So there's this place, north of the 49th parallel(and I guess a bit south of it in our case) , where (almost)every trade requires college as part of a 4-5 year apprenticeship. And in order to start that apprenticeship you need to find a sponsor employer, and then getting in the door with that sponsor employer can even require pre-apprenticeship college courses. Oh wait that place is here actually.
So you've been wrenching in the garage out back with your dad, working on everything with an engine, since you were 3? Doesn't matter, can't be a tech without an apprenticeship including college, and it's nigh on impossible to get that apprenticeship without a 2 year pre-apprenticeship program.
Trades aside, another thing Canada loves, is it's governing bodies, governing bodies abound. You're good at sales, have decades of sales experience and you want to work in real estate? College requirement. You love travel, you know the globe like the world is your neighborhood, want to be an agent? Yup college. So you're a math prodigy, and an amazing crammer, and you've been doing your entire family's taxes for years, you could soar through a CGA exam no problem, right? Wrong, 17(iirc) post-secondary credits required before you can even be considered to take CGA exams.
You can definitely get taste for a field, even trades, without going through post-secondary education, but you can't go very far. I've been welding since 2007, been with the same company for the last 7 years, I'm actually pretty decent and once upon a time I actually held valid CWB(yay another governing body) certifications. But I'll never be one of those red seal, Alberta B, six figure income welders. Why? because college.
Oh but wait, you were a military cadet for ten years as a kid, you know regulation, leadership, policy etc out the wazoo. You are a grunt's grunt, eat sleep and breathe tactics, a born General.... TFB4U, without a degree, Chief Warrant is as high as you'll go, you'll never be commissioned. Luckily the government has your back in this case though, and they'll put you through university.