Confederation College Prepares for Increasing Skilled Workforce Demand

Thunderbay is happy that a great working relationship is developing between contractors, Confederation College in Thunder Bay, the community and the government. The relationship will become stronger throughout the Ring of Fire project and the 12 other mining projects which may follow.
Confederation College plans on implementing new training plans based on the increased demand for trained laborers in the construction market. The new mining projects will place increased demands on the community to build new housing, new community services and new infrastructure.
It is the hope of Confederation College that those running the mining projects do not release the projects all at one time. Instead, the college hopes that the mining projects are rolled out over the course of the next few years allowing the college to train workers at a reasonable speed. Once the workers are trained, then the contractors can hire the workers and keep them consistently employed.
If this does not happen, then contractors may have a hard time finding skilled laborers. After the initial boom, then these laborers may find it difficult to find continual employment bouncing from one contractor to the next depending on who has work available.
This is not a new idea for the area. The most successful project to date has been the Meno Ya Win Health Care Centre in Sioux Lookout. During that project, the college was able to train numerous workers who are still employed in the construction industry including carpentry, electrical, motive power trades.
Confederation College is thankful that the area seems to be getting advance notice that the need for workers will surpass the need. Already, several unemployed and underemployed workers are finding work in the area served by the college. Most of these workers are from other parts of Ontario.