal

Funding

Eligible employers are required to contribute a minimum of one-third of the total training costs for existing employees. Government contributes two-thirds of the cost to a maximum of $10,000 per trainee per fiscal year. If hiring and training an unemployed Albertan, up to 100% of training costs could be covered, up to $15,000 per trainee.

Individual employers will have a cap of $300,000 for the amount of grant funding they can receive per fiscal year. This ensures that funding is available for as many Alberta employers as possible.

The CAJG is available for direct training costs only, including:

  • tuition fees or instructional fees charged by the training provider
  • mandatory student fees
  • examination fees
  • textbooks or software
  • other required materials directly relevant to the training course and distinct from materials required to run the employer's business
  • eligible travel cost for participant and trainers (outside of Edmonton and Calgary) when training is over 100 km one way within Alberta for small and medium-sized organizations (see Appendix A of the Applicant Guide for details

Employee wages cannot be reimbursed through the grant and Income Support is not available for workers who are in grant-funded training.

Eligibility

Eligible employers

The CAJG is available to:

  • private sector employers, including sole proprietors and partnerships
  • non-profit sector employers
  • First Nations and Metis Settlements
  • the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (if in a community with a population of 100,000 or less)
  • Alberta Treasury Branches (if in a community with a population of 100,000 or less)

To be eligible, Alberta employers must have current or potential employees who need training to fill current or future positions.

Eligible trainees

CAJG trainees must be employees (current or prospective) and one of the following:

  • Canadian citizens
  • permanent residents
  • protected people under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) who are entitled to work in Canada
  • business owners (incorporated, unincorporated, sole-proprietor, partnerships) with 4 or fewer employees, including all owners, are now eligible trainees
  • family members employed with the applicant company for more than 3 months

All eligible trainees must live in Alberta. (Employment may be verified.)

Ineligible trainees

The following individuals are not eligible as Canada-Alberta Job Grant trainees:

  • company owners (includes shareholders of a corporation and any member of the employer's board or council) of businesses with more than 4 employees
  • family members who are not current employees
  • Temporary Foreign Workers, or anyone temporarily working in Canada

Refer to the Canada-Alberta Job Grant Applicant Guide for complete eligibility criteria.

Training providers

Employers are responsible for finding appropriate training providers and programs.

Training providers must be third-party trainers separate and distinct from the employer. The employer may not act as the training provider and the training provider may not employ the individual it is training. Training must be a main business activity of the training provider.

Training

Requirements

Training must:

  • total 21 instructional hours or longer per trainee per application
  • start within 6 months after receiving Canada-Alberta Job Grant approval
  • be completed within 52 weeks of the training courses start date
  • result in some credential (record of completion, certification, grade, and so on)

Training may be delivered on a full or part-time basis, and may be any combination of online, on-site or in a classroom setting.

Apprenticeship Technical Training programs and self-study models like instructional books or DVDs are not supported by the Canada-Alberta Job Grant.

Trainees receiving Employment Insurance (EI)

Employers must declare on the Canada-Alberta Job Grant Application if their trainee is receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.

A trainee receiving EI benefits must notify their EI case worker of the training as soon as possible, to ensure they continue to receive their benefits.

How to apply

Canada-Alberta Job Grant applications must be submitted through the online portal.

Step 1: Read the Applicant Guide

Step 2: Complete the correct application for your trainees

Canada-Alberta Job Grant Portal

You only need to submit one application for all trainees taking the same training at the same time.

Check the Applicant Guide every time you apply to make sure you are up to date on the program requirements. If the application or supporting documents are incomplete your application will be rejected.

It is recommended that applications be submitted at least 30 days in advance of the start date of the training. Applications are not considered 'received' by the CAJG until ALL trainees have submitted their consent via email.

Use the following application checklist documents to ensure that all requirements are completed:

Receiving payment

In order to receive payment after applying online, complete these steps:

Step 1: Read the Training Completion checklist

Step 2: Fill out the Training Completion Application form

  • Access Canada-Alberta Job Grant Portal to complete the Training Completion Application form. (Use the Create/Resume Training Completion Application button on the top left of the approved file.)

Refer to the correct applicant guide, that was active when you applied, for the correct program requirements.

If the Training Completion Application form is not accessible, check your initial Employer Application form for the course’s end date. The Training Completion Application form is only accessible after completing all the courses listed in your application. If all the courses are completed, contact [email protected] with the new end date(s) for the course(s) on this file.

Employers may choose to receive 2 payment instalments by contacting the Canada-Alberta Job Grant team and requesting an interim reimbursement. This request can be made by contacting us via email with the reference number. However, all training must have been paid to qualify for the interim reimbursement.

Acceptance of the interim payment will mean you need to submit the second half of the Training Completion Application form at the end of the training to:

  • receive the second payment
  • keep the first payment

Delays in both payments may occur if interim reimbursement is not submitted until after training is completed.

If the employed trainee paid for the training costs, documentation must be included to show the employer has reimbursed the trainee for the full training amount paid to the training provider and any approved travel costs incurred by the trainee. Unemployed trainees are not permitted to fund their own training costs.

The Training Completion form must be submitted within 30 days of finishing training.

Providing payment information

The Government of Alberta's preferred method of payment is Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). It is a faster and more secure way to ensure your company is reimbursed without error. If you wish to receive payment by way of an EFT, you must upload the Application for Electronic Payment along with a void cheque or a bank stamp and signature from the bank on the form into the Canada-Alberta Job Grant Portal when submitting your Training Completion form.

Canada-Alberta Job Grant Portal

Previously, MADI-B was used to access the CAJG portal. Now, existing MADI-B users and Organization accounts have been transferred to the new Alberta.ca Account for Organizations. Going forward, this account is how you log-in to access your CAJG grant(s). Use the email address and password associated with your MADI-B account to log-in to the CAJG portal. If you have trouble signing in, there is a link that allows you to use your MADI-B username to log in.

If you want to apply to the CAJG and do not have a MADI-B account, you will need to create an Alberta.ca Account for Organization.

Review the new Terms of Use for Alberta.ca Accounts. Each staff member that requires access should have their own Alberta.ca Account and unique password. Passwords should not be shared.

All applications are submitted through the CAJG portal. You can use the portal to:

  • apply for and monitor the status of your grant(s)
  • submit your Training Completion form to receive funding, and
  • withdraw unused grants

Applications can only be entered and accessed by one person, the application owner. Application owners can invite someone else, an alternative signatory, to review, sign and submit grants. If you want to have someone sign the grant who isn’t the application owner, make sure they have their own Alberta.ca Account. Trainees do not require an Alberta.ca Account.

Additional contacts must first be invited directly through Alberta.ca/Account for Organization. See account help if you require assistance. Then, the new user must:

  • log-in to the CAJG portal to register with our grant system
  • email CAJG to transfer any grants (if needed)

It is strongly recommended that your organization have back-up accounts in Albert.ca accounts as this digital identification will be used for services other than CAJG. See the full list of available services.

For assistance with Alberta.ca/Account for Organizations:

Contact

Connect with the Canada-Alberta Job Grant processing centre:

Phone: 780-638-9424 (in Edmonton)
Toll free: 1-855-638-9424
Email: [email protected]