The British Columbia government is investing $200,000 in skills training as the province prepares for thousands of new jobs in the oil and gas sectors.
The Ministry of Advanced Education is providing $125,000 to Northern Lights College (NLC) in Fort St. John. The money will go to the Centre of Training Excellence in Oil and Gas, which will coordinate oil and gas training at post-secondary institutions throughout B.C.
“Our government has asked post-secondary institutions to make sure they are providing the training British Columbians need, and NLC’s Centre of Training Excellence is doing just that,” said Amrik Virk, Minister of Advanced Education.
Another $75,000 has been committed by the BC Natural Gas Workforce Strategy Committee to develop a new entry-level program for those looking to work in the natural gas industry. The program should be available in July and will be made available for delivery by all public post-secondary institutions in B.C.
“These investments will help ensure that more British Columbians have the skills they need to take advantage of the growing number of opportunities in B.C.’s oil and gas sectors,” said Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour.
Over the next seven years, more than 60,000 jobs will be involved during peak construction in the liquefied natural gas industry (LNG) alone. Between 2016 and 2017, another 21,000 jobs are expected in building LNG export facilities and pipelines. Nearly 42,000 more jobs will be created in industries that supply the construction work. Once construction is complete, more than 75,000 jobs will be involved in the operation of those LNG projects.
In November 2012, the province announced two new BC Centres of Training Excellence: one in oil and gas headquartered at NLC, and one in mining at Northwest Community College in Terrace.
Both colleges work to promote coordinated training and equipment plans, shared curriculum development and updating, and shared outreach and promotion activity among post-secondary institutions in B.C.
In April, NLC received $785,000 in one-time funding to offer training in the region. The college expects to create seats in a variety of trades-related programs such as power engineering, mining fundamentals and oil and gas training over the coming year.
