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Running back to Saskatoon, Moose Jaw,
Regina ... Saskatchewan lures Albertans Mike Sadava,
The Edmonton Journal; Friday, March 30, 2007
EDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound
in growing numbers.
For the first time since 1996, more people are moving
from Alberta to Saskatchewan than the other way around. It's part of
a slight slowdown in Alberta's population growth, which is still increasing
at four times the rest of the country.
According to Statistics Canada, 128 more Albertans moved
one province east in the last three months of 2006.
That is not a huge number, but it is creating smiles
in Regina.
"This is a good batch of numbers," said Roy
Schneider, spokesman for Saskatchewan Industry and Resources. "We
were bleeding so many people to Alberta for such a long time I'd be
happy to see (a net increase from Alberta of) two.
For years, between 2,000 and 4,000 Saskatchewan residents
per quarter would head out to Alberta in search of the good life.
Even in the third quarter of 2006, Saskatchewan experienced
a net loss of 994 people to Alberta, and the province launched an ad
campaign, extolling the better life of Saskatchewan in billboards popping
up around Edmonton.
Statistics Canada hasn't tracked who these people are,
but Crystal and Cam Hamilton, who moved back to Regina at the beginning
of the year, might be typical.
Cam moved here eight years ago to take a course in architectural
drafting.
There were no jobs in Regina in his field, so he stayed
in Edmonton to work. Crystal followed him here and they married, eventually
buying a house in Lymburn in southwest Edmonton.
After having their son Brady, who is now 11 months old,
they decided it would be nice to be back in Regina with family, and
that became possible.
"Because the economy is so much bigger in Saskatchewan
now, there are jobs again," Crystal Hamilton said.
They ended up with a tidy nest egg from the move and
managed to pay off their debts. The Edmonton house they bought two years
ago for $157,000 got them $306,000, and they built a new, larger home
in Regina for $190,000.
"We're financially set now," she said. "It
was perfect timing and turned out to be good idea in many ways."
She said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic,
and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.
"It was sad to move, but it's also good to be back."
Vicki Delnea and her husband Rod had similar reasons
for moving to Regina from Calgary -- the difference in the cost of housing
enabled them to pay off their mortgage.
"In the end you have to figure out your priorities,
and for us it was not being on the hamster wheel," she said.
While she is from London, England, Rod was originally
from Regina, and it will be great for her three-year-old, Joshua, to
know his grandparents, she said.
Rod, who works in marketing, was able to keep his job
and is working out of a home office, which saves him a 40-minute commute.
"Everybody thought we were crazy moving here because
there is a stigma against Saskatchewan. When we told them Regina, they
said: 'Why?' We said: 'Why not?' "
So far Delnea loves the city, finding her neighbours
friendly and not missing the traffic of Calgary.
Frank Trovato, a demographer in the sociology department
at the University of Alberta, said it's not surprising to see more people
moving to Saskatchewan after such a long period of net outflow of people
to Alberta.
"When you see there's a lot of people moving to
a place, there's also a countercurrent back," Trovato said.
There are likely a number of factors at play, including
the lower cost of housing and greater economic opportunities back in
Saskatchewan, but there were probably a number of people who found that
Edmonton didn't provide the opportunities they were hoping for, he said.
"Not everyone who moves to a province is there
permanently," Trovato said.
Terry Hincks, a Regina city councillor and realtor,
said Albertans are buying a lot of homes in Regina, either as revenue
property or to eventually be their place of residence.
"It seems that every time I pick up the phone it's
either 780 or 403 (area codes)."
Real estate prices are still much lower than Edmonton
-- $130,000 to $150,000 can still get you a decent three-bedroom home
-- but are starting to rise. February set a new record in Regina, with
250 houses sold.
msadava@thejournal.canwest.com
AGAINST THE TIDE
No. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838
No. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710
Net loss for Alberta: 128
Net inflow of migrants to Alberta from the rest of Canada:
11,800
Net inflow of migrants in the fourth quarter 2005: 17,100
Population growth Alberta: 0.65 per cent
Population growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent
Population growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent
Source: Statistics Canada figures for fourth quarter,
2006, © The Edmonton Journal 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Premier takes credit for home price
surge; Premier Lorne Calvert is taking credit for the hot housing market
in Saskatoon as he unabashedly promotes the province's lower housing
costs.
