Suppliers of products for retail sale, examined by Bélanger et al., 2004, or of equipment for the industry as a whole are omnipresent. All retail businesses use suppliers as training providers, but only a minority add in-house ALT to this product training because of the need for a critical assessment of the products in order to provide better customer service. In the other sectors examined by Bélanger et al., 2004, equipment suppliers tend to have the sales contract include staff training in the handling of new machinery. In some cases, suppliers of new equipment can be responsible for nearly half of ALT given to the staff operating the equipment.

Second in importance among outside actors are consulting firms which are regularly involved in ALT for managers in the great majority of the firms examined by Bélanger et al. (2004). Some companies also make use of them in order to train their trainers. Consultants may also be called upon to help analyse needs, prepare human resources development plans, evaluate ALT and provide specific training in a particular technique for special groups of employees. In some of the companies featured in the study by Bélanger et al. (2004), they are given responsibility for organizing annual ALT days. Consulting firms are also called upon for help in the introduction of new technologies.

Professional associations, merchants' associations and professional governing bodies are also active in ALT , producing such things as training tools, workbooks on sales skills and a prior learning assessment guide by the Société de formation et d'éducation continue (Sofeduc). Sectoral workforce committees are also playing an increasingly important role in this regard; we shall look at their activity in a special section (section 1.3).

In Quebec there is no professional body representing ALT providers per se, although organizations such as the Quebec Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés et en relations industrielles agréés [Order of Chartered Human Resources and Industrial Relations Advisors of Quebec] (CRHA and CRIA), count among their members many trainers and providers. In its mission statement, the Ordre des CRHA et CRIA says that its goal is to "improve the quality of professional practice through the professional development and accreditation of its members". ^{Footnote 10} Note that in 2005-2006, one of the four initiatives supported by the CPMT under the Act to foster the development of manpower training was the conferences organized by the Ordre des CRHA et CRIA (Direction du FNFMO et CPMT, 2006).

Educational institutions also constitute an actor, and are recognized by all firms. The Services aux entreprises (SAE), a Quebec business services network involving school boards and CEGEPs, adult education and continuing training services, which are active in each school board and CEGEP in the province, and continuing education services in universities, are just some of the ways that public education institutions have responded to firms' demand. In some of the firms examined by Bélanger et al. (2004), the policy of reimbursing students for their fees applies to managers in particular and sometimes to all staff. Some technicians, for example, take advantage of this policy to enrol in professional programs ^{Footnote 11} offered in nearby CEGEPs. Some companies facilitate access by their staff to basic education provided by school boards. Finally, it should be noted that firms regularly make use of institutions of higher education for research, especially in order to create new products or to conduct ergonomic studies of workstations and the learning that occurs there.

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