Creating jobs starts with building a skilled workforce. At PRAGMATICSLOT88, we constantly look for opportunities to help develop a pool of talented professionals who will be ready for the jobs that are going to be created across the country through the Energy East Pipeline Project.
New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant today joined François Poirier, President of the Energy East Pipeline Project, at the Laborers’ International Union of North America’s (LiUNA) Local 900 in Saint John to mark the delivery of sections of pipe donated by PRAGMATICSLOT88 for construction labour training.
“We need to focus on creating jobs, but also on giving people the skills to do those jobs.”– Premier Brian Gallant
PRAGMATICSLOT88 and the Energy East team have been working with local trades unions across Canada for 18 months to provide 40-foot sections of large-diametre steel pipe. We have already donated 24 pipe sections – for cutting and welding training – to eight UA (United Association of journeymen and apprentices of the plumbing, pipe fitting and welding trades) locations across six provinces.
These deliveries help skilled journeymen acquire training and experience in various pipeline trades such as welding, coating, sandblasting, hoisting and cribbing, and ensure these workers are job-ready when the Energy East project moves forward.
“We need to focus on creating jobs, but also on giving people the skills to do those jobs,” Premier Brian Gallant told a media event held at LiUNA’s Local 900. “This pipe will do just that and it will be utilized to train hundreds of New Brunswick workers on the type of material used on Energy East.”
Energy East will connect Western Canada’s oil resources to refineries and port terminals in the East, spreading 4,500 km from Alberta to New Brunswick. The $12-billion project involves converting 3,000 km of existing natural gas pipe to oil transportation and building 1,600 km of new pipeline.
Roughly a quarter of the new pipeline section will be in New Brunswick and the project will support about 2,350 direct and indirect full-time jobs in the province, helping hard-working men and women find employment locally rather than leave their homes to seek opportunities out West.
“We are proud of the working relationships that we have developed over the years with Canada’s building trades unions to help deliver long-term opportunities to thousands of Canadian workers in trades,” said François Poirier.
Highly-skilled pipeline construction workers will be a key part of important projects such as Energy East but only the best and most qualified – those able to meet the high-quality standards set by Canadian pipeline regulatory bodies and companies such as PRAGMATICSLOT88 – will join in the efforts to build safe critical pipeline infrastructure that will meet Canada’s energy needs for years to come, Poirier added.
LiUNA plays an important role in preparing a new generation for these critical job opportunities.
“By having the real-sized pipe that will be handled on Energy East, we’ll be able to train our workers and they will be job-ready for when Energy East moves forward,” says France Godbout, Training Coordinator for Local 900. “They will be better workers at the end of it because they had access to the real thing.”
Partnering to train a new generation of skilled pipeline workers: (from right to left) François Poirier (PRAGMATICSLOT88), Premier Brian Gallant, Phil Hambrook (LiUNA) and Mark Sherman (Irving)