"I take great pride in it,"
Calvert said in an interview.
"I travel all over the country,
telling people to move to Saskatchewan. I make no apologies."
Not everyone agrees with the premier's
strategy.
"It's almost time for the province
to discontinue its advertising campaign," said Norm Fisher, sales
manager at Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate.
In February, Calvert and his NDP government
launched a billboard campaign in Calgary promoting Saskatchewan job
opportunities. At the time, he said he was also there as a real estate
salesperson.
"If you have any home ownership
in Calgary these days, you can sell here, buy in Saskatchewan and be
free and clear with your mortgage, likely own a cottage and maybe one
or two rental properties," he told reporters.
Since then, Edmonton and southwestern
Ontario have also been the targets of the marketing campaign, and housing
prices in Saskatoon have skyrocketed. At the end of 2006, house prices
in Saskatoon averaged $175,301, according to the Saskatoon Region Association
of Realtors. Three months later, the average house price was $200,938,
topping the $200,000 mark for the first time.
"I know this is a consequence of
success," Calvert said. "If I have to choose a problem, I
will choose this problem (over) the problem of vast numbers of houses
for sale in a slow economy. I think a strong economy, even with the
challenges it presents, is the better of the two for us to deal with."
The surge in house prices is even more
dramatic when comparing the average price of single-family detached
houses year to year. In March and so far in April, the average price
was $220,426, up from $168,952 one year earlier. That translates into
a mortgage payment increase of $300 per month, says Fisher.
"When house prices increase so
much more rapidly than incomes do, it doesn't take a mathematician to
figure out that people are getting shut out of the market.
"There is no doubt that there are
people who, six months ago, had decided that they were going to buy
themselves a home who are no longer able to do that," he said.
Calvert dismisses the idea that young,
first-time home buyers are being shut out of the market because they
can't afford the purchase.
"Many of them can, because they
too are part of this new economy," he said. "The opportunities
are here for our kids who haven't left the province."
Calvert points to his own son, who is
working as a carpenter and planning on a buying a fixer-upper for his
first home.
"Five years ago, I don't believe
my son would have had that opportunity. I believe he would have been
looking outside the province. That's no longer the case. The opportunities
are here for those of us who are here in equal measure as those who
will come."
Calvert says when he became premier,
he set out to revitalize the economy.
"I am still of the view that our
future, both economically and socially, is tied to keeping a strong
economy. It's tied to getting people here. It's tied to seeing our population
grow," said Calvert.
But many potential buyers of a home
in Saskatoon are not planning to move to Saskatchewan, says Fisher.
"A lot of what's coming out of
the West that's driving this market is investment speculation, too.
There's people calling and e-mailing every day that want to buy a property
that they can hold for six months and re-sell," he said, adding
that he doesn't deal for investors because there are plenty of people
living in Saskatoon who are looking for homes.
The influx from the West may not be
over yet. The province is gearing up for another blitz in Alberta, with
more billboards and other advertising. The government may also sponsor
traffic reports on Edmonton and Calgary radio stations. For four weeks
this winter, commuters were told that if they were living in Saskatoon
or Regina, they would be home for supper instead of sitting in traffic.
|
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Call Jerry at 306-354-2216
REGINA
-- April 10, 2008. Sask housing boom lifts ISC to record profit
Bruce Johnstone, Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post . Information
Services Corp. (ISC), once considered a black hole of expense for the
provincial government, is now one of its shining stars, posting a record
$23-million profit and paying an $8-million dividend to the province's
holding company in 2007.
And thanks to Saskatchewan's booming housing market,
ISC, which operates the province's computerized land registry system,
is expecting to see similar results in 2008.
Chief operating officer Jeff Stusek attributed ISC's
record results in 2007 to "unprecedented growth in the real
estate market," both in activity and prices, last year.
"This surge in growth has dramatic and positive
effects on the financial picture of ISC," Stusek said. "Real
estate volumes were up 20 per cent over 2006, which was a record
year."
Since ISC's land registry business is tied directly
to the volume of real estate transactions and housing prices,
the corporation's revenues jumped to $62.5 million in 2007 from $47.7
million in 2006.
Despite the 20 per cent increase in real estate transactions,
expenses increased only $500,000 to $39.5 million last year.
