Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
ADVT 
National

B.C. to spend $136M on skills training complex at BCIT

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 17 Feb, 2022 05:01 PM
  • B.C. to spend $136M on skills training complex at BCIT

VICTORIA - The British Columbia government is spending more than $136 million to build a new trades and technology training complex in Burnaby.

Premier John Horgan said the complex at the British Columbia Institute of Technology's campus will help more than 12,000 full- and part-time students a year in 20 trades and technology programs.

"Every sector of our economy is crying out for more people," he told a news conference Thursday.

"More people are coming here than have come in decades. And that is not likely to stop."

Canada's latest census showed British Columbia had the second-highest population growth among the provinces. B.C.'s population rose by 7.6 per cent between 2016 and 2021. 

                                                            WATCH VIDEO BELOW: 

The government's latest labour market outlook showed eight out of every 10 new openings in the next decade will require post-secondary education or skills training.

The outlook also forecasted more than one million job openings over the next decade. It said about 63 per cent of those openings will replace people who retire.

Horgan said more people are working today than when the pandemic began.

“And our economic vision has always been to put people right at the centre of everything that we do. We cannot have economic growth that leaves people behind."

The government released a 40-page report outlining steps that will be taken to fill jobs over the next decade by targeting areas such as forestry, skills and trade, and technology.

The premier said the pandemic and other recent events have exposed vulnerabilities in society and things cannot go back to the way they were.

"The last two years of the pandemic and the extreme weather events of the past couple of years have changed our lives, changed our economy and changed our future," Horgan said.

"What we've heard coming through the pandemic is that businesses need workers. Without a strong, skilled workforce, our economy will sputter and stumble. We want to avoid that."

For the plan to succeed, he said it needs structures that support talent such as affordable housing and child care, better infrastructure such as roads, transit, hospitals and education institutions.

The plan has six "missions" to help growth that include meeting the province's climate commitments, building resilient communities and meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

The report also said the government is working to connect all B.C. communities to high-speed internet to help business expansion.

Bridgitte Anderson, president of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, responded to the government's plan, saying it is short on details about what actions will be taken to spur growth.

"The pandemic has been challenging, especially for small- and medium-sized firms struggling with lower sales, increased debt and higher costs," she said in a statement.

"We believe a long-term economic strategy also needs to focus on tax reform, regulatory policies, and the overall cost of doing business — issues the business community has long championed."

Photo courtesy of Instagram

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Netflix should add more to Canadian culture: feds

Netflix should add more to Canadian culture: feds
In a debate in the House of Commons about a bill to regulate online streaming, Rodriguez says updating the broadcasting law is long overdue and needs to cover commercial content on social media and streaming platforms.    

Netflix should add more to Canadian culture: feds

Volunteers a lasting legacy of pandemic: advocate

Volunteers a lasting legacy of pandemic: advocate
Isobel Mackenzie says nearly 26,000 seniors benefited from the generosity of over 13,000 volunteers as part of a provincially funded program that was expanded in March 2020 to boost services through community organizations.

Volunteers a lasting legacy of pandemic: advocate

Speaker not advised on clerk's benefit: Court told

Speaker not advised on clerk's benefit: Court told
Donald Farquhar told a B.C. Supreme Court trial for James that it was his legal opinion that all so-called table officers, who support the work of the clerk in the legislature, were eligible in 2011 for the retirement allowance, which has since been eliminated.

Speaker not advised on clerk's benefit: Court told

Man allegedly exposes himself to children at New Westminster middle school

Man allegedly exposes himself to children at New Westminster middle school
Staff at the school phoned the New Westminster Police Department to report that an unknown male exposed his genitals to a group of children on the school grounds. The suspect is described as a Caucasian man, between 40 to 50 years of age, standing 5’6” tall, with a medium build, balding dark hair, wearing a blue puffy jacket, dark blue jeans, and black shoes.

Man allegedly exposes himself to children at New Westminster middle school

Abbotsford victim identified as Cody Corbett

Abbotsford victim identified as Cody Corbett
To further the investigation, the victim has been identified as 30-year-old Cody Corbett. Corbett is known to police. At this time, homicide investigators believe the stabbing was targeted and not random. There is also no known connection with the Lower Mainland gang conflict.

Abbotsford victim identified as Cody Corbett

Police renew warning to Ottawa demonstrators

Police renew warning to Ottawa demonstrators
Police renewed warnings to downtown Ottawa protesters to get out of the parliamentary precinct Wednesday, this time with the federal Emergencies Act in their arsenal. Officers walked along Wellington Street handing out notices to protesters encamped there, telling them they "must leave the area now."

Police renew warning to Ottawa demonstrators