Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci donates work boots on pre-budget day

Joe Ceci bought a nice new pair of boots Wednesday.

But he won't be wearing them when he delivers his government's spring budget.

Instead, Alberta's finance minister donated the boots to a young woman who will need them more than he does.

​Ceci held his pre-budget media availability at the downtown office of Women Building Futures, a group that works to attract and train women for the construction industry.

"It's a tradition of Canadian finance ministers to put on a new pair of shoes as they present the budget," Ceci said.

Last year, he delivered the NDP government's first budget wearing an old pair of his father's work boots.

"This year, again, I've thought that … donating these [boots] would be a fine thing to do," Ceci said. "To recognize that young women who have had some adversity in their careers already were getting great support through a place like Women Building Futures."

Ceci said Thursday's budget will include major investments in building projects and skills training, so construction workers will be better able to find and keep high-paying jobs.

"I think tomorrow you'll be getting some depth and detail about a suite of programs that will help Albertans get back to work," he said.

JudyLynn Archer, CEO of Women Building Futures, said the group will train more than 1,000 women this year. Thirty per cent of them will be aboriginal women

The program has a 90 per cent success rate in finding jobs for graduates, she said.

"We will need tens of thousands of new tradespeople in this industry, and women are going to help fill that demand."