N.S. Liberals unveil training and skills platform, $78M college investment
Liberal Leader Iain Rankin spent Sunday in Sydney, N.S., as he announced the "transformational" skills and training platform his party promises to implement if it wins the upcoming general election.
The platform -- the third plank of the party's overall five-part proposed plan -- is a key segment of his proposal to drive economic recovery and growth as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Rankin said in his home area of Cape Breton.
At the centre of the platform is a nearly $78 million investment in the Nova Scotia Community College over four years to train and educate the province's residents for jobs.
The investment will add 800 new seats to programs in residential construction trades, environmental stewardship and health care and a quarter of them will be at the Marconi Campus in Sydney, which is now being relocated to the community's downtown.
"Its steel mill was a North American leader but times change and we must change too," Rankin said of the community. "We need to energize Sydney and bring back the greatness that we had."
New seats, 6,000 of them, will be added to the college's short courses for skills and certification upgrades.
The new funding will also "modernize" the college's tuition structure, allowing students to pay per course.
"We really want to make sure that with the recovery effort that it's fair and all Nova Scotians really have the opportunity to succeed,"' Rankin said.
Funding under the Liberals will also include $3.75 million over three years to fund 150 co-op placements of four months each, as well as $1.3 million over four years to fund up to 35 projects to help businesses ensure their workplace is equitable and inclusive. Businesses can also expect another $100,000 annually for three years to help the NSCC provide them with training in green technology and digital solutions.
The investment will help connect Nova Scotians with the expertise needed to fill positions in areas including construction, health and information technology, Rankin said.
And the investment is setting aside over $720,000 to the college to provide training in the digital sector to Mi'kmaq and Indigenous students.
The Nova Scotia 41st general election is scheduled for Aug. 17.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.