The federal government has announced funding for the development of a second power engineering steam lab for a Peace Region post-secondary institution.
$230,000 has been committed to the development of the new lab at the Grande Prairie Regional College’s Fairview campus.
Peace River MP Chris Warkentin says he’s long been concerned about Peace Country students not returning to the region when they have to leave for trades education.
“I’ve been committed and our government’s been committed that Peace Country students can get an education here in the Peace Country so that they can fill vacancies here in the Peace. I will continue to advocate for that because I think that really is what truly will help grow our local economy.”
Dean of Trades, Agriculture, and Environment Chris Laue says the lab should be complete by September, but right now the program already trains about 72 students each year.
“I believe we’re pretty well at our capacity. The biggest challenge we have when we increase capacity is finding instructional staff; that is one of the most challenging that we find, and that’s true for almost all of our vocational trades programming.”
In July last year a million dollars was announced for a similar lab at the Northern Lakes College Peace River campus, which opened at the end of February.