College of New Caledonia Breaks Ground for $19.7-million Tech Facility
PRINCE GEORGE – Provincial, federal and college representatives officially broke ground today for the new $19.7-million Technical Education Centre at the College of New Caledonia’s Prince George campus. The project will create over 126 direct jobs.
Shirley Bond, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure and MLA for Prince George-Valemount, Pat Bell, Minister of Forests and Range and MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie, and the Honourable Jay Hill, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and MP for Prince George-Peace River, toured the construction site and were presented with the plans for the new centre by representatives from McFarlane, Green and Biggar Architects.
“Today, we mark the beginning of an exciting project that will dramatically increase student capacity and enhance program offerings that the College of New Caledonia provides for our community,” said Bond. “This will help CNC continue the excellent job of responding to industry needs and allow students to train close to home.”
"Today's groundbreaking event demonstrates that the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, which the Government of Canada launched as part of our Economic Action Plan, is on track," said Hill. "Our investment in the new Technical Education Centre is creating local jobs now, while providing the infrastructure that the College of New Caledonia needs to deliver quality education and training in the years to come."
“College of New Caledonia is growing, a sign of their success in offering quality training and skills development that increasingly more students are seeking,” said Bell.
The Technical Education Centre includes a total area of about 7,000 square metres of instructional shops, classrooms, lab and office space and will house training programs in welding, machinist, industrial mechanic/millwright, planermill technician, automotive collision repair, plumbing, engineering technology, mining technician, process operations, transportation and logistics, and environmental technician. It is scheduled for completion in February 2011.
“I am thrilled to see that the College of New Caledonia is breaking ground for a new technical education centre,” said Dick Harris, MP for Cariboo-Prince George. “The investments the Government of Canada and Province of British Columbia have made in the expansion of trades training will provide significant short-term economic stimulus and create jobs for people in this region.”
When completed the TEC will enable an additional 360 full-time equivalent student training spaces and over time there will be an additional 22 instructor and staff positions created in Prince George.
“It’s wonderful to see us actually breaking ground on this project and being a step closer to providing improved and expanded instructional space for our students,” said CNC President John Bowman. “The local MLAs and MPs really fought hard for this funding and we very much appreciate their efforts.”
The TEC building at CNC is part of the federal government’s two-year, $2-billion Knowledge Infrastructure Program whose goal is to repair and expand research and educational facilities at Canadian post-secondary institutions.
This is one of 40 projects at post-secondary institutions across the province funded through a joint federal-provincial investment of $497 million. The total investment in these projects is $519 million including contributions from institutions.
Along with construction of the new TEC building, CNC has renovated the John Brink Trades and Technology Building, turning about 500 square metres of unfinished space into classrooms, a multi-purpose lab, and instructor offices.
CNC also received $9.8 million to construct a new trades and technology training building on their Quesnel campus.
These projects are also part of an overall $14-billion capital infrastructure program supported by the Province that will create up to 88,000 jobs and help build vital public infrastructure in every region of B.C.
Canada’s Economic Action Plan sets out to stimulate the Canadian economy over the next two years and to improve our long-term competitiveness through $12 billion in new infrastructure investment, which includes the $2-billion Knowledge Infrastructure Program.
For more information on the provincial government’s three-year job creation plan, visit www.gov.bc.ca/infrastructure. For more information about the federal Knowledge Infrastructure Program, visit www.ic.gc.ca/knowledge-infrastructure.
