Fort McMurray - the nation's heavy industry capital when the price of oil is high - is about to see some new billboards on the road to the tar sands. "B.C. Come Home" is the sentiment calling out from these ads.
"All those British Columbians who have crossed borders to go to work in other jurisdictions - wherever you are - I say please come home," said Premier Christy Clark during last week's B.C. Natural Resources Forum in Prince George. "It is time to come back to the place you grew up, the place you wanted to raise your family. We have done everything we can do to make sure we are ready: we have kept taxes low and regulations light, we are finding every way we know how to get to 'yes'," for B.C. sojourners to return.
Although the call to come home is going out through national and international channels - and Clark urged British Columbians to think of people in your own life who have moved away and you'd like to see come back again - there will be a particular focus on the oil patch due to the large number of layoffs in the Fort McMurray region in reaction to the massive drop in the price of oil.
"It is an opportunity for us to repatriate British Columbians," Shirley Bond, the Minister of Labour, Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, said. "This isn't about taking advantage of some misfortune happening in Alberta. When I encounter those workers, and I have heard this story over and over again, what they say is, they made a choice to pursue an employment opportunity but they were not happy about leaving B.C. They've told us they were just waiting for an opportunity to come back home to the B.C. they love. B.C. wants them home and needs people for lucrative, fulfilling professions right in our own province."
"We want to make sure British Columbians are first in line for the opportunities going on here. Not all British Columbians live in B.C. right now, so we have to get the message out," added Clark. "People accustomed to working in another jurisdiction or doing work like in the oil patch, can transition to pulp mills, to LNG work, to the forest industry, to construction, so they get the best bang for their buck when they move back. All those sectors need workers, so returning professionals have options and we have to make it as smooth as possible for them. We want to slide them right into a job. The jobs are already there."
