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Intrawest lays off 220 workers

None in Whistler

By Andrew Mitchell

Last week Intrawest layed off approximately 220 employees, or one per cent of its workforce, as part of the same reorganization effort that saw Whistler-Blackcomb chief operating officer Dave Brownlie promoted to COO for Intrawest Mountain Resorts, Canada.

The layoffs include 100 employees from Intrawest’s Vancouver headquarters, as well as 120 employees at Intrawest resorts around the world.

None of the Intrawest personnel laid off worked in Whistler.

The decision was the result of an internal process, according to communications director Ian Galbraith, and was not prompted by the takeover of Intrawest by Fortress Investment Group last October.

“Last week we did a reorganization of the company… with the goal of becoming a more efficient organization,” he said. “We took a step to resizing our workforce, which impacts one per cent of our total global workforce, across the board in a lot of different departments. They were in our corporate offices here (Vancouver), not only in our warm weather and mountain resorts, and real estate offices we have.”

Galbraith said the company is not planning any more large scale layoffs in the next while, but is constantly looking at ways to become more efficient. Further, he said that the company is continuing to hire, and is continuing to look for staff in several key positions.

As the new COO of Intrawest Mountain Resorts, Canada, Brownlie’s responsibilities have expanded from Whistler-Blackcomb, Whistler Heli-skiing and Panorama to include Blue Mountain and Mont Tremblant. He will also oversee Central Sales and Marketing functions that support the operating divisions across the country.