March 27, 2014
Backgrounder
Budget 2014 Investments in Labour Market Training and Infrastructure
Budget 2014 provides significant investments to support labour market training and infrastructure for post-secondary institutions in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Labour Market Training
Budget 2014 includes $4.1 million to support apprentices and trades, including:
- $600,000 to continue the Journeyperson Mentorship Program to help increase the number of certified journeypersons available to provide workplace training for apprentices;
- $1.8 million for the Government Hiring Apprenticeship Program;
- $1.1 million, supported with $6.6 million in federal funding, to continue the Apprenticeship Wage Subsidy Program that helps provide work experience to apprentices, with a focus on first and second-year apprentices, and including those from under-represented groups such as women and persons with disabilities; and,
- $600,000 for grants for women and Aboriginal people in the apprenticeship program.
Budget 2014 provides funding for additional initiatives to help post-secondary institutions prepare students for work, including:
- $1.5 million to College of the North Atlantic to support high-demand, high-priority programs;
- $1.9 million to increase base funding at the Fisheries and Marine Institute to continue the expansion of educational programming, research and student services for continued growth in the ocean sector; and,
- $1.1 million to continue the expansion of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial in the priority areas of ocean, arctic and offshore energy, to support major project development and encourage private-sector industry partnerships. This investment will also support increased enrolment of undergraduate and graduate students at the faculty.
Recognizing that a summer job is often a young person’s first exposure to employment, the Provincial Government is again providing $3.5 million for Summer Employment Programs for Students. By providing wage subsidies to businesses and non-profit groups, up to 2,000 students will receive valuable work experience this summer.
Infrastructure
Budget 2014 provides over $19 million in infrastructure funding for Memorial University. Of that amount, $5 million will support continued modernization of Memorial University’s older student residences and $2.6 million will be invested for ongoing modernization of science labs at Memorial. The Provincial Government has allocated $224 million in infrastructure funding for Memorial since 2003, including $88.3 million for the construction of new residences at St. John’s and Grenfell campuses.
The Provincial Government is providing $4 million in Budget 2014 for infrastructure at College of the North Atlantic, including $1.5 million for a medical sciences lab at the Grand Falls-Windsor campus and $1.7 million for industrial shop modernization at college campuses. Over $48 million in infrastructure funding has been allocated for College of the North Atlantic since 2004.
Planning and preparation with Memorial University for the development of a new science facility at Memorial’s St. John’s campus will continue in 2014. This ongoing work was secured by the allocation of a portion of the $150 million the province was awarded in the Hebron settlement.
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Media contact:John Tompkins
Director of Communications
Department of Advanced Education and Skills
709-729-0753, 728-7762
jtompkins@gov.nl.ca
2014 03 27 2:35 p.m.