Opportunities in N.S. may reduce impact of Alberta job recruitment, says expert

An economic expert says Nova Scotians may not be as open to going west in search of new opportunities as Alberta launches its second campaign to draw skilled workers from Atlantic Canada and Ontario.

The Alberta government said this week it was launching a second campaign piggybacking off the Alberta is Calling program launched last summer. It initially targeted Canadians living in Toronto and Vancouver.

Lars Osberg, an economics professor at Dalhousie University, says the outlook for the province is much different now than it was prior to 2014 when Alberta's economy was bolstered by the oil boom.

"Developing a campaign like this in the lead up to provincial elections, it's got to have a political angle, right? It's trying to recreate the optimism and the sense of 'good times coming' that was a real thing during the oil boom period from 2000 to 2014," he said. 

"But those days are gone."

Osberg also said that the attractiveness of a move west depends heavily on the individual's occupation, with several industries in Alberta including tech and health care experiencing healthy growth recently.

But Nova Scotia has also seen an increase in several industries within the province.

"If you look around at the Halifax skyline, you see building cranes everywhere," he said. "The balance between Alberta job opportunities and Nova Scotia job opportunities was completely different 20 and 15 years ago than it is today."

Some key selling points of Alberta include increased affordability of homes, lower taxes and higher wages, according to the Alberta is Calling website.

Those were some of the reasons Andrew Calder, who is originally from the Annapolis Valley, said he decided to move out west in 2017.

"It's probably the same story as everyone else, just the money," Calder said. "You hear about it from your buddies who went, and you're like, 'You know what? Can't hurt.'"

Calder, who was completing a welding apprenticeship at the time, said low wages in Nova Scotia inspired his move. While out west, he said he worked in both Alberta and British Columbia and the time he spent there "was worth it."

He moved back to Nova Scotia this month after he realized he struggled with work-life balance.

"Money's great and all, but I had really not much of a life," Calder said. "If you're in the trades, [Nova Scotia] is a lot better than it used to be."