The provincial government will give $500,000 to help workers who lost their jobs when the UPM mill closed, says Public Safety Minister John Foran.
Foran made the announcement Monday during a press conference at the UPM-Kymmene Adjustment Committee Transition Centre.
The funding will go to the centre and extend training programs in place to help people make the transition from being a mill worker, he said.
"Our goal is to have as many people as possible working."
Foran said with projects like the Point Lepreau refit, New Brunswick is on the verge of an economic boom.
"We have to position ourselves to be ready for that."
Some of the people who use the transition centre to retrain will benefit once the boom hits, he said.
"We've got to do everything we can as a government to retrain people and be ready for the boom."
Patrick McDonald, a former process operator at the UPM mill, worked there for 29 years and said the announcement was good for the workers.
"It should help."
The training he gets at the centre has helped him develop more marketable skills, he said.
"I'm improving my edge on competing for employment."
McDonald said he won't leave the province to find work the way some people have, unless he has to.
"Out west is not my home."
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