NORTHWEST REGIONAL COLLEGE WELDING LAB OFFICIALLY OPEN

Construction is now complete on the new welding lab at Northwest Regional College in Meadow Lake. Rob Clarke, MP Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River and Honourable Jeremy Harrison, MLA for Meadow Lake on behalf of Honourable Rob Norris, Minister of Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration, were present at the official grand opening.

This project is part of the $118M the provincial and federal governments are contributing under the Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP) announced in June 2009. The construction of the welding lab received $1.78 million in joint funding from the federal and provincial governments, the Northwest School Division and North West Regional College.

"Our government has invested in innovation and knowledge infrastructure to set the foundation for economic prosperity," MP Clarke said. "This project not only created jobs for people in our community but also provided the infrastructure that will benefit North West Regional College for years to come."

The project involved the new construction of a 343 square meter welding lab, which is a stand alone addition to the North West Post-Secondary Centre. The shared facility between the high school carpenter and college programs will increase training capacity for welding students from 12 to 24 workstations, and improve laddering opportunities for high school students into the trade and college programs.

"Our province is in need of skilled workers and we want to ensure students have access to quality training so they can help meet that need and experience the Saskatchewan Advantage first-hand," Norris said. "The new welding lab and the opportunities it provides will allow more students to be trained and enter our growing labour market."

"This new welding lab ensures North West Regional College has the capacity to contribute even more highly skilled welders to the province's workforce, North West College President and CEO, Bryan Nylander said. "Our program success is due in part to the commitment of Northwest School Division to encourage youth to consider welding as a prosperous career. This state-of-the-art welding shop demonstrates a very positive and continuing partnership between the college and the school division. We are appreciative of the significant support from the federal and provincial governments, without which this project would not have become a reality."

KIP was a two-year, $2 billion program that provided economic stimulus measures to support infrastructure enhancement at Canadian post-secondary institutions, including universities and community colleges. It resulted in the creation of jobs for engineers, architects, trades people and technicians, as well as helped ensure that Saskatchewan and Canada are better positioned to contribute to, and benefit from, the global knowledge economy.

For more information about the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, please visit www.ic.gc.ca/knowledge-infrastructure.

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For more information, contact:

Marieka Barrie
AEEI
Regina
Phone: 798-3170