In the face of the recent economic downturn in the area due to the drop in oil prices, the Chronic Labour Shortage Committee has decided to put a hold on their fight with the federal government.
“I think everybody's got to address the elephant in the room and that is that oil's not where it was before,” said committee co-chair Sal Naim. “As long as I think there are people without jobs here, the timing of this fight is not appropriate.”
Naim and fellow committee member Richard Wurst gave the announcement of the committee's intentions during the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting last Thursday (Mar. 26).
The Chronic Labour Shortage Committee was formed on the heels of the federal government's announcement of changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The changes made were aimed at reducing the number of temporary foreign workers in the country and ideally lowering the unemployment rate amongst Canadians.
Until recently, the local committee was lobbying the government with the help of The Canadian Strategy Group to find a permanent solution to the ongoing labour shortage in the Lakeland, which was to be further impacted with the reduction in temporary foreign workers.
Partnered with both the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce and the Cold Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Chronic Labour Shortage Committee released surveys to gather data to present to political decision makers.
“(From the surveys, we gathered) that there was a real awareness of the issue in our region, the concerns did not focus specifically on skilled positions but it was all skill levels and all positions and across all industries,” said Naim.
Now that there has been a shift in the labour market, with job cuts stemming from low oil prices, Naim they need to “hit the pause button” on their project. Wurst ensured that they are not stopping the Chronic Labour Shortage committee's objective though; the committee wants to make sure it continues to stay on people's minds.
“As local businesses we want to always hire Canadians first and right now there are more Canadians looking for work. But we all know that the economy is going to pick up, it's just a matter of when,” said Wurst. “We're going to be having the same problems we did just three months ago.”
The move to pause the project in light of the recent economic times is one that the local business committee agrees with.
“I support your notion of hitting the pause button but not stopping,” said CEO of Lakeland Credit Union Pierre Amyotte during the meeting. “It is a problem that will come back up again.”
Both Naim and Wurst noted to Chamber members at the meeting that while there has been an influx in the number of resumes coming in, the main problem now is that people aren't often suited to the job they're applying for. Some jobs, particularly those in the service industry, are now being used for the interim instead of careers.
“There has been an uptake in the amount of resumes but I have power engineers who are looking to pick up hours washing dishes, it's not necessarily the right fit,” Naim said in his presentation.
President of the Bonnyville Chamber of Commerce Robyn Ducharme said that she has no doubt the Chronic Labour Shortage Committee will be greatly needed again in the future.
“It's something that has to keep working in the background, so that when you've got this chronic, chronic labour shortage again we have something that can start up right away. I think it's very important to keep it top of mind and that's why we invited them to come down and speak to the business community today.”
Naim noted that they will still honour their commitment and find ways to pay the bill for the work completed, of which they are currently in a deficit of $32,000 for their fundraising goal. When the issue of labour shortage rises again in the Lakeland, he said the committee would be ready go.
