Canada's energy boom draws skilled Americans looking for work

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

Some out-of-work Americans might have to look no further than our neighbor to the north for employment.

Canada is looking to hire tens of thousands of skilled workers for its booming energy industry. With the third-largest oil and gas reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, Canada wants to double its oil production in the next 10 years. While it has plenty of oil to tap, there aren't enough skilled workers to help secure it.

That's especially true in the western province of Alberta, where mining the oil sands and creating the infrastructure for it is providing plenty of work.

Ironworker Mike Riordan left Minnesota for Alberta's capitol city of Edmonton - which serves as a staging ground for many of the big oil companies. Riordan says work was slow for him in the U.S. and he's now making twice what he was back home.

"The opportunities are just basically endless up here right now," said Riordan. "There's obviously a shortage of workers. You could go anywhere and make some pretty good money."

Ken Hughes, Alberta's minister of energy, said his province will need more than 100,000 workers in the next decade. Hughes added that moving to Canada can be an easy transition for Americans.

"Our cultures are similar, our standards are very similar, we have a lot of opportunity for people who want to work hard, who want to make some money, who want to continue to live in a society that is very similar to their own society," said Hughes in a recent interview with Fox News in Edmonton.

________

 

The new land of opportunity?

[clearvision]

You could stop in North Dakota if you wanted similar work. But I guess there is something to be said for getting out of the country.