Building learning spaces for power engineers
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Summary
Learn English with the Honourable Minister of Advanced Education, Sheelam Rajansani, as she delivers a keynote address at the Grand Prairie campus of Northwest Polytechnic to announce a $11.3 million investment into a new power engineering lab.
Transcript
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the county of grand and the md of greenview for being part of this exciting announcement for our
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community for nearly 60 years northwestern polytechnic has provided a pathway forward
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for students in grand prairie and communities across northwestern alberta this is an institution
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that has given students a chance to learn skills begin rewarding careers and succeed close to the
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communities where they grew up. Alberta's government is proud to represent nearly every
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rural community and mid-sized city in our province. We understand that supporting growth
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and investing in northwestern polytechnic makes a positive impact on the families of our community.
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I will now turn the microphone over to the Minister of Advanced Education, the Honourable Rajansani.
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Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Ron, for that introduction.
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It is such a pleasure to be at Northwest Polytechnic today.
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It's especially a pleasure because this room is full of so many people who are going to be attending the installation later this afternoon.
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and I'm very excited to take part in that experience as well.
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I'm really looking forward to exploring the facilities
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and meeting with the instructors and students later on today.
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Whenever I tour one of our world-class post-secondary institutions,
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I am always reminded of the importance of what happens here
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The decisions we make in our colleges, universities, and polytechnics
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because this is where the future is being made the future of students
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careers and lives and the future of our province and that's what brings us here
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together today across Canada and around the world there is a high demand for the
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expertise of skilled trades people we have seen apprenticeship registration
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rising sharply over the past several years and demand for power engineers
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and instrumentation technicians is growing in northwestern alberta particularly with two new
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hydrogen and ammonia processing plants in the greenview industrial gateway and the county of
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grand prairie so i'm pleased to announce today that alberta's government is investing 11.3 million
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dollars for the development and building of a state-of-the-art power engineering lab here at
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at the Grand Prairie campus of Northwestern Polytechnic.
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The new facility will allow Northwestern Polytechnic
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to welcome more students to these very high demand programs.
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for third and fourth class power engineering training,
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making it possible to offer additional classes.
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Students will be able to optimize their learning time
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for people who live and work in our rural communities
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is access to education programs and facilities.
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with considerable expense and living adjustments,
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as to whether they want to pursue that education or not.
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Alberta's government is offering more opportunities
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for students to pursue rewarding careers closer to home.
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students, industry, and ultimately all Albertans.
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want to work with our post-secondary community to ensure our system, pardon me, our system remains
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among the best in the world. Together let's make sure that Albertans can discover remarkable
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opportunities no matter their background or what part of the province that they call home.
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Let's keep Alberta moving forward. Thank you once again to all of you for being here today.
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And now it's my pleasure to welcome the Chair of the Board of Governors for Northwest Polytech, Ms. Shawna Miller.
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Thank you, Minister. There's a lot to celebrate today and we're certainly grateful for the investment in our campuses and the next generation of industry professionals.
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As a polytechnic, we are committed to delivering programs that work.
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NWP recognizes the importance of job-anchored post-secondary offerings that empower graduates with up-to-date industry skills and knowledge, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving ability.
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Through career-focused education and practical industry experience, we are able to seamlessly launch our students directly from the classroom and into the workforce.
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An integral part of that trajectory is timely exposure to the best facilities, equipment
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The province's $11.3 million investment into development of a power engineering and instrumentation
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Not only will it help NWP to deliver high quality graduates, but it will also ensure
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that we are training the region, training the employees in the region they are most
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Northwestern Alberta is teeming with potential.
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Every day our signature industries are gaining momentum
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and new regional opportunities are being revealed.
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to Alberta's responsiveness and global competitiveness.
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I'd now like to invite the mayor of Grand Prairie up, Ms. Jackie Clayton, for her remarks.
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Good morning, everyone, and thanks so much to Minister Sani for traveling to Grand Prairie.
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It is great to have her here and to see you all in the room today.
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Grand Prairie City Council is very proud to be part of this announcement today.
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The $11.3 million into Northwest Polytech will not only support education and job creation in our region,
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and it aligns with Council's strategic priority
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of innovative efficiencies and economic readiness.
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not only will create a modern innovative learning space,
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and specifically in the field of power engineering
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We look forward to the future growth and development
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We're looking forward to the positive successes and the prosperity that the new power engineering lab at Northwest Polytech will bring and we thank the province for making the announcement today.
