In an effort to alleviate the shortage of skilled trades workers in the province, the Industry Training Authority (ITA) Friday showcased its new Trade Routes unit, a large-scale trailer that doubles as a classroom. The fully equipped trailer will travel to remote areas of the province to give welders, electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, steam-fitters and millwrights the mandatory classroom time they need to get their ticket. The 16-metre truck-trailer, purchased for $1.5 million by the Ministry of Economic Development, folds out width-wise in six minutes to make a large classroom that can accommodate 12 students and their equipment. The self-contained unit runs on diesel generators, and travels with a supply trailer which carries the tools and equipment the tradespeople require.
"The north [of B.C.] is sparsely populated and they have a huge amount of economic activity with the mines, the oil, the gas, the potential pipelines, the potential refurbishment of Alcan," said Clewes. "They're going to need to pull from local labour, or bring people in from other parts of the province and the country.
Demand is high for the travelling classroom. For the next two months, it will visit high schools and communities in the northern part of the province. After the demonstration period, the unit has been booked solid for technical training for 18 months, beginning in the Nass Valley region of northwestern B.C. Full story here.