Out West, the signs all
say: Help Wanted
Mar 30, 2008
The Toronto Star
Gillian Steward
Central Canada
may be bracing for a recession but there's still
no sign of it in the West. Instead, employers
worry about finding and keeping enough workers
to deal with soaring demand for their products
and services.
Frustration abounds everywhere. The owner of one
upscale Calgary restaurant says he has not only
had to resort to washing the dishes himself,
he's now thinking of buying two condos to house
the temporary help he wants to import from the
Philippines.
In June, Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier will
lead a team of city officials to job fairs in
England where they hope to hire 250 planners,
mechanics and bus drivers. Like the restaurant
workers, they would be brought to Alberta under
the temporary foreign worker program, which
allows outsiders to work in Canada for a limited
period of time, if employers can't find suitable
Canadian or permanent residents to do the job.
Temporary workers from India, China, the
Philippines, Central America and Mexico are also
in demand at the massive tar sands sites in
northern Alberta. In fact, it's the tar sands
vortex that is sucking up workers from all
across the country, as well as overseas, leaving
other employers in the lurch because they can't
compete with petroleum industry wages.
So, foreign workers, who for the most part
aren't as demanding as their Canadian
counterparts, are recruited to fill the gaps in
everything from meat-packing and landscaping to
hotels and restaurants. Over the past year, the
federal government has received applications
from Alberta employers for 100,000 foreign
workers. That's about five times the number of
immigrants granted permanent status in Alberta
in 2006.
B.C. is also importing workers. According to
Economic Development Minister Colin Hansen, the
province is hoping to attract 30,000 workers
with specific skills – each year.
Of course, not everyone is happy about this.
Labour leaders say employers are using foreign
workers to drive down wages and benefits.
Recruiters know that while $14 an hour to change
sheets in a hotel might not sound like much
here, to a single mother from Mexico it sounds
like a fortune. New immigrants say employers
would rather bring in temporary foreign workers
than hire them because they expect wages and
benefits befitting a Canadian standard of
living.
Not all job vacancies can be filled by foreign
workers who don't speak English very well. They
can't work in retail, for example, where
employee churn is a constant problem.
During a recent excursion to Safeway, I had to
ask three workers stocking shelves for help
before I found the item I was looking for – the
first two simply didn't know what I was talking
about. Some restaurants and stores have had to
curtail their hours of operation because they
can't find enough staff.
But it's in the social-services sector where the
shortage of qualified workers is felt most
acutely. Agencies in Alberta that provide
services to children and adults with
disabilities say employee turnover is so chronic
it has become dangerous for clients and staff.
Most of these agencies contract with the
provincial government to provide services. So,
the government could certainly inject more cash,
if it wanted to. But agencies like these, as
well as long-term care facilities, child-care
providers and women's shelters, will be
scrambling for front-line workers for many years
to come.
They might even be praying for a recession –
anything to drive prospective workers their way
again.
Gillian Steward is a Calgary writer and
journalist, and former managing editor of the
Calgary Herald.
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