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We are now ready to begin the press conference and question and answer.
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We still have Tyler Olson to present some remarks on behalf of Greenview Industrial Gateway.
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all right thank you excuse me this is an exciting time for the region marked by continuous economic
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development growth in pivotal sectors such as industry energy forestry mining and agriculture
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as these industries grow and evolve the demand for larger highly skilled workforces becomes evident
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and the greenview industrial gateway progress is ongoing with essential infrastructure
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development encompassing gas supply transportation rail ccs and securing a master license for
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processing all this combined with the announcement today is going to increase activity in the area
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upgrading natural gas at the source is a strategic forward-thinking approach is a
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building block for current and future endeavors with the greenview industrial gateway it allows
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for local production value-added products such as gasoline diesel hydrogen this not only meets
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the region's energy needs but contributes the development of self-sustaining economy
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reducing dependence on external sources for refined products expanding programs like power
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engineering and instrumentation are crucial for several reasons these sectors are integral for
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various industries including energy manufacturing technology as these industries grow demand for
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skilled to press professionals increases the evolving landscape of technology and automation
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requires a workforce a workforce with up-to-date skills and power engineering and instrumentation
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expanding these programs ensures individuals entering the workforce are equipped to handle
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the latest technologies and contribute to innovation dreamview has been working
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collaterally with the city of grand prairie and the county of grand prairie to attract businesses
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and industries region our goal is to increase investment job opportunities and overall regional
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development with added programs to northwestern polytechnic can help meet our region's current
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and future workforce demands individuals can now build stable rewarding and long-term careers by
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creating a skilled workforce trains in these fields this is unique chance to build lifelong
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career with the same organization an opportunity to grow receive advanced education secure well-paying
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job and retire without ever leaving the grand prairie region the md of greenview would like
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to congratulate Northwestern Polytechnic on this significant milestone and thank the province for
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these additional funds. The city of Grand Prairie is a major step ahead for this area. Thank you.
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Thank you Ree Bolton and that concludes the formal part of this announcement. Thank you
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everyone for coming thanks very much we're now ready to begin we're now ready to begin the question
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and answer segment of today's announcement every journalist will have the opportunity to ask an
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opening question and one follow-up question i would ask all the journalists please please begin
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by stating your name outlet and who your question is directed to i will begin with journalists in
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the room please go ahead uh jesse boyley with town country news um i guess our first question would
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be when can we start to see shovels in the ground for this kind of thing that is a great question
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i'm hearing potentially in april and i'll have to get our new president to confirm that date
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but that is the latest and greatest news and i know that it's supposed to be completed by 2026
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vanessa do you want to add thank you minister yes she was correct on those dates so starting in
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april and completion by 2026 and it's uh it's a build within our building so it's not a shovels
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in the ground you'll see from the outside but from the inside you will thanks perfect thank you
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and then minister i guess um this was in the budget line item i believe for the budget in
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february last year and can we expect to see more expansion of other education programs in the area
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i know you said you're looking at um you know things that we need in this area especially
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one thing that we keep seeing is healthcare can we see more healthcare expansion coming in the
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new budget well you know i can't answer those questions right i can't reveal all my budget
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secrets but i i will um you know emphasize at the points that you made that grand prairie
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is a very it's a very important region and the surrounding areas to the province in
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terms of economic development so this is certainly one investment that is indicative of support and
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we know that there is a working group of rural physician programs as well that's underway
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and there was funding that was made available it was about a million dollars to get that
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plan under underway as well so that is something that we are keeping a very close eye on
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and we support that project but beyond that i really can't say too much more about what's in the
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the budget. Hi, I'm Erica Rowling with Everything DP. So I'm just wondering with this coming
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into the campus, how many seats is this going to open up for people in the region? So this
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investment will result in about 60 additional spaces that will be created. And certainly
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we are hoping that it will elicit more interest from students and parents and community members
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across the province once they find out that this program is going to be fully funded we're going
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to have a new lab in place but that's what we're looking at 60 additional seats and i don't know
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if you can answer this one for me specifically but do you know what this new lab is going to
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be replacing inside the building i think that is a question for vanessa yeah i don't think
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you should go too far away vanessa you should stay here thanks so we're just finalizing the
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the drawings in the location and so the spaces right now that where the lab will be going are
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spaces that are have low utilization are not being used and so in our m wing um which is if you go
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straight down the hall there i'm kind of close to the recital hall so the recital hall remains and
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Seeing no more questions in the room and on the phones,