My son and his buddy finished a 1-yr Welder-Fitter program in Ontario in 2011 and packed their bags and went out to Alberta looking to get a start by landing an apprenticeship.  Every shop that they went to told that to get lost unless they had an inter-provincial Red-Seal.  (That can only be obtained after completing a 3-yr apprenticeship.)

Meanwhile we found out later that TFW's were being hired by shops and projects all over Alberta without the Red-Seal and after only a short Mickey-Mouse 'Canadian Welding Bureau' course in the Philippines.

Luckily my son came home and went back to school to learn Robotic Welding instead.  Now he's an Engineering Technologist.