We notice NAIT has created a skilled trades council to guide the planning and design of its forthcoming Advanced Skills Centre. Its members are Naseem Bashir of Originus Ltd. and Williams Engineering; Carla Madra of Women Building Futures; Jason Portas of PCL; and Doreen Cole, an energy executive.
"NAIT is the only polytechnic in the province with a plan to address the serious and growing skilled labour shortage," the webpage for the Advanced Skills Centre reads. Federal projects alone will need around 500,000 more skilled trade workers by 2030 and potentially 800,000 by 2034, a Deloitte report found. The ASC is part of NAIT's restructuring plan, which will bring it from four schools to seven. In 2024, the polytechnic secured $43 million in provincial funding to build the 625,000 square-foot skills centre and train an additional 5,500 future workers per year. The centre is now in the "final year of planning and design," NAIT notes.
A desire to focus on skilled trades that are in high demand was part of the justification for NAIT's controversial decision to pause 18 programs last May, amid financial pressures resulting from a decline in international student enrolment. Meanwhile, the school is looking ahead to the Build Her Up conference on March 6. The annual gathering for women and gender-diverse tradespeople includes an opening keynote from a speaker whose background aligns with many members of the new skills council: Keeley Prockiw is a graduate of Women Building Futures and works as a project coordinator for PCL.