A ceremony was held this morning in Air Ronge that saw the province officially transfer buildings and property to Northlands College to be used for increased training.
The keys for two buildings were handed over to college CEO Toby Greschner for $1.
Greschner says they will be put to good use.
“It really gives us a little more space to do a lot more training in northern Saskatchewan. And it also repurposes some buildings that, for the most part, have been underutilized the last number of years. And it also gives the town of Air Ronge a bit of a facelift as we now bring this space back to life.”
Finance Minister Ken Krawetz says the transfer made sense for both sides.
“We saw the potential for an expanded college — and Northlands is a growing college in terms of providing training and skills for so many students — and the fact that the buildings were here, they were underutilized. And we saw the ability to transfer these buildings to the Northlands College and allow them the opportunity, the board of directors, to plan for growth, to be able to utilize buildings. And we’re seeing that. We’re seeing that expansion.”
The transfer includes two buildings and significant yard space. The first building was formally a storage depot for the Ministry of Central Services. It will be repurposed into a multi-purpose trades training facility. The second building is a laboratory that is being brought back into use and will be used for mining and health-related programing. The yard space will be used for power line training and other programs that require open space.