The positive financial results allowed ISC to pay down
$13 million in debt, leaving long-term debt of $13.5 million, and an
$8-million dividend to Crown Investments Corp. (CIC).
While the dividend was referred to as "the first
in ISC's six-year history," company officials confirmed ISC had
paid dividends to the general revenue fund (GRF) in its first four years
of operation ($8 million in 2000, $11.7 million in 2001 and 2002 and
$2.9 million in 2003).
This despite losses of $10.9 million in 2000, $6.3 million
in 2001, $6.2 million in 2002 and $5.8 million in 2003, when the dividend
to the GRF was finally discontinued.
Since then, ISC has been consistently profitable, posting
profits of $8.3 million in 2004 and 2005, $8.7 million in 2006 and $23
million in 2007. But the 2007 profit was largely driven by the booming
real estate industry.
Stusek said three-quarters of the $15-million revenue
gain from 2006 to 2007 was attributable to the increase in real estate
transactions, while the other quarter was due to price increases.
Stusek, who is taking over as acting CEO from Scott
Hodson, who is leaving ISC in early May to join the private sector,
said ISC has been able meet its target of a 2.5-day turnaround to process
land registry changes.
"That was a strong success for us, given the substantial
increase (in business volume) to be able to maintain that two and a
half day (turnaround). It's because of a lot of focus on productivity
and efficiency in our electronic systems."
In fact, at 2.59 days, ISC boasts the fastest turnaround
time for land transactions in Canada, compared with 3.9 days in B.C.,
6.9 days in Manitoba and 9.4 days in Alberta.
And ISC's fees remain among the lowest in Canada, although
significantly higher than Alberta's in some cases.
Crown Corporations Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said ISC
is not looking to sell its land registry system outside the province,
but focusing its efforts on expanding its operations in Saskatchewan.
"We probably will spend some time talking to other
jurisdictions, but not an inordinate amount of time. We've to keep focused
on the core business at hand."
For example, Cheveldayoff said ISC took over responsibility
for vital statistics from the health ministry last year.
"There are many opportunities within the province
and within the government where ISC can market their expertise and help
(improve) efficiencies in government."
May 03, 2007
Robert Crew Toronto Star
MOOSE JAW, SASK.–A decade or so
ago, the centre of Moose Jaw was decaying, with tumbleweed blowing down
Main St.
Downtown shops were in disrepair and
many were boarded up. It was a city in search of a future.
"That was our dream ... It was
a bold act of imagination, led by a bunch of mavericks," says Deb
Thorn, general manager of the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort and
one of those mavericks.
"This is a story of how tourism
saved a city."
It started with a meeting of a dozen
volunteers, each of whom tossed $25 into a hat. After several years
of vigorous campaigning, private investors kicked in more than $3 million
and in 1996, Temple Gardens opened, brought into existence by the will
of the community.
"None of us knew anything about
spas when we began, but we sure do now, a decade later," says Thorn,
with a smile.
Today, tourism in Moose Jaw is booming.
In fact, the rate of tourism growth here is higher than anywhere else
in Canada and there are now more than 80 tourism businesses, attractions
and events in Moose Jaw, an increase of more than 30 per cent since
1997.
The town's population held steady at
just over 32,000 in the 2006 census and the downtown has sprung back
to life. There's talk of a new convention centre. And there's even a
fudge shop (and no tumbleweed) on Main St.
"We are creating jobs for young
people and keeping them here in Moose Jaw," says Thorn.
One of those is Jennifer Schulties,
who has just turned 26. Once she might have had to have left Moose Jaw
to find work but now she is carving out a promising career as executive
chef at the 4 1/2 star Temple Gardens.
Schulties trained in Saskatoon but couldn't
wait to return to her hometown.
"This hotel is the reason I moved
back," says Schulties, mother of a a-year-old.
"Moose Jaw is a very family-oriented
place and very safe, and the people are sincere and friendly. I really
like it here."
The 179-room Temple Gardens has a staff
of 200 and an occupancy rate of about 90 per cent in the winter. Its
Sun Tree Spa employs 26 therapists and offers a full range of treatments,
from facials to body wraps, massages to manicures and pedicures.
But the centrepiece is the rooftop-level
pool, with its ceiling draped with flags from more than 30 countries
and provinces.
