Kenney’s attempt to repair the damage done to Canadian workers laid off or fired due to the foreign worker program is like closing the barn door after the horses were let out. Voters should not forget the Royal Bank and other banks firing Canadian muddle class workers and putting them on UIC so they can hire foreign temporary workers or outsource. Voters should not forget the refusal of the Chinese mine near Tumbler Ridge to hire only Chinese foreign workers as Canadians didnt “have the proper skills”. Enough of this Harper govt being the major “lap dancer” to extreme corporate welfare.

Sears did the same as the banks.

Somehow I doubt turning to first nations to fill labor shortages is a useless endeavor. No offense, but I had recently worked for a company that provides training certification such as, fall arrest, confined space entry, safety watch, etc. They held a ‘sponsored’ program for first nations in Ft St James. The instructor told me there where 28 students total, after the first lunch half had left. Only two had a full attendance over four days and the majority came back on the final afternoon to collect their certificates.

Isolated incidents aside (that the lefties and the media always seem to want to bring up), the labour shortage has to be addressed somehow. These companies are not going to shut their doors if they can’t find people locally. In the case where Canadians aren’t available, this is a viable option.

And before everyone jumps on my last post, anyone brought in from the outside should be paid the same as someone who would otherise be doing the job locally.

Sure is a good think the Libs announced decreased funding for skills training in yesterday’s budget…

“Facing a looming skills shortage, promises to address skills training flew through the air during the last election – but the Ministry of Advanced Education won’t be feeling the support following a $29 million cut to employment programs in the 2014 budget.”

It’s a complex issue for sure. Where would we be without foreign workers at fast food joints and coffee outlets, taking those low skill jobs that Canadians don’t want.

When I was growing up, those jobs were considered entry level and an introduction to the work force to gain some experience, but these days it seems that many young people entering the work force consider such jobs as being ‘below’ them.

Perhaps they should start with our local people of the north from Houston and Quesnel.

2 mills being shut down – What about them??

ACTUALLY I am aware of several studenrs wanting these jobs but they are not hired. Also I had students being laid off their entry level jobs when the BC Libs had their entry level hourly pay program. When the student worked enough hours for an increase to the hourly wage he was paid….he was laid off. There is no need for foreign temporary workers program in Canada. This is corporate spin and the Libs and Harper are the lap dancers oromoting this.

I have friends with teenage kids and most of them have no desire to flip burgers or sling coffee. It’s part of the entitlement attitude which has permeated society nowadays, not just young people. Pretty sad.

Not all teenage kids can afford to work at the burger joint, thanks to the labour standard changes they can work you 2 hours send you home for return in evening for another 2 hours. If you have to drive or live out of town it can cost you to work. Not everyone can count on mom and dad to drive should they not have a car.

Need more classroom time for trades schooling

“Kenney discussed natural resources developments in northern B.C. and the expected economic growth. By 2020, there will be 19,000 more jobs than people in B.C. and the minister emphasized the need to fill them with qualified Canadians”

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And how many more jobs than people in the other 9 Provinces and 3 Territories? Or, is the plan for BC to simply poach every available worker from other parts of the country in order to fill these jobs in Northern BC?

Media lines aside, how exactly is the math going to work on all of this especially when we are on the wrong side of the age demographics curve?

I see that the annual Mercer Quality of Life City Rankings came out yesterday. Here are the top 5 North American cities:

1) Vancouver, Canada (5th globally)
2) Ottawa, Canada (14th globally)
3) Toronto, Canada (15th globally)
4) Montreal, Canada (23th globally)
5) San Francisco, CA, USA (27th globally)

So if we need to increase immigration to fill our job vacancies, where do you think people are going to end up and what does that mean when it comes to filling the 19,000 jobs that Kenney talks about?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to ensure that rural communities remain viable given the trends we are observing?

And let’s keep focused on the big issue. Graduating 10, 50 or 200 more skilled trades people from CNC isn’t going to do a thing to address what Kenny is talking about. It’s a drop in the bucket.

Heck, those numbers won’t even keep pace with replacing the folks that will be leaving the work force over the next 5-10 years . . .

Right on NMG. People will have to start looking at the big picture, relaxing their hardline views and start looking for solutions rather than making excuses.

whining aside jb if and only if the foreign worker is paid benefits and the comparable wage of the laid off worker but this is not happening so when you see incidents like this happening it is anti-patronism and people in govt. should be held accountable exactly where are we headed with this do we all have to learn mandarin this is not the path to follow make it so kids coming out of school have some idea of a trade or academics to continue their education

kenney= Stooge…

Most of those 19,000 jobs are going to be camp jobs,so does it really matter which part of the country the workers come from. There are enough drug addicts and alcoholics working out here already. Maybe testing for those looking for government hand outs before paying for their training.

Big Discussion about Jobs and the way it will be solved: If Industry need skilled Workers they will find them, you can train them yourself like Hydro or Telus and many others or get them any Way you can and if you can’t meet the demand at Home you will look to other Places to fill the need, but for the Government to hand out Money is the wrong Way .

Uh oh… I re-read this “news article” twice over; it looks like, and smells like, a Corporate Overlord, aka Harper Government, media press release.

Hey Ben, can you confirm whether this is a Harper Conservative Government “Press Release” or a genuine 250 News staff generated article for us? I noticed no 250 News reporter name associated to this “news article”. It just states “by 250 News”.

I, for one, would like to know if this “news article” is just big Corporate Harper Government public relations spin, or if it really is a local 250 News.

I would recommend, that in future, when a overly controlling Harper Government shill comes to town, with his communications experts in tow, our “trusted” news source identifies “Government Press Releases”, as such, when they are published and presented to us!