Kelowna's Business Community Calls for More Workers in the Region

The Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skill Trades was in Kelowna on Wednesday to meet with local business leaders to discuss the current issues facing the Okanagan.

Shirley Bond met with about two dozen representatives from the community during a round table discussion. In attendance for the one on one meeting were Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran and Councillors Tracy Gray and Brad Sieben. Several community groups were also in attendance including Michael J. Ballingall from Big White Ski Resort, Glenn Mandziuk from the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, Rosemary Paterson from the Best Western Plus in Kelowna as well as local MLA’s Norm Letnick and Steve Thomson.

Minister Shirley Bond at the round table discussion in Kelowna (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

Bond opened the discussion by looking at the future of the industry and economy in the province.

“As we face challenges ahead and I look at the opportunities, we’re seeing incredible growth in a number of sectors,” said Bond. “We’ve been criticized recently for putting all our eggs in the liquefied natural gas basket, but in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Are we focused and dedicated to trying to bring a new industry to BC? Of course we are, you would expect us to be, you wouldn’t want us to miss that opportunity.”

The Minster then went on to speak about the outlook for the economic future saying that industries such as mining, tourism, film and forestry continue to grow in the province.

Attendees at the round table discussion (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

“The economy is fragile, it is still fragile and I think people may have a different feeling about that, but an economist recently described what his going to happen in 2015-2016, going into 2017,” explained Bond. “They said that BC is going to be one of the leaders of economic growth in the country. But they described it as a race of turtles; we’re not sprinting anywhere in the near future. The other turtle is going to be Ontario. We’ll be in a neck and neck battle over the next year.”

Talk then turned to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program in Canada and how local businesses in the Okanagan, Thompson and Kootenay regions are struggling to find workers to do all types of work. Michael J. Ballingall from Big White discussed the issues facing his resort and the 600 workers there on holiday visas. He tried to get the message across to the Minister, including the frustrations he sees when the government doesn’t look at the difference between TFW’s and people here on holiday visas.

“Of the 500 to 600 staff members we have at the resort right now, 90 per cent of them are university educated and graduated, they carry credit cards that carry $4,000 to $5,000 in credit on them, they are not here to work, they are here for a holiday and working is part of that holiday,” explained Ballingall. “We have a very unique environment. When Big White closes on April 15^th, approximately 80 per cent of those kids will come to the valley looking for work. This is a subject that is close to everyone who works in the Thompson Okanagan.”

Attendees at the round table discussion (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

Ballingall’s comments were echoed by Rosemary Paterson from the Best Western Plus in Kelowna, as she described the difficulties in recruiting and keeping staff at the hotel.

“Work such as housekeeping and room attendance, our Canadians don’t want to do it, the young ones, they want to be in more senior positions,” said Paterson. “The turnover in the housekeeping departments is exceptional, that turnover is a huge expense and it is very challenging from a moral standpoint. We now have four or five more hotels on the verge of being built in the city and that is going to tax our employee base significantly. TFW’s are a needed commodity, and it is only going to get worse.”

Councillor Brad Sieben chimed in as well saying that while we are feeling the pinch in Kelowna, so are other neighbouring communities such as the Kootenays.

Kelowna-Mission MLA Steve Thomson speaking at the round table discussion (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

“The federal government has been playing hardball in terms of policy, especially Minister Jason Kenny, trying to overhaul the whole EI policy reform,” said Sieben. “Kelowna based businesses that do not have enough TFW’s have to ask themselves, do we close a floor of a hotel, or do we tell the customers that we are going to clean the rooms once every three days? When you’ve spent millions marketing as a province and you bring these people in for these unbelievable holidays and then tell them you can’t give them the service they demand, it’s a real challenge."

More local concerns were brought up during the hour and a half discussion, with the hopes that the Minister will head back to Victoria with a new perspective and perhaps ways to help improve the economy and worker situation in the Okanagan Valley.