The program, which will be delivered by the School of Applied Science and Technology, is expected to launch in September 2023 with an initial intake of 20 students.

The company estimates recent shutdowns will remove approximately 750 million board feet of annual production capacity, or the equivalent of enough lumber to build nearly 46,000 houses.

The agency says the number of job vacancies across all sectors was down 20,700 at 850,300 for the month.

The organization has announced changes in the horticultural technician, arborist and utility arborist trades, and promised further changes in the three heavy equipment operator trades later this year.

More evenly distributed migration would not only benefit smaller cities, but also help ease the challenges in infrastructure demands faced by major centres like Vancouver or Toronto.