Any doubt that the federal government has turned Canada into a petro-state beholden to Big Oil can be put to rest by this chilling account from yesterday's G&M. The Alberta Oil Patch appears to have persuaded Ottawa to let them fill Tar Sands jobs with Third World labour.
Alberta is facing a shortage of 77,000 workers within the next 10 years, according to a recent report from Ernst & Young, which cited the provincial government. The oil sands’ projected growth is a key force behind the deficit, with bitumen production expected to double by 2020 as companies pour billions of dollars into their projects. While labourers enjoy higher wages as the employee pool dries up, rising salaries eat into corporate profits and put projects at risk of delay.
“There obviously is an increasing gap between what we think we need to deliver these sorts of growth projects and the available work force,” Mr. Collyer said in an interview on Thursday. “The industry and governments, frankly, need to get ourselves better organized to deal with those issues.”
...Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has been working with employer groups and unions to speed the entry of temporary foreign workers, where no Canadian is available to fill the job, and has vowed to make changes to the immigration system that place a premium value on attracting skilled tradespeople. A spokesman for Mr. Kenney declined to comment about the skilled-worker challenge on Thursday.
This is a shell game, a con being operated by the Harper regime and their Big Oil patrons. Paying Canadians to work in that hell hole is expensive, it eats away at Big Oil's bottom line. The solution is to price those jobs at Third World labour rates just as the Kuwaitis and Saudis do, hire impoverished workers in Bangladesh or Sri Lanka and make damned sure that "no Canadian is available to fill the job" at the meagre wages offered. Problem solved.
12 comments:
It's all part of the pattern, Mound. Harper has been in the pocket of big oil since he was born.
Modern day Railroad Barons.
More like modern day Robber Barons and their Overpaid Political Minions. I agree, Owen. If they're going to double bitumen production by 2020 they are absolutely counting on the Northern Gateway pipeline and supertanker port being in operation by then. That may be where Harper meets his Waterloo. It'll be ugly.
Oh my, Harper has been generous to his cronies this year.
A present for big oil, a present for Canadian mining interests, a present for private health insurers, and presents for failed supporters and their network of backroom sycophants:
http://thwapschoolyard.blogspot.com/2011/12/abusive-mining-companies-and-stuff.html
http://scathinglywrongrightwingnutz.blogspot.com/2011/12/oink-oink-oink-cons-are-entitled-to.html
They need 77,000 workers, but not enough Canadians are willing to take the jobs? Well the free market solution is to pay them more. It's an insane idea, I know, for people who are used to running to Daddy Government for their many handouts, but some dude named Adam Smith says it just might work...
(On the other hand, if the problem is that there are insufficient training/post-secondary spaces available within Canada, that might be something the government should get involved in)
I'm not willing to work there because I don't want to be part of the problem. I don't think we should be expanding production. Sure, we need oil, but we also need to realize that we need to reduce our dependence on it in a big way. Not increase it. We need to plan our cities and communities wisely, so we don't have hundreds of thousands of people commuting hours everyday to get to work. So people don't have to drive to get their groceries. So transit is a viable option. And we need to invest in alternatives. Maybe we can't "free ourselves from the tyranny of oil", but we can definitely cut back. I read that 20% of the worlds population uses 80% of the energy. That may not be completely accurate, but it is shocking. The oil shills and climate change deniers say such things as stop complaining hypocrite, you need oil, you need plastic for your cell phone. Etc, etc. I don't think they understand that we can reduce, reuse, and recycle. We can use and waste far less. The vast quantities of plastic polluting our oceans is good evidence that we can most certainly recycle more, plastic is not as scarce as they would have us believe. We really should cut back on the amount of that crap we are making new. It all leads back to greed and our endless growth consumer society. They don't seem to understand that it is not sustainable.
@Anon11:52. You speak of things written about extensively on this blog.
The narrow points I was trying to make here was that, first, the Tar Sands are constantly justified as being a source of high wages for so many Canadians coast to coast. Here is Big Oil pulling that carpet out from under the Canadian work force.
The second point is how our far Rightwing government so readily does Big Oil's bidding and the decline of Canada into petro-statehood.
All of the points you have made are solid. Yes, we need to quickly and dramatically reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. Yes we need to bring our lifestyles, particularly consumption, into harmony with the very finite resources of our planet. Yes, we have to address our greed and the inevitable consequences of a consumer society that has smashed through the limits of sustainability.
Merry Christmas Mound, and seasons greetings and happy holidays. Yes I agree, I got a little carried away, I agree again with your points.
Anon, I just posted a piece on the "degrowth" movement that's gathering steam right now. It expands on some of the points you were making.
Thanks and a Merry Christmas to you also.
The title of your blog has been the case for years and years in Canada. It doesn't matter what government is in power it has happened. The answer is, it is about time Canadians spoke out loud and clear. Countries that ignor their own workers by bring in cheap labour are only thinking about greedy companies which amounts to mostly American companies in Canada.
Thanks Mound, I enjoyed that piece very much and am sharing it.
Harper is a Reformer and a Neo-Nazi. He founded the Northern Foundation Party. The skinheads, assisted Harper to organize his fascist party. This was in 1989.
You should read: Harper gave a speech in New York, at the Council of Foreign Relations. This was, Sept. 25/2007.
Also read: Harper gives a speech on, Global Governance for Canada.
Another politician wanted Global Governance. Only he called it, The Thousand Year Reich. That politician, is Harper's idol. Their early political days, are identical.
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