The tourism industry talent pool is being drained amid the economic boom in northern B.C. as workers shed hotel, restaurant and other amenity jobs in favour of high-paying careers in mining, forestry, shipping and oil and gas.
This news comes care of Anthony Everett, CEO of Northern BC Tourism, which focuses on a region that's twice the size of the United Kingdom, and poses a major challenge for northern communities that want to attract new families and have them set down roots.
The problem is simple.
The billions of dollars being invested in traditional extractive sectors across the north (See "Why are you still living in Vancouver?" – BIV issue 1193; September 4-12) have generated a demand for thousands of new workers. Many of those jobs pay $100,000 or more per year, a figure that's as attractive to today's youth as the promise of fist-sized gold nuggets was to Klondikers a century ago.
That kind of pay dirt, coupled with the fact that there aren't enough trained workers to satisfy the employer needs in northern B.C., has spawned a new kind of vampirism.
"They can't fill those jobs so they're going to take people from other sectors of the economy," Everett said during a recent interview. "That means once those people move from the tourism sector, [are] trained up and certified, they leave that hotel or restaurant in Smithers and they go to Kitimat."
Last month, Rio Tinto Alcan launched a Canada-wide ad campaign to find 1,500 workers for its $3.3 billion smelter renovation in Kitimat.
The smelter modernization is a big deal for B.C.'s economy, especially in the northwest where communities have suffered from chronic cyclical downturns.
There's little doubt that many of the mega-projects proposed in the north, whether they be mining, natural gas, shipping or forestry-related, are major wins for the provincial economy.
But there is an economic cost that needs to be considered.
As Everett rightly points out, a drain on hotel, restaurant and service industry jobs in the north means the quality of the north's amenities will suffer.
Already, hotels in Smithers and Prince Rupert have reported difficulty attracting and keeping workers. And guide-outfitting businesses, which rake in millions of dollars per year thanks to globetrotting wilderness enthusiasts, are losing people to the oil patch.
This while hotels from Stewart to Dawson Creek are full of resource sector workers, leaving fewer rooms for travellers.
The problem isn't just that one industry is losing out, but that the whole of the north will face an even greater challenge attracting permanent residents if the trend continues.
After all, communities from Haida Gwaii to the Alberta border are trumpeting the "work, live, play" mantra these days.
The problem, however, is that if the service sector continues to lose people to the resource sector, the north will be all work and no play.
If northern B.C. communities want to expand, they need to attract workers who want to stay in the north, and few things are more attractive than first-rate amenities.
Vancouver is a prime example of a city that has focused on developing its amenities and attractions.
It wasn't long ago that False Creek was choked with the big smoke of sawmills. Today, even though mining, forestry and shipping play crucial roles in the city's economy, it also has a global reputation as one of the finest places in the world to visit.
That's because it has things to do.
Everett, perhaps, said it best: "A good place to live is a great place to visit."
