[Athens]

B.C. mulls flying welfare recipients north to jobs - British Columbia - CBC News

Ok this is a new one, was wondering peoples opinion on it. I'm just not sure the tax payer should be footing the bill to fly and house and train workers for northern oil and gas jobs when these companies make so much money as it is they should be paying for it. But at the same time, anything that gets people off welfare in a contributing way sounds good too. But until now I have never herd of any government doing this.

[ghporter]

It looks like a good investment to me. Assuming the plan is to set these folks up to get and keep well-paying jobs, that should move them from the "receiving tax payer assistance" group to the "tax payer" group, so they'll wind up paying for the training and relocation themselves anyway.

Oil companies in the US are fighting for qualified engineers here, and they are paying to relocate qualified people to where they're needed. It sounds like this could work for Canada as well, as long as the BC government actually gets those companies to buy in and commit to the jobs and maybe even kicking in something for the training. And of course not everyone receiving assistance will be willing to go work at these relatively hard jobs, no matter what the pay. It looks pretty targeted to me: young people who are simply not prepared for the few jobs available where they are, but who are willing to both relocate and go through training to get a hard but well-paid job.

[OreoCookie]

That program seems more like a subsidy for oil companies than a welfare program for people.

[Athens]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

That program seems more like a subsidy for oil companies than a welfare program for people.

That's exactly how I see it too.

I mean its a interesting concept but considering Vancouver companies are importing people from over seas to fill the employment gap as it is now I fail to see why tax dollars need to be used to subsidy oil companies up North when coffee shops here are paying out of pocket to import immigrants.

[imitchellg5]

This used to happen in Alaska around 2000-2001 when I lived there. The government would give certain tax breaks to corporations for hiring a number of unemployed to work in the Deadhorse area.

[mduell]

The state is welcome to not do it, and then the energy companies will have to hire employees at market wages if they want them.

[gradient]

Originally Posted by Athens 

...coffee shops here are paying out of pocket to import immigrants.

Seriously? I haven't heard that (though admittedly, I ignore the news most days).

[Athens]

Tim Hortons bringing in Philippine workers to staff Manitoba store - Manitoba - CBC News

This is for Winnipeg store but the exact same thing is happening at locations in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Pitt Meadows. They import them on a 3 year contract and at the contact they are supposed to go home. The company provides them accommodation, flies them here and even pays them slightly more then local workers but no benefits.

The Globe and Mail - The Philippines now Canada’s top source of...

Globe and Mail did a recent article about how Philipino's are now the largest immigration group with over 40 000 a year moving here. And it shows, almost all low wage unskilled jobs are Philipino's. 7-Eleven, Subway, Quizno's, Tim Hortons, Wendy's, all of them are mostly Philipino's now. And many of them working those jobs are here as sponsored employee's.

[Salty]

Incidentally with the import of more Filipino people has also come a rise in the amount of time it takes to buy anything, as all the nation's sales people are left hiding in corners while the phrase, "Give me deal!" Is shouted at them from all sides.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

That's happening all over Canada. Here on the east coast immigrant workers are being imported to work service jobs at minimum wage (~$10.50/hr) even while local unemployment hovers well over 20% in some rural localities.

In some areas, it's because the job market is so hot that people simply won't work for so little (Fort McMurray). In many other areas, it's because people would rather sit around and get employment insurance at $1200/month or higher, rather than have to work 40 hours a week to take home $1400/month. In many rural areas, that's more than enough to live on if you already own your own home, etc. etc.

No incentive to work.

[Athens]

I don't know about that, because according to my friend who is a store manager (and not saying which company or anything because I don't want her in trouble) they import workers even though they have a stack of resumes from locals trying to find work. They don't want to hire locals for whatever reason and prefer these temp workers. BC welfare rate for a single adult male is 600 bucks, min wage is 1700 a month before taxes so the incentive not to work isn't here. Those that don't apply for jobs here living on 600 a month welfare tend to have some mental illness or other problems. (Most) im sure there are some lazy %$#s that are content with 600 a month too. But locals are not being given the chance to work over imported workers.

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by Athens 

Tim Hortons bringing in Philippine workers to staff Manitoba store - Manitoba - CBC News

This is for Winnipeg store but the exact same thing is happening at locations in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Pitt Meadows. They import them on a 3 year contract and at the contact they are supposed to go home. The company provides them accommodation, flies them here and even pays them slightly more then local workers but no benefits.

The Globe and Mail - The Philippines now Canada’s top source of...

Globe and Mail did a recent article about how Philipino's are now the largest immigration group with over 40 000 a year moving here. And it shows, almost all low wage unskilled jobs are Philipino's. 7-Eleven, Subway, Quizno's, Tim Hortons, Wendy's, all of them are mostly Philipino's now. And many of them working those jobs are here as sponsored employee's.

Winnipeg already had a big Philipino population (I moved to Ottawa from Winnipeg). I have an in-law who's Philipino. They make good food. Good spring rolls.

[Athens]

Oh I love Philipino food and the spring rolls are really good. But you are not going to find a Philipino spring roll in a Tim Hortons unless you raid there lunch box lol

[ghporter]

20 years ago or so, there was a huge shortage of health care workers, primarily nurses, in the US. There were tens of thousands of work visas issued for Filipino nurses (and other disciplines) to come to the States and provide needed, professional services. Many of those workers got permanent residency, got married, became citizens, etc. This happens in cycles.

I think, as a pilot program, getting a few hundred willing and motivated (but currently jobless) people to where they are needed is a good "seed" to get the employers to start doing their recruiting where those welfare recipients came from. Getting the employers to fork over the transportation and training costs might just take showing them that there are great candidates available in cities that have out of work young people currently depending on assistance. "The first one is always free" applies to showing the employers where the candidates are as much as it applies to everything else.

[el chupacabra]

Originally Posted by Athens 

B.C. mulls flying welfare recipients north to jobs - British Columbia - CBC News

Ok this is a new one, was wondering peoples opinion on it. I'm just not sure the tax payer should be footing the bill to fly and house and train workers for northern oil and gas jobs when these companies make so much money as it is they should be paying for it. But at the same time, anything that gets people off welfare in a contributing way sounds good too. But until now I have never herd of any government doing this.

They US has done similar things in the past, until the welfare recipients complained about what harsh conditions the buses were and essentially how they didnt want to work. It beats paying for people to sit at home and watch soaps.