Good to see SC on 'the books' for upcoming project in Northwest BC. We've kinda dabbled with the idea of possible labour shortages due to the sheer magnitude of the projects being initiated in BC/Western Canada and the potential for labour cost inflation to be exacerbated by this labour demand shock.
I was born and raised in BC. The only folks that I know that have been born and raised in BC are the chums from childhood. The vast majority of the folks I know come from elsewhere - mostly the Canadian Maritimes, Newfoundland and Ontario. At my last job, I worked with so many "Newfies" (folks from Newfoundland) and "maritimers" that I started to pick up a Newfie accent!
In addition to the internal Canadian migration, there appears to be significant volume of immigrants or short term labourers from other parts of the world. I didnt' start seeing Mexican workers till a few years ago. Now, I recognize the hints of spoken spanish quite frequently as I walk about towns and cities.
On one majour ($600M) project I did some work on, I was surprised at the number of American workers on site.
While there are a huge number of jobs to be filled, I think that internal and external workforce adjustment can quickly fill a lot of voids. As posted earlier wrt Ireland, the Canadian Gov is aware of the need for skilled labour immigration.
The latest Canadian Census supports my observations of the move west:
Canada census shows people moving west - westhttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/08/census-2011-main.html
Go west, young Canadians - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/margaret-wente/go-west-young-canadians/article2331573/
Canadians heading west in droves, 2011 census shows
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120208/census-data-release-120208/#ixzz1oSgOoxF6
