Principal Issues: 1. For purposes of an employer computing its eligible salaries and wages payable for purposes of claiming the apprenticeship job creation tax credit, whether an employee who is an apprentice in a federally regulated trade such as an aircraft maintenance engineer licensed by Transport Canada can be considered an "eligible apprentice" within the meaning of subsection 127(9) of the Income Tax Act. 2. Whether an individual apprenticing to become licensed as an aircraft maintenance engineer is entitled to the apprenticeship incentive grant and/or the apprenticeship completion grant.
Position: 1. No. 2. No.
Reasons: 1. The definition of "eligible apprentice" in subsection 127(9) of the Act refers to "a trade prescribed in respect of a province or in respect of Canada. It is interpreted to refer to a trade prescribed in respect of a province and/or territory or a trade prescribed in respect of Canada. Although an aircraft maintenance engineer is a trade that is federally regulated and as such, can be considered to be a trade in respect of Canada, it is not a trade "prescribed" in respect of Canada. Section 7310 of the Income Tax Regulations defines what is a "prescribed trade in respect of a province" (i.e., the Red Seal trades) and in that regard, an aircraft maintenance engineer is not a Red Seal trade. As currently enacted, the Regulations are silent on what is a "prescribed trade in respect of Canada" and in this regard, there are no draft amendments to the Regulations currently proposed. 2. Not a Red Seal trade.
