Alberta government bill proposes $43M to create 3,000 tech training spaces over 5 years

The Alberta government is proposing a new bill that would create 3,000 post-secondary spaces over five years to train people to work in the technology sector.

The program will dedicate $43 million totraining programs and another $7 million to scholarships. Some scholarship funding will be aimed at increasing the number of women in the tech sector.

The government proposes to create 200 new spaces in 2018-19, 550 in 2019-20 and 740 in each of the remaining three years.

Post-secondary institutions would have to submit proposals in order to receive the new funding.

The government is also proposing a new council to advise the government on what programs would help the most.

Bill 2 also proposes a new interactive digital media tax credit to encourage new companies to start up in Alberta, or move here from other jurisdictions.

The government also wants to extend two existing programs the Alberta Investment Tax Credit and Capital Investment Tax Credit.

Alberta is expected to face a shortage of computer and information technology professionals by 2025 and a shortage of software designers, programmers and developers.