JUSTINE HUNTER AND CARRIE TAIT
VICTORIA and CALGARY — The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Jan. 22 2015, 9:26 PM EST
Last updated Thursday, Jan. 22 2015, 9:53 PM EST
The B.C. government plans to buy advertising space in the heart of the Alberta oil patch in a bid to lure British Columbians back home to fill jobs in B.C. resource industries.
Seeking to take advantage of economic uncertainty due to declining oil prices, B.C. Premier Christy Clark said Thursday she wants to offer retraining to ensure that any expatriate workers who answer her call to “come home” will be able to transfer their skills from working in the oil industry to other resource companies.
“The government is looking into buying advertising space in the Fort McMurray airport where we can invite British Columbians to come home,” the Premier told reporters after a speech to the province’s Truck Loggers Association. “And we are prepared to present them with a ‘welcome home’ basket to help. … We will connect them with the information and support they are going to need when they get home to gain the skills to work in forestry or truck logging, or to go work in the natural-gas sector.”