Slip into the deliciously warm water
and you have a choice of loitering inside in 39C temperatures or of
floating your way outside, via the connecting waterway. The temperature
of the smaller, outdoor section is one degree warmer, perfect for chatting
with friends, gazing out over the treetops of Crescent Park by day,
or soaking at night under starry Saskatchewan skies.
The mineral-loaded water contains Epsom
Salts (magnesium sulphate) and Glauber's Salts (a form of sodium sulphate)
as well as a rich mix that includes sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium,
silicon, and strontium. Its chemical makeup is similar to that found
at the famous mineral pools in Bath, England.
"People take the waters for skin
conditions, but they also come here to have fun," Thorn says. "People
come to relax and get away from it all, 365 days of the year."
Next to the pool is the Morningsides
Café – a tribute to Peter Gzowski who broadcast his last
Morningside radio show from Temple Gardens on May 30, 1997.
The rooms are comfortable and well-equipped
with the usuals – terry robes, coffee makers and coffee, hair dryers
and so on. Some of the rooms feature mineral-water Jacuzzis. All of
them feature little yellow rubber duckies.
The mineral springs were found by accident
in 1910 when a deep well was bored in a hunt for natural gas but nothing
was done about it until 1932, when the Natatorium opened as a public
and therapeutic pool. Slowly, the well that served the Natatorium deteriorated
and was finally plugged in 1971. The Temple Gardens pool is fed by a
new well, drilled by the city in 1980.
And as one thing fell into place, others
followed.
Opposite Temple Gardens – on the
ground floor of a building that contains more of the resort's hotel
rooms – is a $12.5-million casino. The casino, which opened in
2002, has 200 slot machines and a variety of table games and is now
the city's leading tourist attraction.
And those casino walls have stories
to tell, with 20 murals, both inside and outside, that depict key moments
in the city's history. That's just part of the city's collection of
murals and bas relief – there are 39 of them on the fronts and
sides of buildings throughout the downtown core.
You can see these murals by hopping
aboard a vintage 34-passenger trolley – complete with oak benches
and brass rails – for a guided tour of the city.
Once known as Little Chicago, Moose
Jaw has a surprisingly spicy history of prostitution, rum-running and
bootlegging during the Prohibition era south of the border. It was a
key part of a distribution route that fed booze from Western Canada
to Minneapolis and Chicago, and local folklore has it that Chicago gangster
Al Capone used to hang his fedora here from time to time.
The stories are insubstantial but that
hasn't stopped Tunnels of Moose Jaw from weaving some fanciful theatrics
around them.
At the start of The Chicago Connection
tunnel tour, you are greeted by "Miss Fanny" a guide/actor
in flapper dress – we've apparently been cast as bootleggers who
want to buy a new batch of liquor. You are ushered into a speakeasy
(somewhat eerily populated with animatronic barman, town drunk and a
piano player.)
And the fun begins, with a 50-minute
jaunt through the basements and tunnels of the city where bootlegging
and distilling may have taken place. Our guide now is "Gus,"
a deeply suspicious guy who is the security boss of the local operations
and given to posing with a Tommy gun.
The booze, he assures us, is 95 per
cent proof – "good for removing paint and childhood memories."
Tunnels of Moose Jaw offers a second
tour called Passage to Fortune that is more solidly rooted in history,
recreating the experiences of Chinese immigrants who came here in the
1900s to work in steam laundries and factories, and were forced to live
in the tunnels beneath the city.
A third tour is being planned, says
general manager Jeff Grajczyk. At present, they "employ 40 people
during the summer, when we really ramp up."
Other attractions include the Western
Development Museum, which focuses on Canadian transportation and the
Yvette Moore Fine Art Gallery, where you can browse art work by Moore
and other local artists and potters, or have a homestyle meal in the
gallery's Copper Café – homemade soups, salads and substantial
sandwiches, accompanied by a glass of Saskatoon berry champagne.
Some five kilometres south of Moose
Jaw is 15 Wing McEwen Airfield, site of an aviation museum and home
of the renowned Canadian Snowbirds demonstration team. The decision
to establish the NATO Flying Centre in Canada program at 15 Wing in
the late 1990s has been another factor in Moose Jaw's revival.
Chef Schulties worked for a while at
15 Wing before taking over at Temple Gardens. And she is here to stay
– she is getting married in September to one of her sous-chefs.
