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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Skills Canada almost lost $80,000 in territorial government funding when it was removed from this year's budget last fall.

On Tuesday, Shawn McCann, manager of public affairs at the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, told Yellowknifer "it is confirmed that there will be no cuts to Skills Canada funding."

When the funding was removed from the budget, it faced strong opposition from within the legislative assembly.

"Bob Bromley and Wendy Bisaro have been really strong advocates for (keeping the funding), and I love them for that," said Jan Fullerton, executive director of Skills Canada NWT.

Wendy Bisaro told Yellowknifer a motion to maintain funding was brought forward by Bob Bromley and carried. But as it was brought forward by regular members and not binding to the cabinet, she wasn't sure if it would restore Skills Canada's funding.

Fullerton said Skills Canada's main source of funding is the federal government, supplemented by the GNWT and private sponsorships. Despite the recession, she said private sponsors continue to support the program at the same level as in previous years - "but as far as getting new sponsors to fill the void that would be left from the territorial funding, it's a tough year to do that."

"One of the things we heard from the territorial government, from meeting with them over the last two years, was that what they wanted to see from us was more regional programming, and they wanted to be clear that we weren't just Yellowknife-focused," said Fullerton, "but if we lose that money, then I don't know how we'd continue to do the same level of regional programming, let alone more regional programming.

"This year we just launched our first-ever regional skills competition, and we were hoping to do more of that."

Fullerton said in regards to tightening the budget, "I realize they have to cut a lot of things, but at the same time we're pro-youth, we're doing things that support the labour market and economic development and we're supporting industry."

Skills Canada is a program for youth and young adults that holds competitions in various trades including welding, aircraft maintenance, plumbing, baking and hairstyling. There are local competitions, which lead to regional competitions and then a national competition.

Some of these trades are viable options for youth even in the current economy, said Fullerton, adding the majority of tradespeople are in their late 40s - as they retire there will be a considerable amount of vacancies in trade jobs.

Skills Canada is in its 11th year in the NWT and Fullerton said it's achieving its goal of promoting trades to youth.

"We've been working on an alumni survey. We've just started and we've only recorded about 50 out of potentially 600 past competitors," said Fullerton, "and everybody has said that they would recommend it to other youth and that it had a positive effect on them, and the majority of them say skills Canada had an impact on their career decision."

Fullerton said the shows and competitions can introduce youth to trades they weren't aware of, or simply nudge them down paths they were already considering.

"You could have someone that was interested in being a carpenter, but being involved in the program, it might increase their confidence, it might encourage them to do more with whatever their chosen career is," she said.