This is from the Vancouver Sun. The rate of economic growth has until recently left Saskatchewan behind but lately it is growing quite quickly and Manitoba
is the slow grower. However, I have no idea how this correlates with quality of life. I am quite happy to be in a declining backwater in Manitoba. The cost of living allows us to live a comfortable life on a quite moderate income. In one of the booming western cities we could not afford a decent place to stay! The fact that the West is booming and urbanising does not mean the wild west is still not here.
Consider these statistics from cbc.
"Rural areas of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta had the highest homicide rates in the country, the study suggests. ..... Overall, the highest crime rates were reported in the small urban areas of the western provinces — British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The lowest rates were observed in rural areas of Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and New Brunswick."
Compared to those huge effete eastern cities such as Toronto the Good and the poverty stricken bucolic subsistence farmers and fisherfolk of the Maritimes we in the western rural boondocks are lawless, gun toting, barbarians.
Wednesday » March 26 » 2008
Wild west not so wild any more, report finds
Canada's four western provinces now more urbanized, less of a hinterland, economist says
Kelly Cryderman
Canwest News Service
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Canada's four western provinces are moving beyond their frontier past and becoming increasingly urbanized societies, set to attract as many as three million more people through interprovincial and international migration in the next 25 years, according to a new report.
"Quite a bit of activity in Canada has shifted to the west," said Brett Gartner, senior economist for the Canada West Foundation and author of the State of the West.
"I think the old hinterland thing is in the past."
The Canada West Foundation report, set to be released officially today, is a snapshot of demographic and economic trends in an area the foundation calls both a region and a set of distinctive provinces.
Looking at statistics from the four provinces, the report found the west's unemployment rate is lower than in the rest of Canada, B.C.'s unemployment rate has plummeted and Alberta alone was responsible for one-quarter of the new jobs in Canada over the past two years.
In demographics, Gartner found that interprovincial migration -- mostly to B.C. and Alberta -- has led to the lion's share of growth in the west, with the four provinces attracting 629,000 more Canadians than they lost between 1972 and 2007.
While each of the provinces had roughly the same share of Western Canada's population in 1931, it's projected the two westernmost provinces will account for 80 per cent of the region's population by 2031.
"Alberta's share is projected to remain constant, making B.C. the driver behind this increase," the report said.
Westerners do not seem to be shy about moving around.
B.C. has gained people in each of the past four years after losing population from 1998 to 2003.
In 2007, Saskatchewan gained people from interprovincial migration for the first time since 1984.
Manitoba has experienced a net loss of people to other provinces for the past two dozen years, although those losses have been offset by strong immigration, thanks in part to a strong provincial nominee program, which targets immigrants with specific skills and expedites their entry into Canada.
No matter where you go in western Canada, you're more likely now to be touring skyscrapers and freeways than fields of grain and mining operations. The region is still sparsely populated by world standards -- 3.5 people per square kilometre compared to 31.3 in the U.S. -- however there has been what Gartner calls an "astounding" level of urbanization in the West. The rest of Canada was more urbanized than the West in 1966, the regions are more or less equally urbanized today. Now, four in five westerners live in cities.
Saskatchewan has probably suffered the most from rural depopulation, with 148,000 fewer people living in rural Saskatchewan in 2006 than 30 years earlier. In contrast, B.C. and Alberta gained rural residents.
But Glenn Blakley, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, sees changes on the horizon. In the last 10 months, people who couldn't afford housing in Saskatchewan's rapidly growing cities are buying homes and vacant lots in smaller, sometimes rural communities, Blakley said.
"We've actually turned the corner on it," he said.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Showing posts with label Western Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Western Canada. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Western Canada recruits tradespeople in Germany
From the sound of the article the recruitment is mainly for Alberta whose economy is booming. I am not sure that rural areas outside of oil and gas production sectors are particularly booming. In rural Manitoba where I live there is no boom. There is even a moratorium on hog barn development!
I am surprised that the unemployment rate is so high in Germany when I thought they had a labor shortage and imported labor from poorer areas of the EU. Maybe this enforces downward pressure on wages and erodes the social safety net. It probably increases racism and intolerance as well as the working class anger at deterioriating condions will become directed against minorities and "guest workers".
German tradespeople eager to immigrate to Western Canada
Last Updated: Saturday, March 3, 2007 | 11:48 PM ET
CBC News
Western Canadian companies are holding job fairs in central Germany to recruit hundreds of skilled labourers needed for the boom in the oil, mining and construction industries.
The job fairs are well-attended as Germany is struggling with high unemployment — with a national unemployment rate of 9.3 per cent in February. The job fairs have been held for the past three years, but the Canadians found that the interest — and the number of companies wanting to recruit — has grown dramatically.
At one job fair in the city of Essen, where the unemployment rate is closer to 20 per cent, more than 1,000 German tradespeople crowded into a convention centre to talk to representatives of Canadian companies.
"It's terribly hard to find work here," Thomas Freiberg, a 42-year-old industrial electrician, said in German.
Freiburg said he was employed for the past 15 years until the factory where he worked closed last summer.
"I've submitted over 50 applications for various jobs. I've had a few interviews, but nothing positive, no job offers. So my family and I have decided to try and find something in Canada."
Continue Article
Freiburg said he knows it may be hard to move his family. His children, a 10-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, are worried about leaving school friends behind and having to speak English.
But he said his family could forge a new life in Canada.
"My wife and I visited last year as tourists and we were really impressed. The country is beautiful and we met friendly, nice people. It's a bit scary to think about leaving here, but Canada is our number one choice of places we'd like to live. The idea just works for us, right now."
Germany's economy has been slumping in part because the mining, manufacturing and steel-making sectors have fallen on hard times.
