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Finding labour important, but only half the equation

Stephen Harper’s Conservative government may work in mysterious ways, but this week’s “announcements” about expanding foreign worker programs shows that it is attuned to some of the country’s needs.

Stephen Harper’s Conservative government may work in mysterious ways, but this week’s “announcements” about expanding foreign worker programs shows that it is attuned to some of the country’s needs.

The Conservatives moved on two fronts this week: the working holiday visa program for Australians will be extended from one year to two, and the process for hiring temporary foreign workers for a number of specific jobs has been streamlined.

There has been no official announcement about the extension to the working holiday visa program for Australians (a release from Hostelling International last week was the first indication), but the program is expected to kick in early next year. The annual cap of 7,500 working holiday visas for Australians will also be lifted.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is apparently keen on Australians working abroad as he reached a similar work and travel agreement, albeit for only one year, with the United States during the recent Asia Pacific summit.

Meanwhile, the streamlining of the temporary foreign worker visa program was announced Monday. Employers trying to hire foreign workers for any of 12 jobs, including ski instructor, will now be given a yes/no answer from Immigration Canada within five days. Previously employers had to prove, through a cross-country search, that they couldn’t find a qualified Canadian to do the job — a process which Whistler businesses found often took months and inevitably never seemed to satisfy Immigration Canada.

Both of these visa programs respond to the needs of Whistler, and other Western Canadian mountain resorts, and show the Conservatives have been listening. The Whistler Chamber of Commerce, which led the campaign to extend the working holiday visa program and met with Monte Solberg, formerly the minister responsible for immigration, last year, also deserves kudos.

However, as anyone who has looked at the demographics knows, the visa programs are helpful but labour is going to be a large, long-term problem for Whistler.

A study last year by go2, the B.C. tourism industry’s human resources association, concluded that labour shortages in the Sea to Sky corridor will get much worse over the next decade. In actual numbers, the study found that tourism operators need to attract an average of 3,500 workers every year from outside the region. And that number did not include any of the skilled trades, such as construction workers, mechanics and landscapers.

So, the chamber hired a recruiting specialist last year. The chamber is also making efforts to get the working holiday visa program extended to Britain. Closer to home, the chamber and others have worked at retaining employees, targeted students as potential employees and expanded recruitment efforts.

But the last piece of the labour puzzle still eludes Whistler: Where are these people going to live?

A chamber committee was struck last season to try and tackle this issue, particularly over the next three winters. The HOME (House Our Many Employees) program was the result. The chamber appealed to homeowners who aren’t using their Whistler home to rent it to employees. The chamber and local businesses will guarantee the rent and make sure the place isn’t damaged. As of three weeks ago, no homeowners had taken up the offer.

Meanwhile, Whistler-Blackcomb’s staff accommodation, known as House, is already fully booked for the winter. And at a chamber of commerce forum last week participants were advised to brace for the worst housing crunch in five years, with prospective employees already finding there is little housing available. What will be left when Whistler-Blackcomb and the chamber hold their job fairs in November is anyone’s guess.

The belief is that once the 2010 Olympics are over the athletes’ village will solve many of Whistler’s housing problems. What was supposed to fill in the gap leading up to 2010 was the Rainbow housing project. But as anyone traveling between Alpine Meadows and Emerald Estates can see, nothing of significance has happened on the Rainbow site since the project was finally approved early this spring.

Why the project is stalled is another puzzle. The developers say they are waiting for plans for the First Nations’ subdivision above Rainbow. The mayor doesn’t buy that argument. Rumours have circulated about the Rainbow partners losing interest in the project; about one partner buying the others out; about the whole thing being put up for sale.

The only fact of the matter that matters is there is nothing happening at Rainbow, which means no one knows when there will be a significant increase in Whistler’s affordable housing stock.

Which means the labour crunch is going to hurt — everyone. Whistler has always gotten by in previous housing crunches and it will get through this winter and the following two winters before the athletes’ village becomes available.

But what is the cost of getting by? And is getting by what we aspire to?

Significant efforts are being made to find solutions to the labour issue, the same sort of effort is needed to find solutions to housing those employees.

Camp-style trailers are now planned for the athletes’ centre in the athlete’s village, to accommodate the 800 additional athletes and trainers the IOC says will be coming to Whistler for the Olympics. VANOC is paying for those trailers. Perhaps Whistler could become a partner in those trailers, have them ready for next winter and sell or lease them to VANOC for 2010.