Alberta's Dirty Little Secret
Time once again to rant about Boom Alberta. Or is it really booming? Well, it is, but methinks we are all in a leaky boat. A friend in investment told me this week that he knows numerous people who have gone from multi-millionnaire to ground zero this past summer. People who committed to vast building projects are facing skyrocketing labour costs and delays that they simply can't afford. Excessive greed has caught up with many too. There are those who exercised options on stocks that are now worth far less than when they were exercised.
The oilfield services companies are ailing, as drilling activity is down. Natural gas companies are also in trouble, as prices have fallen. And this seems to be happening in isolation to the sub-prime market nightmares that have been playing out down south over the past few weeks. Although we may yet see similar fall-out to the 1200 GM jobs that were lost in Oshawa today. One thing is sure - if Big Brother America sneezes, guess who starts taking Cold FX immediately.
So something is rotten in the state of Denmark, er, I mean Alberta. But labour shortages still abound and are getting worse. Try driving through KFC or Harveys (I did, and got no service whatsoever). Help wanted signs are all around - Chicken on the Way is paying $15/hour.
The non-profit sector is especially hard hit. Never the best payers, they now cannot find people to fill some roles, and the turnover rate is staggering - 70% in some programs. Programs are closing due to lack of staff. Of course, clients of these agencies bear the brunt of this crisis, and they are often the most vulnerable in our society - the disabled, the addicted, women and children living in abusive situations. Many have come together to form the Who Cares? initiative, to try and bring awareness to government and community about the present crisis. Many more are too small and too busy to get involved in the initiative. The province, and the City for that matter, seem to be focused solely on physical infrastructure, and have completely forgotten that the social infrastructure is crumbling all around them.
Will government listen? I'm not at all confident. The Alberta PC party is in its own crisis, and is trying to figure out when best to call an election.
I think the longer they leave it, the more a sea change in Alberta politics may yet occur.
The oilfield services companies are ailing, as drilling activity is down. Natural gas companies are also in trouble, as prices have fallen. And this seems to be happening in isolation to the sub-prime market nightmares that have been playing out down south over the past few weeks. Although we may yet see similar fall-out to the 1200 GM jobs that were lost in Oshawa today. One thing is sure - if Big Brother America sneezes, guess who starts taking Cold FX immediately.
So something is rotten in the state of Denmark, er, I mean Alberta. But labour shortages still abound and are getting worse. Try driving through KFC or Harveys (I did, and got no service whatsoever). Help wanted signs are all around - Chicken on the Way is paying $15/hour.
The non-profit sector is especially hard hit. Never the best payers, they now cannot find people to fill some roles, and the turnover rate is staggering - 70% in some programs. Programs are closing due to lack of staff. Of course, clients of these agencies bear the brunt of this crisis, and they are often the most vulnerable in our society - the disabled, the addicted, women and children living in abusive situations. Many have come together to form the Who Cares? initiative, to try and bring awareness to government and community about the present crisis. Many more are too small and too busy to get involved in the initiative. The province, and the City for that matter, seem to be focused solely on physical infrastructure, and have completely forgotten that the social infrastructure is crumbling all around them.
Will government listen? I'm not at all confident. The Alberta PC party is in its own crisis, and is trying to figure out when best to call an election.
I think the longer they leave it, the more a sea change in Alberta politics may yet occur.
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