Earlier this week, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced the ‘Alberta is Calling’ program to recruit skilled workers with a marketing campaign touting the province’s lower taxes, housing affordability, shorter commutes and proximity to the Rocky Mountains.

The $2.6-million effort is to include ads on social media, radio and posters in high-traffic areas.

“Alberta is back in a big way, but one of the biggest challenges to sustaining that amazing growth is having enough people who are filling the jobs that are being created,” Kenney said. “As far as problems go, that’s a pretty good one to have.”

Jeremy Harrison, the Minister of Immigration and Career Training, said the announcement of a new program doesn’t add any extra competition to the province.

“I think we are always to a degree in completion with other provinces across Canada. We have in place here some very effective mechanisms by which skilled workers can be attracted and retained here in the province.”

Harrison said that in the Land of Living Skies, the province’s programs have successfully recruited skilled workers.

“We have in place in provincial nominee program. It has been very successful,” he stated. “Also, most significantly, we have in place training programs here in this province for those that wish to take advantage of them, whether that’s through our apprenticeship training system, regional college system, Sask Poly, or other post-secondary institutions. We really have a comprehensive suite of opportunities right across the province for folks to be trained and take advantage of the jobs that the economy is creating.”

Despite the successful programs, Harrison said businesses still face staffing challenges.

“One of the challenges that we have in the province is we are hearing from businesses right across the province is the challenge with filling the jobs that have been created by the economy,” he said. “It’s a real challenge, and it’s a much better challenge than those associated with other periods of our history when everyone was leaving because there was no opportunity here.”

He said they need to make sure that skilled workers from overseas can use their credentials in Canada.

“There are engineers and medical graduates and all of those sorts of things outside of Canada who are driving taxis and Ubers, and that can’t continue,” he said. “We need to make sure that folks who have credentials are able to use those credentials in a responsible way. We are going to make sure we have in place the system to recognize those credentials rapidly and effectively.”

Harrison said that many sectors are seeing shortages, especially in construction.

“We are seeing shortages, really in a pretty general way across the economy, but there are sectors where there are really real acute challenges, construction being one,” he stated. “We have 15 billion dollars of investment coming into the province, and we need people to actually be able to take advantage and build these projects.”

Harrison points to the ‘Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot,’ which was launched in November of last year with major sectors in the province.

“We actually had responded by creating a new program within the provincial nominee program (The Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot) which basically focuses on heath manufacturing, agriculture, construction, hospitability and retail, which is really where we are seeing some very acute shortages.”

with files from the Canadian Press