Portage College recently announced it is vacating it’s residency at The Centennial Centre in Bonnyville and moving its electrical program to Cold Lake’s Energy Centre. A move which The Town of Bonnyville was “quite blindsided and quite upset,” reported the Mayor of Bonnyville Gene Sobolewski on April 19th. Portage College cited high cost of leasing the space as their main reason for leaving their residency at The Centennial Centre. However, there looks to be another cost to their departure.
In pulling out of the Centennial Centre, Portage College left behind the teaching equipment it was using as it belonged to The Town of Bonnyville. The equipment will cost $278,952, as reported by Mardere Birkill, vice president of academics at Portage College.
Portage College is hoping The City of Cold can assist in purchasing. The program is expected to bring in 80 additional students to the campus annually with two instructors. The city will discuss options further and look into grant funding availability, such as The Western Economic Diversification fund, before making a decision.
