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Announcing funding for Yukon Mine Training Association (YMTA) Curricula Development
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Speaking Notes
for
The Honourable Vic Toews
PC, MP President of the Treasury Board
Announcing funding for Yukon Mine Training Association (YMTA) Curricula Development
Whitehorse, Yukon
January 16, 2009
Check against delivery
Good morning, bonjour.
I am so pleased to be back in the North to speak with you on a number of important issues. [Insert personal comments here]
Let me begin today by taking a moment to acknowledge both the Kwanlin Dun First Nation and the Ta’an Kwach’an Council, as I am speaking to you today in their traditional territories.
I would also like to thank Mr. Bill Dunn, Chair of the Yukon Mine Training Association, for his effort towards helping Northerners and especially First Nations find employment in the mining sector through training and skills development.
Your organization was aware of the shortage of skilled labour in the Yukon and provided a means to engage First Nations and northerners in the mining industry.
Access to a skilled, local workforce benefits both the mining industry and communities, as local workers are often strongly committed to success in their own backyards. Many of the skills developed will be useful in other resource sectors as well.
These are difficult economic times for all Canadians. We need participation and partnerships at the community level in order to ensure the social and economic well-being of our entire country. In the North, promoting social and economic development is a priority of the government’s Northern Strategy.
That is why I am pleased to announce $640,000 toward the Yukon Mine Training Association curricula development to ensure that this program continues to grow and prosper.
This funding, provided through the Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development initiative’s Targeted Investment Program, will be used to acquire and develop curricula for mine training. Once complete, the curricula will ensure a standard of quality training and skills development across the territory.
Developing and supporting accessible local training courses and employment ensures workers are closer to their families and home and benefits the local economy. It helps to ensure Northerners have timely and relevant training opportunities in their own community or at their local mine sites.
Our government is committed to fostering growth and prosperity by investing in a variety of Northern economic development projects. This morning I was pleased to announce support under the economic development initiative for a series of Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce projects including Partnering for Success and the Yukon Business Development Project.
These projects demonstrate our government’s commitment to working in partnership with local organizations to promote the economic development of the North – strengthening territories’ economies and generating important economic opportunities for Northerners.
It is of the utmost importance that we continue to work in partnership to realize the Northern Strategy’s vision of a North that achieves its full economic and social potential in order to truly ensure a strong, prosperous future for the North.
