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College to get equipment training money

College officials this spring said their purchase list included heavy equipment simulators and, later on, heavy equipment itself.
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Northwest Community College trades dean Margo Van der Touw with trades chair Brian Badge. He’s seated in a heavy equipment simulator used by students to gain a feel for the real thing. The college has been building up its trades training offerings.

IT LOOKS as if Northwest Community College in Terrace is going to get some or all of a federal grant applied for earlier this year.

The college had applied for nearly $1.5 million from several places, including the federal government's Western Economic Diversification Canada program, to expand its heavy duty equipment training capacity.

And on May 22, Western Diversification's minister of state, Lynn Yelich, is due at one of the college's parking lots to make an announcement which, according to a notice, will benefit “heavy equipment training in northwestern British Columbia.”

College officials this spring said their purchase list included heavy equipment simulators and, later on, heavy equipment itself.

The college has been ramping up its skilled trades section to reflect the growing demand for skilled labour in the northwest.

A lengthening list of major economic development projects has opened up the regional job market to an extent not seen in years.

The college has been especially keen to expand its heavy duty equipment operator program simply because the skill applies to so many aspects of industrial development and work.

In April, the college was told it would get more than $839,000 from the province as a one-time sum to train people for jobs.