Premier Lorne Calvert says an NDP government will provide 10,000 more training opportunities to meet the growing need for well educated and highly skilled workers in Saskatchewan.

"Saskatchewan's economy is booming like never before in our history. We have more jobs than at any other time and unemployment is at its lowest rate in 30 years," Calvert said. "More and more people are moving to Saskatchewan and choosing to raise their families and build their futures right here.

"Today, we have more jobs than people to fill them, and that is why a New Democratic government will create even more training opportunities where they are needed most."

Calvert said his government would continue to work with partners in the training sector to create 10,000 new opportunities through expanded course offerings at regional colleges; new training and career opportunities for First Nations and Métis people through institutions such as the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology (SIIT) and Dumont Technical Institute; and continued investment in training for health professionals to build upon the province's health workforce recruitment and retention efforts.

Since 2003, the Calvert government has created more than 6,300 new training opportunities, the largest investment ever by a Saskatchewan government in skills training. Funding to schools has increased by 52 per cent in the last 14 years, and there has been record investment in First Nations and Métis learners, including $4.2 million to provide adult basic education and training, and purchasing two new mobile training labs to serve remote Aboriginal communities.

"Last week, we committed to reducing university tuition by $1,000. All post-secondary graduates, including those who move to Saskatchewan, have opportunity to put up to $5,500 in their pockets through the Graduate Tax Exemption," Calvert said. "With today's plan we are helping young people gain the skills they need to build strong futures right here at home.

"Brad Wall and the Sask Party have consistently opposed NDP initiatives aimed at building stronger futures for our young people," Calvert said. "They voted against the Graduate Tax Exemption and the tuition freeze for our university students, and they stood by while their federal Conservative cousins broke federal childcare promises to Saskatchewan families. Brad Wall and the Sask Party cannot be trusted to do what's right to keep Saskatchewan young people here at home, and to bring young people to our province