The College of the Rockies (COTR) will receive $150,000 from the Ministry of Advanced Education to support training for workers affected by the Canfor mill slowdown in Canal Flats.

As part of B.C.'s Skills for Jobs Blueprint, the College of the Rockies will receive funding for an additional 32 training spaces to increase access and help reduce waitlists for trades critical to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other industries.

Students in the Kootenays who want to learn a trade are getting a helping hand with more than $65,000 in one-time funding for 16 foundation seats in targeted trades training courses during 2013-14.

The Kootenay Regional Workforce Table has completed a skills training plan that will help ensure communities in the region have skilled workers to fill both current and future jobs.

To highlight how easy it is for families to get the new $1,200 BC Training and Education Savings Grant, Education Minister Don McRae and Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett visited a BMO Bank of Montreal branch to discuss the new grant with a BMO financial planning expert and a local parent.

Students at College of the Rockies who are training to work in the Kootenays' thriving mining sector will have access to the latest mining truck haul simulators thanks to over $1.1 million in investment from the government of British Columbia and the Columbia Basin Trust.

The government of B.C. is investing $443,842 in new skills training equipment at the College of the Rockies.

Students at the College of the Rockies will benefit this fall from improved and upgraded campus facilities. This is thanks to over $936,000 in capital funding that is part of government's investment in B.C.'s post-secondary infrastructure this year.