Local businesses are struggling because of a clear labour shortage. Lac La Biche County councillors have passed that message on to Member of Parliament David Yurdiga, who says he’ ll take their concerns to Ottawa.
Local businesses are struggling because of a clear labour shortage. Lac La Biche County councillors have passed that message on to Member of Parliament David Yurdiga, who says he’ ll take their concerns to Ottawa.
Yurdiga addressed County Council last Tuesday to talk about the newly launched Canada Apprentice Loan, a program aimed at workers in the trades, but councillors say this community’ s greatest labour challenge is finding enough service workers to make do.
The local politicians say changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program have only made the situation worse, but the Conservative Yurdiga, who represents the Fort McMurray-Athabasca riding, says the federal government is working towards longer-term solutions.
“We’ d rather see people come to our country, bring their families and make this country their home,” he said.
Mayor Omer Moghrabi says there’ s been a lot of talk about whether Alberta should have been treated differently when the TFW program changes were announced.
“We are an economic driver of the country,” Moghrabi said.
Councillor Hajar Haymour says he agrees with Yurdiga’ s point about attracting workers to Canada to stay-“Canada is the best country. Here, there’ s opportunity,” he said-but in the meantime, he emphasized, many businesses in the Lac La Biche area are finding it hard to cope.
Before the conversation changed subjects, Yurdiga told Council about how the Canada Apprentice Loan will address a nationwide shortage of skilled trades workers.
“Right now, the biggest (labour) deficit we have is in trades,” the MP said. “We have a need for more of our youth and young people to pursue trades.”
The new program is intended to help apprentices complete their training and earn complete certification, while at the same time encouraging more people to consider trades as career options.
Yurdiga says that, while many trades workers in this region are employed in the oil industry and fields linked to it, dipping oil prices could change that.
“As everyone knows, our oil goes up and down,” he said. “We want those people to have long-term employment.”
Councillor John Nowak says that the gap between education and employment widens quickly, so it’ s important for people to learn valuable skills before their training days are behind them.
“Once you start working and start making money, it’ s very hard to go back,” he said.
Yurdiga advised Council last Tuesday to watch for more federal programs that could be of use to this municipality.
“I encourage you to be vigilant and see what’ s out there,” he said. “There are a number of programs that are underutilized.”
For more information on the federal government's employment and training assistance programs, visit http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/esdc/initiatives/apprenticeship/index.page.
