Chatham-Kent 'fighting back' as Alberta tries to lure skilled workers

An Alberta campaign to attract skilled workers to that province is being met with resistance by at least one mayor in southwestern Ontario.

The campaign features radio ads hoping to lure workers west.

That's why Darrin Canniff, mayor of Chatham-Kent, wanted to get a campaign of his own going.

"We were inundated with them and I know that a lot of people were rather agitated," he said.

"And I'm thinking why aren't we fighting back? Why aren't we out there letting people know how great our region is?"

Canniff said the municipality got to work on some radio ads that are now playing in Calgary.

"We picked out what we believe was attractive things, affordable housing," he said.

"The bigger cities that's much more expensive and just the quality of life here in southwestern Ontario and Chatham-Kent."

Eric Labadie, marketing and communications officer for Chatham-Kent, said the municipality doesn't have the same kind of financial backing the campaign in Alberta does.

"They're working with a $5 million budget," he said.

"We have nowhere near that. So we decided we would get one of our local broadcasters to use his golden voice to do a little kind of a response."

Labadie said media in Calgary have been reaching out to the mayor about the campaign and the hope is that will translate into interest from workers.

Canniff admits this region can't compete with the Rocky Mountains, if that's what someone in Alberta loves about living there.

"We can compete on climate," he said, adding he found Edmonton's average low for the year is -1 C.