By Megan Lambert (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 25, 2015
The BC government has continued its investment in trades by buying $325,274 in new equipment for UFV.
Minister of Advanced Education Andrew Wilkinson announced the gift on February 20 at the Trades and Technology Centre (TTC) automotive room in Chilliwack to UFV administrators, select trades students, and the media.
This follows the $872,000 provincial investment in UFV’s trades and technology program in 2014. $807,000 of that sum resulted in the opening of 194 new trades seats, and the remaining $65,000 was allotted for equipment costs at the time.
Wilkinson said the purchase of equipment follows creating such spaces in trades training, from electrical work to metal fabrication.
“The next step is to provide $350,000 [sic] worth of new equipment for University of the Fraser Valley so these gentlemen [the students present] and all the other students in these expanded positions can actually have the equipment they need to move ahead in their training,” he explained.
Wilkinson made similar announcements at other BC institutions; for example, Northwest Community College in Terrace will receive $171,428 in trades equipment, and Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops will receive $325,274 (the same amount as UFV) after opening a total of 100 trades training seats.
The government’s education plan, the BC Skills for Jobs Blueprint, includes investing 25 per cent of its approximate $1.9 billion budget for advanced education into trades programs over the next three years. Wilkinson estimated 200,000 full-time equivalent students are in the post-secondary system at a time; of these, he added, about 12 per cent (or about 24,000 students) are in trades programs.
Wilkinson noted that the big picture, from the government’s perspective, is to build a future workforce that can adapt to multiple initiatives.
“This is the kind of investment we want to make in the future of our people,” he said, “so they can benefit from any number of projects over their working lifetime.”
Some of those projects will be tied to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. The Peace River Site C project approved by the Province in December, which drew harsh criticism from environmental and aboriginal groups, will be one possible opportunity for local trades graduates, according to Wilkinson.
“[The government] will be spending around $9 billion building the Site C facility, and of course, a good chunk of that will go into wages for skilled people like trainees from this facility,” he said.
With files from Michael Scoular.
