Camosun to receive $5.2M for trades training

The B.C. government was at Camosun College Tuesday to announce $5.2 million to be spent for training in trades considered a high priority for the province.

Greg Kyllo, Liberal MLA for Shuswap and parliamentary secretary for the B.C. Jobs Plan, made the announcement, part of the government’s ongoing $94 million in support for the Industrial Training Authority.

Since the authority was created in 2004, the number of apprentices in B.C. has more than doubled from 14,676 to about 39,000.

The Camosun money is expected to fund 2,047 student placements through March 31 in such trades as electricians, welders, carpenters, cooks and automotive technicians.

Kyllo said the trip to Camosun was a treat since the Interurban campus’s facilities are nothing like they were when he attended the college in 1986.

“It was a whole bunch of portables, and you ran through the rain and the snow to go from classroom to classroom,” he said.

Today’s Camosun is “big, open spacious and modern.” It has new cutting-edge tools and equipment, and is nicely set up, he said.