In the story 'TransCanada close to signing a deal with the College of New Caledonia' published in the Lakes District News' Feb. 4, 2015, TransCanada announced they were close to signing a deal that with the College of New Caledonia (CNC).
The deal is now official. Two TransCanada projects - Coastal GasLink and the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission - have partnered to donate $250,000 to the college.
The money will be allocated to bursaries for trades students, region-wide safety training programs and implementation of the college’s digital delivery initiative.
Henry Reiser, CNC president, believes that the generous donation will be a great benefit to those looking to get into the trades within the next couple of years.
“We are very happy with this agreement with TransCanada which will help to make education and skills training more available to communities across the region and to low-income learners,” he said.
The pathway to pipeline readiness initiative will allot $55,000 in bursaries for trades students in financial need. The qualifying students will be enrolled in industry training authority recognized trades programs at CNC which align with TransCanada’s operations needs, including welding, power engineering, heavy duty mechanic, industrial mechanic and millwright, electrical, carpentry and professional cook.
A total of $45,000 will sponsor safety training week, a series of industry certification courses through CNC continuing education. The program, which will be offered at minimal cost for students, will run later this year at CNC’s campuses in Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Mackenzie, Vanderhoof and Prince George.
TransCanada’s donation will also support the design and implementation of CNC’s digital delivery initiative (DDI) through funding of $150,000. The funding will go toward educational planning as well as research and application of the DDI infrastructure and pilot delivery of programs and courses.
"Through discussions with local residents, community leaders, and Aboriginal groups, we have learned that investment in skills development and long-term education legacy programs are important to northern British Columbians,” said Tony Palmer, TransCanada's Senior Vice-President of stakeholder relations.
Coastal GasLink Pipeline Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TransCanada PipeLines Limited, is proposing to develop a natural gas pipeline from northeast B.C., near Dawson Creek, to the west coast of B.C., near Kitimat, passing south of Burns Lake. In December 2014, Coastal GasLink signed agreements with Skin Tyee First Nation, Nee Tahi Buhn Band and Wet'suwet'en First Nation. Combined, the three bands will receive approximately $8.1 million out of the agreement.
TransCanada is developing more than $13 billion in new natural gas pipeline projects in Northern B.C. in support of the emerging liquefied natural gas industry.