[Unsound]

We do give them first dibs, in the sense that most companies would rather hire another Canadian than a foreigner. Not out of altruism of course, but simply because the paperwork involved in getting temporary foreign workers is complicated and it takes a long time.

As to Ontarians not coming here anymore... I work with several. Last company I worked for we even interviewed and hired them over Skype and helped pay for the move. And that was just for labourers. I'd like it if my present company did the same.

I would like to see more companies, or perhaps the government, get involved in making it easier to make the move, but I suspect the main reason there isn't more of that is the whole freedom thing. Tough to convince anyone to put money and time into bringing people here when they may quit after a week to go work for a different company.

[Jabberwalker]

$1:

Tough to convince anyone to put money and time into bringing people here when they may quit after a week to go work for a different company

They won't if you offer them a decent deal. It's a free market and you are in competition for their services. The rational response is to offer better wages/conditions/benefits ... whatever. The workers have the levereage when there aren't enough of them to go around.

[fifeboy]

andyt andyt:

Or, we could just train our own people.

Oh my god, who'a thunk of something like that?

[Canadian_Mind]

Pretty sure we do. Most of my grad class, I'd wager 75% of it, has come to Alberta for work, either temporary (2-3 weeks in, 1-2 weeks out kinda deal), or on a permanent basis. Now, that was just from Vancouver Island to Alberta, but there is no reason why kids from Ontario or the maritimes couldn't get off their collective asses and do it for themselves as well.

I'm also not opposed to the American's moving here and staying here. The majority of the country is sparsely populated. We could use more well-trained and skilled immigrants.

[2Cdo]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

Pretty sure we do. Most of my grad class, I'd wager 75% of it, has come to Alberta for work, either temporary (2-3 weeks in, 1-2 weeks out kinda deal), or on a permanent basis. Now, that was just from Vancouver Island to Alberta, but there is no reason why kids from Ontario or the maritimes couldn't get off their collective asses and do it for themselves as well.

I'm also not opposed to the American's moving here and staying here. The majority of the country is sparsely populated. We could use more well-trained and skilled immigrants.

I just brought a couple of my sons friends out and put them to work.

[bootlegga]

jj2424 jj2424:

There was a time where Canadians were willing to come to Alberta to work but, some where along the line they all became a bunch of lazy sheep who would prefer to sit at home in Ontario and bitch about the "dirty tarsands" with their hand open looking for "dirty tarsands" money.

Says the guy who flees Alberta when the snow flies...

Anyways, it's not realistic to expect people to uproot their families and move halfway across the country for a job.

[Canadian_Mind]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Anyways, it's not realistic to expect people to uproot their families and move halfway across the country for a job.

Why not? I can think of several provincial and federal organizations that do this. It's difficult sometimes, but it is entirely realistic.

[bootlegga]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Anyways, it's not realistic to expect people to uproot their families and move halfway across the country for a job.

Why not? I can think of several provincial and federal organizations that do this. It's difficult sometimes, but it is entirely realistic.

I don't think so. It's fine for 20 & 30 somethings to move across the country for work, but expecting people with mortgages, families and other commitments to just uproot themselves and hope that the move is a successful one.

[andyt]

mortgages/houses is the big one. Good luck trying to sell in a depressed area so that you can afford to move, only to move to an expensive area because everybody is moving there. Also, Ft McMurray doesn't sound like a good environment to raise kids - sounds like a scum hole with lots of rootless 20 somethings causing problems.

Funny how everybody is supposed to move to Ft McMurray. Pretty sad for Canada if that's the only place to find work.

And, everybody has lost sight of this topic being about skilled workers. Ie people who already have the skills needed. Instead of importing them, we should be training our own, so that Canadians already here can have a good life, not imports.

[Canadian_Mind]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Anyways, it's not realistic to expect people to uproot their families and move halfway across the country for a job.

Why not? I can think of several provincial and federal organizations that do this. It's difficult sometimes, but it is entirely realistic.

I don't think so. It's fine for 20 & 30 somethings to move across the country for work, but expecting people with mortgages, families and other commitments to just uproot themselves and hope that the move is a successful one.

You need to take a closer look at how the military and RCMP work, my friend. That is exactly how it goes all the time. It's better now then it was in the 90s, but it's starting to turn around again.

[peck420]

andyt andyt:

Funny how everybody is supposed to move to Ft McMurray. Pretty sad for Canada if that's the only place to find work.

It's not like there isn't any other areas of Alberta experiencing labour shortages...

[2Cdo]

andyt andyt:

mortgages/houses is the big one. Good luck trying to sell in a depressed area so that you can afford to move, only to move to an expensive area because everybody is moving there. Also, Ft McMurray doesn't sound like a good environment to raise kids - sounds like a scum hole with lots of rootless 20 somethings causing problems.

Funny how everybody is supposed to move to Ft McMurray. Pretty sad for Canada if that's the only place to find work.

And, everybody has lost sight of this topic being about skilled workers. Ie people who already have the skills needed. Instead of importing them, we should be training our own, so that Canadians already here can have a good life, not imports.

Fort Crack isn't the only place in Alberta with good jobs, and I agree that we should concentrate on Canadian workers instead of foreign workers.
Just seen peck beat me to the punch.

[Jabberwalker]

I

$1:

expecting people with mortgages, families and other commitments to just uproot themselves and hope that the move is a successful one.

I've done it, so have my siblings and so did my parents. That is a major way that the country has been settled over the last century ... for the "established" East to to move towards the "new" West and it is business as usual to continue doing it. My entire extended family, when I think of it, has been mobile East-West and back again. Internal migration is a normal part of life in Canada.

[andyt]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

You need to take a closer look at how the military and RCMP work, my friend. That is exactly how it goes all the time. It's better now then it was in the 90s, but it's starting to turn around again.

Big diff between moving to a guaranteed job (likely a career up move too) and with the employer helping with the move and just trying to sell a house in a depressed area and moving on spec.

Young people should definitely be prepared to move. And we could do a much better job matching people with skills and jobs, so that they do have a guaranteed job to move to. But employers seem to prefer to hire temp workers because they are in effect bonded to the employer, won't make any trouble for fear of being sent home. A new slant on the old indentured worker idea. Good way to ruin the Canadian job market.

And all of this misses the point that we have a skills shortage/mismatch in this country. That's where govt and industry needs to step up make changes. Take Germany as an example of how it's done. During a recent recession, the govt paid industry to keep people on, so that as soon as demand picked up again, the workers were in place to meet it. They hadn't flown to the four winds to find other work, with the employer demanding to bring in more indentured workers because "they can't find Canadians to do the work."

[peck420]

I stopped reading at "employers seem to prefer temp workers"...I figured the rest of the post would be as ridiculous as that part.