VANCOUVER (CUP) – In light of last month’s federal announcement of $8 billion in shipbuilding contracts coming to British Columbia, Camosun College and other BC schools are gearing up to fill the skills gap.
Technical colleges, such as Camosun and Burnaby’s British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), are expecting an increased demand for workers in fields as varied as welding, millwrighting, project management, and occupational health therapy.
“The government estimates that there will be 4,000 spin-off jobs,” says BCIT media relations manager Dave Pinton. “And that means these people will have to be trained and most likely they’re going to be trained at places like Camosun, places like BCIT.”
Seaspan Marine’s Vancouver yard won the smaller of two contracts, while Irving Shipyards in Halifax was awarded the $25-billion military vessels contract.
According to Pinton, all six of BCIT’s schools, including business, transportation, and health sciences, will be affected by the shipbuilding contracts.
“People lose sight of the fact that it’s definitely going to affect a lot of different sectors, probably in ways that we don’t think about yet,” he says.
Tom Roemer, vice-president of strategic development for Camosun College, says graduates will be impacted heavily given that these 30-year contracts will mean lifetime employment for many students.
“Let’s say we pick a metal fabricator program,” explains Roemer, “after four years I get my national red seal, I can now walk down to the shipyard, they will employ me, and since this project is supposed to run for 30 years, if I want to I can retire from the same position.”
Roemer says that Camosun is planning to expand capacity by up to 50 percent in many of their trade programs, while also looking at tailoring some of their current programs, like the one for industrial electricians, towards a marine setting. He says business programs, such as supply chain management, will also likely require expansion.
“It’s sort of funny, when I get calls from prospective students saying, ‘When did you start?’ I say, ‘We started 40 years ago,’ because we have a lot trades, and welding and sheet metal have been there since the college started, but we will definitely expand some areas, as far as capacity is concerned,” says Roemer.
Roemer believes that the shipbuilding jobs will pay wages that are competitive with those doled out in places like Fort McMurray, Alberta, or northeastern BC, with many being paid in the six figures after a few years.
Camosun will be meeting in early December with the Department of National Defence to discuss what types of training the college should focus on.