Budget funds college centre

Parkland College is on the fast track to open its Trades and Technology Centre by 2015.

In its budget released March 20, the Saskatchewan government announced $1 million for the planning and design of the centre.

At a press event Friday, Yorkton MLA Greg Ottenbreit said the funds represent much more than the just an investment in the design of the facility.

"It's not so much the million dollars," he said. "It is a significant amount of money, although in terms of a provincial budget it's not really that significant. It's more the commitment, what we're committing to do, that's the bigger message, I think."

Ottenbreit praised Parkland president Dr. Fay Myers, the Parkland board of directors, former Yorkton Mayor James Wilson and City Council, as well as, his colleagues in the Legislature for their commitment to the project.

That commitment started with the college's capital campaign, a first for Parkland, to raise $4.9 million in donations. The campaign got a major kick-off when PotashCorp issued a matching gift challenge pledging to equal all community and industry contributions up to $1.225 million.

Myers said the college is very close to making an announcement that they have met that goal.

In turn, Myers praised the Province for its leadership.

"The Saskatchewan government was facing many difficult choices this spring, but we are glad it remains supportive of local skills training to address the ongoing labour shortage," she said.

For its part the City of Yorkton donated 20 acres of prime land bordered by York Road and Darlington Street between Highway 9 and Dracup Street.

The facility will be a 24,550 square-foot state-of-the-art educational centre designed to provide skilled tradespeople directly to industry.

"We know the demand for skilled tradespeople and technicians is expected to remain high in this province for a long time," Myers said. "We will be moving ahead soon in our quest to help provide workers to the businesses that need them."

In total, the budget committed just over $6 million more money this year to industry-targeted training.

This includes:

$1.544 million for the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission;

$500,000 to the skills training funding allocated to training institutions for industry-driven training programs;

$1.5 million for immigrant settlement support programming;

$900,000 for the Provincial Training Allowance;

$119,000 for the Apprenticeship Training Allowance

$1.5 million for industry-driven quick skills training projects that link industry with training providers and job seekers, and prepare First Nations and Métis people for jobs; and

$1.5 million to begin work toward eliminating the wait list for Adult Basic Education (ABE) by 2015.

Skills training was also prioritized in the federal budget tabled in Parliament March 21.

The Canadian government created the Canada Jobs Grant program that could cost national coffers up to $650 million per year if the provinces and employers get on board. The grant, in the amount of $15,000, is targeted at retraining unemployed workers to fill the skills gap in Canadian industry.

The feds' contribution to the grant will be $5,000. The national government expects companies and provincial governments to put up at least the same.