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BY JEREMY SIMES
THE
FARMGATE
Photo: University of Alberta
FUTURE
FOCUS
A NEW $35-MILLION NATIONAL
training facility for future CN Rail em-
ployees opened this past September in
Winnipeg, MB.
The increase in demand for grain and
energy products prompted the investment,
said Mark Hallman, director of communi-
cations for CN.
“I think having new employees with
standardized training is a really good
idea,” said Andrew Weir, CN’s on-the-job
trainer coordinator in Sarnia, ON, before
the facility opened.
In learning laboratories, the facility
provides hands-on experience for up to
400 workers, ranging from car mechan-
ics to signal maintainers. It takes seven
weeks for a new employee to complete
CN’s conductor program, and three
weeks to complete its engineer program.
The facility also includes outdoor labs
with rolling stock and other equipment
for field training.
The training campus will enhance the
company’s railroader training programs,
providing a strong safety culture for the
company’s new employees, and reinforce
that culture for current employees who are
upgrading their skills, according to CN.
Winnipeg was an ideal spot for the new
facility, Hallman said.
“The city is central to our operations.
It’s a hub that funnels a lot of our tra c,
from east to west and north to south.”
The new Winnipeg training centre is
also “a symbol of the key role that Winni-
peg and Manitoba play in CN’s network,”
said CN CEO Claude Mongeau.
The facility is part of CN’s workforce
renewal plan, which saw the hiring of
more than 3,000 employees by the end
of 2014.
As evidence of CN’s growth, the
company opened a similar facility in
Homewood, Illinois, in October, in a
location that is geographically central
to American operations. CN also spent
$70 million this past year on a program
upgrading its main corridor between
Edmonton and Winnipeg. Another $30
million was spent to improve CN’s Prai-
rie North Line, a second line that runs
parallel to the company’s main corridor.
A
CENTURY
OF
SUCCESS
JOHN BOCOCK BELIEVES THE
University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agricul-
tural, Life and Environmental Sciences
(ALES) has seen a healthy, progressive
change over the last century.
“Back in my day, we were really think-
ing about how much fertilizer we should
use to get good yield,” said Bocock, who
graduated from what was previously
known as the Faculty of Agriculture at the
U of A in 1957, and now farms north of St.
Albert. “Now, they’re focusing more on
the long-term and sustainability. I think
it’s great.”
Bocock was among about 500 guests
who attended the Myer Horowitz Theatre
to celebrate ALES’s 100th anniversary in
late October 2014.
“It’s an opportunity to reset a bit,” said
Stan Blade, the dean of ALES. “It was a
chance to talk about what we are doing,
covering everything from the hardcore
producer side to nutrition.”
The U of A’s Faculty of Agriculture was
established on May 1, 1915. There were
only two sta members: the dean and his
assistant, who both shaped the minds of
the first 16 students who enrolled that year.
The faculty has since seen its name change
a couple of times, and ALES now boasts
1,600 undergraduate and 500 graduate stu-
dents enrolled in its various departments.
Ty Faechner, director of member prac-
tice at the Alberta Institute of Agrologists,
also attended the celebration.
“It was educational, interesting and
humorous,” said Faechner, who graduated
from the agronomy program at ALES in
1974. “Stan really spelled out his vision. It
was great, and people really connected.”
(From le to right) ALES Professor William Shotyk; ALES Professor Janet Fast; ALES Dean Stan Blade; the Rt. Hon. Kim
Campbell, founding principal of the Peter Lougheed College of Leadership; Ed Stelmach, 13th premier of Alberta; and
JimHole, owner of Hole’s Greenhouses, at ALES’s 100th anniversary celebration.
Winter
2015
Grains
West
10