With a record of 90 per cent of trainees securing employment, a third class of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council's oil rig training course is set to begin. Funding for this project is being delivered through the Canada-Saskatchewan Northern Development Agreement (NDA).

Social Services Minister Donna Harpauer joined several La Loche high school students today to celebrate the completion of a project that will help to meet affordable housing needs in their community. As part of their school curriculum, the students constructed a house to industry standards, gaining valuable experience in the building trades and providing a family with a new home.

The provincial and federal governments today announced $33 million in joint funding for an Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership (ASEP) project known as the Northern Career Quest Partnership. It will provide training and skills development opportunities for 1,500 Aboriginal people in northern Saskatchewan, leading to long-term jobs in the resource sector.

Initial clearing work is set to begin on the longest new road right-of-way in Saskatchewan to link more than 1,200 residents of Wollaston Lake and the adjoining Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation with Highway 905 in the far north.

Premier Brad Wall wants both industry and Saskatchewan's new government to look at ways to encourage sustainable development of the province's oil sands resources.