PCL Donating $1.25 Million To Enhance Construction Trades Training

EDMONTON, Alberta – The PCL family of companies is pleased to announce it is donating $1.25 million to enhance training in the construction trades as one of many centennial year commemorative initiatives.

This funding is being channeled to Western Canada’s leading educators in apprenticeship training: the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (Edmonton), the British Columbia Institute of Technology (Burnaby), and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (Calgary). The funds will be distributed over three years beginning this year.

As Canada’s largest construction contractor, the PCL family of companies relies on the availability of skilled trades people to continue to grow and be successful. Employment trends indicate that the availability of skilled trades people will continue to be a major challenge facing the construction industry across Canada. This challenge is amplified even further by the robust economies in Alberta and British Columbia.

“These donations are on behalf of every trades person who has used their tools and skills to help us become the group of construction companies we are today. For expert craftsmen like our founder Ernest Poole to the more than 4,000 trades people who work for our independent operating companies and the thousands more who work for PCL’s numerous subcontractors, this donation will hopefully create the foundation for a significant contribution by the industry as a whole,” says Ross Grieve, president and chief executive officer of the PCL family of companies. “These gifts are to help our educators create a strong and vibrant trades workforce in Alberta and British Columbia; and hopefully will encourage other companies to help as well.”

The PCL family of companies is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The original PCL company, E. E. Poole General Contractor, was started in 1906 by Ernest Poole in Saskatchewan. The head office moved to Edmonton in 1932 and remains as the group’s North American Headquarters. The Calgary district office was established in 1947 and a permanent lower mainland office in British Columbia was established in 1975. The Poole family sold the company to its employees in 1977 and the PCL Construction name was launched in 1979.

The PCL family of companies is the largest contracting organization in Canada and one of the largest in the United States. The PCL family has major offices in 25 office locations across continental North America, Hawaii and the Caribbean. PCL is on the 50 Best Employers in Canada list and is a Platinum Member of the 50 Best Managed Companies in Canada program.

 For further information, please contact: 

Wade Wilson
Phone: (780) 435-9750
Email: wwilson@pcl.com