Symposium: Work in Canada, live in Montana
Work in Canada but live at home in Montana is the subject of a symposium in Eureka Nov. 4 and 5.
Most sessions are by invitation, but an open public session will be 7 p.m. Monday.
Featured speakers for this “Jobs Across the Border Symposium” include Brett Mattei, U.S. Consul at Calgary, and Mike Wo, a former provincial official who now thrives on placing workers into Alberta’s labor hungry world, particularly at operations near Fort McMurray’s oil sands. Bitumen, a substance similar to petroleum, is extracted and transported for refining. The proposed Keystone Pipeline would move this raw product to Texas.
Rep. Mike Cuffe, Montana District 2, came to know the speakers through the Pacific Northwest Economic Region. It is a non-profit organization set up by statute to deal with economic issues facing the five northwest states, two Canadian territories and three provinces bordering on Montana. After gaining support for the symposium from Lincoln County Commissioner Mike Cole, ERDP Director Tracy McIntyre and Gov. Steve Bullock, Cuffe invited the U.S. Consul and Alberta jobs guru to present at Riverstone Lodge, located north of Eureka along Highway 93.
“Mike Wo is intent on developing a statewide program to supply a large number of workers to Alberta employers. That is his job. This symposium is a big step in bringing the right people together to get this launched. Eureka is the perfect place for it,” Cuffe stated. “Brett Mattei has worked with him on things like matching U.S. military training with Canadian job requirements.”
McIntyre, who is president of the Montana Economic Developers Association, is handling many of the arrangements for the symposium. Several different sessions are planned.
Local officials, board members for TVID, ERDP, and Chamber of Commerce plus more begin at 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 4. Lincoln County business leaders are invited Monday afternoon, with the public meeting that evening. A variety of regional business development leaders and government officials are scheduled for Tuesday morning with Tuesday afternoon focusing on vocational-technical education and college personnel.
Topics to be covered include job markets, pay ranges and travel compensation along with information on how to apply, obtain work visas, etc. The situation is similar to that in the North Dakota oil boom but with good accommodations and most workers fly home from Fort McMurray for their week off, according to Cuffe. Truck drivers with commercial drivers license and air brake endorsement, especially with oversize load experience or hazmat certification, are in big demand, along with pipefitters, experienced welders and heavy duty diesel mechanics.
Persons interested in attending sessions other than the public session should arrange through the ERDP office at 293-7374 or email tracy@eurekardup. net. This isn’t a job fair or intended as a direct hiring process. But for the person with the right qualifications and experience, the hiring process could be expedited.
“Every community tries to provide jobs through local industry, but so many of our timber industry jobs have dried up, along with much construction work,” Cuffe notes. “What I like about this is the little league coach and the 4-H leader can keep his home here rather than moving the family to North Dakota.”
Employers try to arrange crews to fit with transportation needs. The largest airline in Canada is the one set up for oil sand workers. To get a personal view, Cuffe flew to Fort McMurray on the economic region policy tour in 2012.
“I dream of a commuter plane flying 20 workers home to Eureka after a week of work and great living conditions at Fort McMurray. Then the flight crew loads up 20 more for the return flight to spend a week on the job. Get 80 workers on that schedule, and we bring a big payroll into Eureka,” he added.
Another symposium caveat that has McIntyre and the MEDA Board excited will cover products which could be manufactured locally and shipped north.
“I have big visions about what may come out of this for Lincoln County and even across the state,” McIntyre said. “Among those attending the symposium will be my state EDC board and other key people.”
Cuffe believes it is a perfect outcome of PNWER with a serious non-partisan issue with great international benefit. Canada needs workers to extract a natural resource which will be refined in the United States, and Montana can help to supply those workers. “I requested the PNWER appointment to make contacts like this,” Cuffe said. “I hope to expand job placements into British Columbia coal mining, logging and lumbering.”
Several state officials, including John Rogers, the governor’s advisor on economic development, and various agency representatives plan to attend. Gov. Bullock plus staff recently spent three days in Alberta exploring similar concepts, so the timing seems right.
(Rep. Mike Cuffe is a state House member representing District 2.)