Canada promises 335,000 construction industry jobs

Senior officials from western Canada have issued a call to arms for Ireland’s unemployed construction workers to help build the region’s future.

In a major move which could benefit both nations’ inhabitants, a delegation from the British Columbian ministry of jobs and the area’s construction association have travelled across the Atlantic to encourage workers to emigrate.

The group, which is meeting its counterparts in the Government and our own construction representatives during the week-long visit, is seeking to workers to fill an estimated 335,000 construction jobs to be created in the next two years.

With Ireland’s construction industry being one of the country’s biggest victims of the recession, the Canadian representatives believe our dole queues could be the perfect place to recruit the people to build the region’s future.

Among the delegation’s key visits over the coming days will be to the Dublin Working Abroad Expo in an attempt to identify sources of skilled labour to help fill thousands of vacancies in the construction and related trades.

The projections are that as many as 335,000 jobs will be created in British Columbia and nearby Alberta between now and 2014.

The biggest demand, explained British Columbia Construction Association official Manley McLachlan, will be for carpenters, electricians, welders, plumbers, heavy equipment operators and millwrights — all professions which have been devastated by the Irish recession.

He said the recruitment drive is based on the fact that British Columbia is in the middle of a significant expansion and an internal Canadian immigration process.

As a result, the construction industry is in dire need of workers to build houses, stores and other facilities.

Further information is available from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Education and Skills, FÁS and the Construction Industry Federation — all of which will hold meetings with the Canadian delegation this week.