Labour shortages put strain on Banff as more tourists arrive
Tourists have begun flocking back to popular destinations like Banff since restrictions started being eased in Alberta and other parts of the world, and a labour shortage plaguing the mountain town is making it difficult to keep up with the influx.
The hospitality industry is taking the biggest hit, with many vacant spots in restaurants and hotels.
“At the moment the biggest problem is not having temporary foreign workers,” said Alex Boston, owner and general manager of Nourish Bistro.
“There’s a lot of jobs in town that regular, hard working local people don’t really want to do anymore.”
He points out that the back of house jobs and housekeeping positions are the types of work that temporary foreign workers usually fill.
Fred Cloutier, the head brewer at Banff Ave Brewing Co., says so far they are doing fine, mainly because their dedicated core of staff have stuck around during the pandemic, but she says many businesses are struggling.
“You definitely notice going in to restaurants and you have hard time getting a table because they don’t have the staff, or a lot of restaurants will shut for lunch because they don’t have the staff to run the restaurant,” she said.
Michel Dufresne, a director with The Job Resource Centre, which operates in Banff and Canmore, says the limit on the temporary foreign workers program has been lifted, but it’s been a struggle to get the workers back to Canada.
He says they are not getting the responses they’re used to seeing for their winter recruitment promotion.
“It usually start in February. We try to get the students from universities and people who will enter the market in the summer," he said. "The numbers are down significantly this year.”
He says slow processing time for applications from international workers might be a reason for the shortage.
“We’re told that there’s no backlogs but we’re not seeing people from those places come in and the numbers we’re used to seeing in previous years," he said.
"Usually we’re very, very busy. I think that the (temporary foreign worker) program might have reopen, but that doesn’t mean people want to apply for the jobs.”
Boston says his restaurant is smaller so they are getting by right now with the staff they’ve been able to attract and retain, but worries about when the summer hits and patios open up. He’ll need twice to staff to keep it operating.
“It falls a lot of myself and my business partner’s shoulders to take the labour wherever we need to and then hopefully we can hire those people for positions," he said.
"But if we can’t we will just have to roll up the sleeves and do it ourselves.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
Ontario man loses $1,500 applying for Nexus cards on social media
The trusted traveller program between Canada and the United States is extremely popular and almost two million Canadians have a Nexus card.
NEW Facial reconstruction reveals what a 40-something Neanderthal woman may have looked like
Scientists studying a Neanderthal woman's remains have painstakingly pieced together her skull from 200 bone fragments to understand what she may have looked like.
Concerns about Plexiglas prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglas barriers.
Weight-loss drug Wegovy available in Canada starting May 6
The makers of Ozempic say their weight-loss drug Wegovy will be available to patients in Canada starting Monday.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Goring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
This Canadian restaurant just lowered its prices. Here's how it did it
A Canadian restaurant lowered its prices this week, and though news of price tags dropping rather than climbing sounds unusual, the business strategy in this case is not, according to experts in the field.
NEW Companies letting customers opt out of Mother's Day ads
In an effort to balance the profitability of Mother's Day with the pain it causes some people, some brands are offering customers the choice to opt out of Mother's Day email advertising.
NEW A mother's hopes to free her son from a Syrian prison is revitalized by a new human rights report
Just days before the seventh anniversary of the day Jack Letts was thrown in prison with thousands of suspected ISIS fighters, his mother, Sally Lane, delivered a small stack of envelopes to the headquarters of Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa.