The province's Minister of Advanced Education paid a visit to the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute Thursday.
Rob Norris was in Estevan to speak with the board and employees of the Southeast Regional College, which operates SETI. The visit allowed both parties to discuss current operations and future plans for the $14 million institute.
"We talked about a range of issues," said Norris, who noted he was making his first visit to SETI. "The connections between learning and earning for young people here within the region of Southeast College. We've also been talking about some of the challenges that come with growth - obviously in this community housing is an issue - and we have been talking about First Nations and Metis education. The college has a pretty extensive region and is doing some very good work."
Norris added that another point raised at the meeting is ensuring the institute is being maximized to its full potential. He said the college's board of directors has some good ideas for the future and he is pleased that they are on the right path.
Dion McGrath, the president and CEO of the college, said he and the board enjoyed the opportunity to speak with the minister and update him on their future plans and key strategic priorities.
"We talked about where we want to take this campus in terms of some of our programming opportunities," said McGrath. "I think we have a tremendous opportunity to do a lot more programming to serve more of the business and industry's labour market needs to train folks to meet those employment opportunities.
"We are working in the college to identify what those programs are based on what the labour market demands are, and we are engaging some of our partners to see how we can enhance our partnerships to do more."
McGrath said the current Estevan housing dilemma presents a significant barrier for the college as it impacts everyone from students to teachers. During the meeting McGrath said they briefed Norris on a plan they are working on with the City of Estevan and Estevan Chamber of Commerce.
The trio has taken up the idea of creating a housing complex, which would house students and also provide housing for low-income earners in Estevan, among others.
To create a business case for such an idea, a study on the economic impact of the Bakken oil play was commissioned. McGrath said they recently received the report and are assessing it with plans to make an announcement in early January.
"Housing is a vital point that needs to be addressed to help release this bottleneck and increase productivity for business and industry so they can fill some of the 1,000-plus jobs that exist in Estevan, and to help our institution attract more learners to the programming we want to do in Estevan to help fill some of the labour market needs, to help deal with some of the more community type issues like the medical residency program the City is working on to attract doctors here," McGrath said.
"If we can work towards a viable, successful business model to do a housing project that helps meet student needs, labour market needs, community needs, then we want to take that to the private sector and see if they are interested enough to invest."
McGrath said the college held a meeting at SETI with some private sector groups to gauge the reaction and he said the reaction was positive. They are now moving forward to develop a business case to see if such a development is viable.
As for the report itself, McGrath said the focus is on the economic value of the Bakken.
"It talks about economic value to the region and to the province in terms of GDP, employment, revenue to the province and federal government and indicates how a small investment to help address the housing issues would produce more revenue, more employment, more economic growth and how it would align to the province's growth plan and the federal government's economic action plan.
"This report is about growth and demonstrating the growth that the Bakken is giving the entire province and that for us to do more, a marginal investment in housing would go a long way."