In presentations at the job fair, the unemployed workers, some with baby carriages, listened attentively to the virtues of Western Canada, its wide open spaces, its outdoor lifestyles, its proximity to nature.
Owners of the firms on the lookout for help said they hope to have workers from German on the job in six to eight weeks. The new employees will be given temporary work visas that are valid for up to two years.
Company representatives said they do not think the economic boom in Western Canada is going to fade any time soon.
Joe Bova, an owner of Man-Shield Construction in Winnipeg, said experienced tradespeople are in demand.
"If this was just a temporary offer of employment, we wouldn't be here," Bova said. "We are not interested in short-term employees. We are looking for people who are interested in immigrating to Canada and making a living for them and their families."
Bova himself immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1962. He was in Germany to hire bricklayers.
"These people want a chance, not just to feed their children, because I think they can do that very well in Germany, by the way, but to give their children a better life. And I think they see Canada as that kind of country. And I'm very moved by this, being an immigrant myself. I'm touched."
Bernd Reuscher, an Edmonton resident who works for the German government, said Canada has much to offer.
"Germans are active people. That's why they like Canada. Going to the Rockies, canoeing, hunting, fishing. We have only four people per kilometres in Canada in Alberta. Here, they have 1,000 persons per square kilometre."
Christa Klemm, a carpenter, said a job in Canada would mean a fresh start. She said she has visited Nova Scotia, where she spoke to general contractors who encouraged her to look for work in Alberta.
"I've heard women in Canada are able to work in jobs that are traditionally for men and there isn't much discrimination," she said in German.
"I've got the highest training you can get and I've worked on and off for years, but when I apply for full-time, they always hire a man, first."
Klemm exchanged phone numbers with a few companies at the job fair. She wants to improve her English first, though.
"Finding a way in definitely seems easier there because the companies badly need tradespeople right now. Here nobody is hiring. I can walk the streets with all of my experience, for years, and not find anything," she said.
"For me, going to Canada is the answer."
I am surprised that the unemployment rate is so high in Germany when I thought they had a labor shortage and imported labor from poorer areas of the EU. Maybe this enforces downward pressure on wages and erodes the social safety net. It probably increases racism and intolerance as well as the working class anger at deterioriating condions will become directed against minorities and "guest workers".
German tradespeople eager to immigrate to Western Canada
Last Updated: Saturday, March 3, 2007 | 11:48 PM ET
CBC News
Western Canadian companies are holding job fairs in central Germany to recruit hundreds of skilled labourers needed for the boom in the oil, mining and construction industries.
The job fairs are well-attended as Germany is struggling with high unemployment — with a national unemployment rate of 9.3 per cent in February. The job fairs have been held for the past three years, but the Canadians found that the interest — and the number of companies wanting to recruit — has grown dramatically.
At one job fair in the city of Essen, where the unemployment rate is closer to 20 per cent, more than 1,000 German tradespeople crowded into a convention centre to talk to representatives of Canadian companies.
"It's terribly hard to find work here," Thomas Freiberg, a 42-year-old industrial electrician, said in German.
Freiburg said he was employed for the past 15 years until the factory where he worked closed last summer.
"I've submitted over 50 applications for various jobs. I've had a few interviews, but nothing positive, no job offers. So my family and I have decided to try and find something in Canada."
Continue Article
Freiburg said he knows it may be hard to move his family. His children, a 10-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, are worried about leaving school friends behind and having to speak English.
But he said his family could forge a new life in Canada.
"My wife and I visited last year as tourists and we were really impressed. The country is beautiful and we met friendly, nice people. It's a bit scary to think about leaving here, but Canada is our number one choice of places we'd like to live. The idea just works for us, right now."
Germany's economy has been slumping in part because the mining, manufacturing and steel-making sectors have fallen on hard times.
In presentations at the job fair, the unemployed workers, some with baby carriages, listened attentively to the virtues of Western Canada, its wide open spaces, its outdoor lifestyles, its proximity to nature.
Owners of the firms on the lookout for help said they hope to have workers from German on the job in six to eight weeks. The new employees will be given temporary work visas that are valid for up to two years.
Company representatives said they do not think the economic boom in Western Canada is going to fade any time soon.
Joe Bova, an owner of Man-Shield Construction in Winnipeg, said experienced tradespeople are in demand.
"If this was just a temporary offer of employment, we wouldn't be here," Bova said. "We are not interested in short-term employees. We are looking for people who are interested in immigrating to Canada and making a living for them and their families."
Bova himself immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1962. He was in Germany to hire bricklayers.
"These people want a chance, not just to feed their children, because I think they can do that very well in Germany, by the way, but to give their children a better life. And I think they see Canada as that kind of country. And I'm very moved by this, being an immigrant myself. I'm touched."
Bernd Reuscher, an Edmonton resident who works for the German government, said Canada has much to offer.
"Germans are active people. That's why they like Canada. Going to the Rockies, canoeing, hunting, fishing. We have only four people per kilometres in Canada in Alberta. Here, they have 1,000 persons per square kilometre."
Christa Klemm, a carpenter, said a job in Canada would mean a fresh start. She said she has visited Nova Scotia, where she spoke to general contractors who encouraged her to look for work in Alberta.
"I've heard women in Canada are able to work in jobs that are traditionally for men and there isn't much discrimination," she said in German.
"I've got the highest training you can get and I've worked on and off for years, but when I apply for full-time, they always hire a man, first."
Klemm exchanged phone numbers with a few companies at the job fair. She wants to improve her English first, though.
"Finding a way in definitely seems easier there because the companies badly need tradespeople right now. Here nobody is hiring. I can walk the streets with all of my experience, for years, and not find anything," she said.
"For me, going to Canada is the answer."
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