Skip to content

Canmore moves forward with recruitment strategy

“I think this is a really important part of our recovery strategy. Now is a great time to pull the pin and get this done. I fear for our workforce and I fear for the business community that the workforce supports. Hopefully there will be some important strategies that come out of this study.”
Canmore Civic Centre 1
Canmore Civic Centre on Thursday (April 21). JUNGMIN HAM RMO PHOTO

CANMORE – Canmore council moved forward with approving a labour market and recruitment strategy, costing $100,000 from the economic development reserve.

In the same debate, council directed administration to apply for the Alberta Labour and Immigration Grant, which if successful, will be applied to the funding for the labour market recruitment and retention strategy.

Coun. Jeff Hilstad asked what percentage would the grant cover.

“How much is available or what are we hoping to receive?”

He was told by administration that it would be a minimum of 50 per cent but could be more than that.

Mayor Sean Krausert confirmed with administration that if the grant was not approved, the money would come out of the reserves.

Administration has recommended that council prioritize the recruitment and retention strategy due to rising challenges caused by the global labour shortage.

In 2020, council approved the Business Recovery Taskforce, which was created to bring forward recommendations that would support the return to work, and for businesses to conduct recovery efforts after COVID-19.

This taskforce identified the need for the creation of a recruitment and retention strategy in anticipation of labour pressures. The strategy report will provide information on job types per industry, temporary foreign workers, unemployment rate, vacancy by type and industry, among several other data sets.

Coun. Tanya Foubert asked where the strategies would focus on.

“Would this strategy focus on strategies for council or different levels of government and the private sector?”

Administration stated that this would cover all areas for strategies.

The hope is that with the collected data, a strategy can be developed that includes best hiring practices, a wage review, a retention strategy, and training and education needs.

“It certainly is hitting one of the main needs in our valley, how to attract and retain staff,” Krausert said. “I think this will be money well spent in moving forward in that regard.”

“I think this is a really important part of our recovery strategy,” Coun. Joanna McCallum said. “Now is a great time to pull the pin and get this done. I fear for our workforce and I fear for the business community that the workforce supports. Hopefully there will be some important strategies that come out of this study.”

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks