Canfor, BID Group want Prince George, British Columbia, city council to support conversion of lumber producer's shuttered Rustad sawmill to worker training facility

Wendy Lisney

LOS ANGELES , March 6, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) –

Officials from Canfor Corp. and the BID Group of Companies were expected on Monday to ask the city council in Prince George, British Columbia, for support to turn Canfor's shuttered Rustad sawmill into a facility for trades training, Opinion 250 reported March. 5.

Canfor on Dec. 5, 2011 announced the permanent closure of the sawmill in Prince George, which had been closed two-and-a-half years earlier, Industry Intelligence reported Dec. 12.

The proposal would see the existing post-secondary institutions and industry working as partners in expanding training facilities at the site of the closed sawmill.

The province has a shortage of skilled trades workers and the facility is intended to address that.

Council was due to consider a resolution to urge all levels of government, industry, post-secondary education providers, first nations and labor to work together "to expand trades training opportunities in Prince George and northern British Columbia,” Opinion 250 reported.

Representatives of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Canfor and BID Group, which has offices in Prince George and Vanderhoof, said they would like to see the facility ready to accept its first students by September 2013.

If an agreement can be reached for the closed sawmill, it will be the first such training facility in the province, HQPrinceGeorge.com reported on Dec. 9, 2011.

The primary source of this article is Opinion250, Prince George, British Columbia, on March 5, 2012.

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