"The place has really come back
to life since I moved back here in 2000," she says. "Walking
down Main St., you can really feel it. I am really at home here and
there's room for me to grow and learn."
And there may be other lessons to be
learned from Moose Jaw's success.
"We are building a future from
our past," says Thorn. "I hope we can continue to inspire
other Canadians."
Various Comments from
other people, about living in Saskatchewan:
Ok. people. I live in Saskatchewan, born here, always been here. It
is very affordable 1st of all. I live in a town 40 min. north of Saskatoon.
I have a 1300 square foot house with attached double garage. It's on
a double lot with 100 foot frontage, built in 1981 and we bought it
for $93,000. I garantee this house with this size lot would be atleast
$400,000 in most parts of B.C. I make $70,000 a year and have two 2006
cars in my garage and a 2005 gixxer 1000 also in the garage. Saskatchewan
is very affordable to say the least. Are taxes are alittle high but
who cares, living is cheap here. Everyone says the grass is greener
across the Alberta boarder but there housing is crazy expensive (especially
Calgary) like B.C. so they are mortgaged to the nuts. I don't see Alberta
or even B.C. with greener grass then here. We have incredible lakes
with awesome sandy beaches and northern Sask. is gorgeous with forest
and lakes. Downside, we have ****ing cold ass winters. Sometimes rip
your face wind in winter. Because we are flat with lots of praire, the
winter is cold with the wind. B.C. is definelty more beautiful then
here but I would sooner live cheap and not put all my money into a stupid
mortgage. More money for living life then living in a house like you
people. Last of all, Saskatoon has a high crime rate on mostly the west
side. Vancouver has more street bums and drug problems then we ever
could have here. And it takes 20 min. tops to drive through Regina or
Saskatoon, not hours like Vancouver sometimes.
SASKATCHEWAN CITIES RANKED HIGHLY IN
COMPETITIVENESS SURVEY
Saskatoon, Regina, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw all scored well in a
survey on the cost of doing business in cities across North America
and around the world.
KPMG released a study March 21st comparing
the cost of doing business in a total of 128 cities in nine countries.
Included in this year's study were cities from France, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, the United States
and Canada.
Saskatoon was ranked the lowest cost
jurisdiction among 21 featured cities from the North American Midwest,
moving up from a second-place ranking in the previous survey (2004)
and relegating Edmonton to second. Saskatoon offered the lowest costs
for biomedical research and development among the 21 Midwest cities,
the lowest costs on web and multi-media businesses, the lowest cost
location for call centres, and the third lowest cost environment for
agri-food businesses.
Canadian cities overall remained good
places to do business, remaining the most cost-competitive locations
for business among the G7 countries. Among all countries, Singapore
came in at number one in the 2006 survey.
Industry and Resources Minister Eric
Cline said the KPMG survey underlines the progress being made in improving
Saskatchewan's climate for economic growth. "Our four major cities
went nose to nose against cities around the world and measured up very
well," Cline said. "I note with interest that Moose Jaw and
Prince Albert ranked 6th and 7th respectively out of all 128 cities
studied by KPMG. Saskatoon and Regina were also in the top one quarter.
That's certainly positive.
"We've worked hard to make Saskatchewan
a better place to live, work, and do business. Today's KPMG findings
reinforce that solid progress is being made. I weigh this in conjunction
with the views of independent analysts that Saskatchewan has had one
of the fastest growing economies in Canada over the past three years,
with solid growth also expected for this year. According to Statistics
Canada, Saskatchewan will have the third highest growth rate on private
sector investment in Canada in 2006. These are solid reasons for Saskatchewan
businesses to feel positive about our province's future."
In a comparison with all 98 North American
cities Moose Jaw placed fifth, Prince Albert sixth, Saskatoon 21st,
and Regina 28th. KPMG ranked all cities on the basis of costs for labour,
taxation, facilities (land, construction, leasing rates), transportation,
utilities, depreciation and financing.
KPMG's survey was completed in conjunction
with Investment Partnerships Canada, along with various provincial and
civic governments. The 2006 survey is the fifth such review done by
KPMG. The previous one was in 2004. The 2006 version examined more cities
(128 rather than 121 in 2004), and also added Singapore to the countries
examined in 2004. Three countries (Australia, Iceland and Luxembourg)
reviewed in 2004 were not included in the 2006 survey.
The full report can be accessed at www.competitivealternatives.com.
