Training for forestry: Timmins in talks to establish forestry training centre.

AuthorKelly, Lindsay
PositionTRAINING & EDUCATION

The City of Timmins and industry partners are investigating the feasibility of establishing a forestry innovation and training centre in Timmins.

Mayor Steve Black said the idea was broached by the last term of council, and he's taken it forward to the province to start preliminary discussions.

"We know the forestry industry's in a rebound and is going to be growing over the next few years," Black said. "Finding that skilled workforce is going to be one of those challenges."

In August, during the annual meeting of the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO), Black spoke about the training centre with Natural Resources Minister Bill Mauro and Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle, who both expressed initial support for the idea.

Gravelle told Black he would help set up a meeting with Reza Moridi, the minister of training, colleges and universities, to further the discussions.

Black has already been in contact with local industry partners; in particular, Millson Forestry has been a leading proponent of the idea.

The mayor noted that, like mining and other industries in the North, forestry companies are struggling to find skilled workers when they need them. The training centre would help alleviate that strain.

"We're trying to set up an innovation training centre that would have paid apprenticeships to train students in the industry, from the start of the process right through to the final process, including the hauling and truck drivers, harvesting, and planting-- basically all the steps," Black said.

"It also provides the companies an opportunity to have a trained workforce coming out of the program, so that they're not struggling to find people, and dealing with people that aren't trained, and then having to find a way to train them in the different stages of the operations."

There would also be an innovation component to the...

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