The twinning of Highway 17 west is one step closer to reality.
The province has come to an agreement to train 110 members of Treaty #3 First Nations to work in construction.
Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford says the agreement is worth 3.7 million dollars.
“It’s a local workforce that is mobilized to move forward on countless numbers of infrastructure projects, particularly around transportation,” says Rickford.
“We’ve seen enough of companies with workers coming from other parts of the country to do our work here.”
Minister of Labor, Training, and Skills Development Monte McNaughton was on hand to make the announcement this morning.
He says this will allow people to work close to home.
“They are all going to be trained locally with a number of training providers, but they’re all matched with employers. So that means that these workers that are going to be trained are going to have jobs right here in their local communities and stay close to home, which is really important.”
McNaughton says they will train people to become construction craft workers, heavy equipment operators, concrete workers, and general construction workers.