Please Note: Minister Cline will be
available to speak to reporters following Question Period on Wednesday,
March 22nd, at approximately 2:45 p.m., Rotunda, Legislative Building,
Regina.
|
email me at zen@zenwaiter.com
for details.
Sask Construction
industry wooing tradespeopleBy Bill Armstrong - Business Edge Published:
05/04/2007 - Vol. 3, No. 9
Homebuilders in Saskatchewan
are grappling with a relatively new problem: How to build enough homes
to meet the demand in the marketplace.
New homes in larger centres
are being snapped up quickly, and the average price for resale homes
in Regina and Saskatoon is rising in double digits on a yearly basis.
That may be old news
in the country's hottest housing markets, but after more than a decade
of slow growth, it's a novel experience in Saskatchewan.
You have to go back to
the years prior to the First World War to find a bigger boom in Saskatoon
and Regina.
For Saskatchewan contractors
the scarcity of qualified tradespeople is magnified by proximity to
the job magnet called Alberta.
To help alleviate the
problem a variety of homebuilder associations, educational institutions
and social agencies are working to attract more people into the construction
trades.
As a side benefit, they
hope to attract into the industry people - mostly Aboriginals - who
have been on the margins of the province's labour market.
They would benefit if
they could land steady jobs and build careers in the industry.
The province's population
numbers would also benefit, as surveys consistently show that Aboriginals
are most likely to stay in Saskatchewan rather than move out of province.
For several years the
Regina and Region Homebuilders' Association has employed a career-development
officer to promote its Careers for Life program. Careers for Life
outlines the skills and knowledge required to design, engineer, build
and market new homes.
It also provides information
about careers in the burgeoning renovation industry and for those
who may be thinking about starting their own construction-related
businesses.
Now, the association
is using a literacy grant to reach a different demographic; prospective
workers - mostly Aboriginal - with lower levels of literacy. The program
will be linked to the Community Services Village at the local food
bank.
One of the key players
in the effort to bring more Aboriginals into the construction industry
is the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT).
Guy Poncelet, who is
dean of trades and industry for SIIT, believes the apprenticeship
model used in the skilled trades is a good fit for Aboriginals, who
are familiar with learning skills from more experienced mentors.
In its information materials
SIIT stresses the "earning while learning" benefit of apprenticeship,
which generally requires only seven to 12 weeks of classroom training
per year. This is particularly attractive to people who often experience
long periods of unemployment between jobs.
At any one time SIIT
has between 1,000 and 1,500 clients enrolled in construction career
centres in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert. (A northern industry
career centre will soon open in La Ronge, to serve clients in northern
Saskatchewan).
Poncelet stresses that
the construction career centres are industry-driven partnerships.
"They came up with the idea; we provide the administrative and
management support," he says. "The partnerships help to
overcome barriers and eliminate misunderstandings, so we can place
people in the industry."
Once clients have signed
up at a construction career centre, a job coach helps them find a
job. After they've gained some experience and found out what specific
trade they would like to pursue, the job coach arranges to get them
into the right training programs.
Training is provided
by SIIT or through the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Sciences
and Technology, including apprenticeships. (Minimum educational requirements
for apprenticeships vary from Grade 10 to 12, depending on the trade.
Clients work for about six months before being inducted into an apprenticeship
program).
The tight labour market
is reflected in the clients coming to the centres, compared to a few
years ago. "Eight or nine years ago, most of the people coming
to us were work-ready," Poncelet says. "Now, many of them
are not, so we have to do more skills-development work right off the
bat."
Mark Gettle, manager
of the construction career centre in Regina, agrees. "Besides
things like basic math, some people need to work on soft skills like
being at work on time and being a reliable worker."
"So, we ladder them
through the system. We also help them make good decisions," Gettle
continues. "We tell them: 'Get your journeyperson status, get
good references and you will be employed.' "If they're working
in the plumbing, electrical or carpentry trades, they'll likely have
their pick of jobs."
Gettle recalls that,
in the 1970s, his father was one of the first contractors in Regina
to hire Aboriginal workers, people who were usually shut out of work.
"Now we have an
opportunity," he says. "We can say to people: 'Let's put
you to work', knowing that they make real careers in the industry
and maybe start their own businesses some day."
(Bill Armstrong can be
reached at barmstrong@businessedge.ca)
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