Eastward Ho!

Over the last couple of years, what with shrinking oil supplies and the recent unpleasantness in the Middle East, anyone with half a brain (with the possible exception of Ralph Klein, but I digress) could see that the price of oil would skyrocket. Further, as soon as the price hit over $60.00 per barrel, the oil sands would become very, very viable. As a result, people are heading westward in droves for greener pastures in the land of black gold

People from the Atlantic Provinces have been “going down the road” for employment for decades. However, this wholesale migration of the people leaving for the west is unprecedented in the history of the Atlantic Provinces. The reason for this is twofold and simple:

• Jobs
• Money

This has been the cause of some concern in the respective legislatures as the workforce haemorrhages westward and we are now, apparently, in the grip of a labour shortage. The Premiers of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island has been making pilgrimages to Alberta to woo back their native sons and daughters. I am told that in Fort McMurray everywhere you look these days there are billboards urging Maritimers to “Come to Life.”

Now, given that the employment opportunities here in the Maritimes have not changed greatly in their absence, this does beg the question “Come home and do what?” In Fort McMurray these days you can make close to $18.00 per hour just pumping gas. If you can actually do something, your salary goes up exponentially, albeit with a much higher cost of living. Even with the astronomical cost of living, Fort McMurray and oil country is still the proverbial pot of gold.

In essence, our good premiers are asking people to leave jobs where they are making good money to come home to good jobs that don’t exist, low paying jobs that do, and Dickensian labour laws, where your employer can legally treat you like crap.

Yes, people are burning up the TransCanada to move back here. Not.

Yes, I’ve heard the promises that have been made about the future here. Forgive me for being cynical, but promises and $1.50 will get you a double-double at Timmy Horton’s. You won’t see anyone coming back until those jobs are actually here and not one moment before.

While we are at it, let’s take a look at this “labour shortage”. As I look around, there is a whole pool of workers, experienced, qualified and knowledgeable that can’t find jobs. Furthermore, these people are settled, not likely to “go down the road” and still they are unemployed. What is wrong with this picture?

They are over 50. Let’s face it, 50 is not the new 30 when you are looking for a job

They expect to be paid according to their knowledge and experience. The irony is that a lot of these people are the ones companies laid off when they found they could get younger people to do their jobs for less money. The same younger people, incidently, who have left for pastures anew.

In my opinion, as long as there is a huge pool of unemployed experienced workers, and Neanderthal employers can afford to drive away young people like Melissa Strong, there is no labour shortage. I strongly suspect that what is meant by “labour shortage” in this context is “we have a shortage of twenty-something’s who will work for peanuts and shut up.”

Bah.

Space Bricklin

We don’t have the paper delivered here for 2 reasons a) newspapers accumulate, while we heat with wood, and we can use them to start fires, to me it seems like such a waste. (Yes, I know we can recycle, which we do. However, why get it in the first place if we don’t really need it?) Then, b) and this is the real clincher, every newspaper in New Brunswick, (even the giveaway rag on what’s going on in the local bar scene), is owned by the Irvings and the standard of journalistic excellence sets whole new lows. Therefore, it boils down to this: why waste the money on a crappy newspaper, only to recycle or burn it? Believe me, there is no lack of scrap paper and cardboard around to start the fires in the furnace.

That said; thank all the gods for the Internet and CBC radio, without which I would be at the mercy of the Irvings, with crop circles as front page news.

But my commentary on articles of major or minor importance:

Last summer, the Nova Scotia Provincial Government in partnership with a private company to open some sort of a Space Launch Facility in a yet to be announced location on Cape Breton. Now, everyone seems to think that this is a dandy thing. However…….. For those of you who are not familiar with Cape Breton, it is an technically an island, separated by the very narrow Canso strait from the mainland. It is a lovely place to visit, you will find the summer home of Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, but unfortunately did not get it patented first. He was a very prolific inventor, and among other things, developed the Hydrofoil, the prototypes of which were tested on the Baeddeck Lakes practically on the front door. It is now a museum and a fascinating place to visit if you are interested in such things. Cape Breton is also the home of the only Gaelic University in North America, if not the world. The Cabot Trail is a wonderfully scenic trip, and utterly spectacular when the fall colours are at their peak. Mabon is the home of Glenora Distilleries the only single malt distillery in North America. There is produced Glen Breton, the only single malt produced in North America. I am told it is very good, and sells for about $75.00 a bottle. It is also an area with high unemployment and has been since the coal mines closed.

Why, do you ask, is this worthy of commentary?

On the surface, this looks like a pretty sweet deal: good jobs to the area and all those benefits thereof.

But there is one thing that makes me wonder: The Weather.

Over the years I have watched many a space launch: from the Gemini orbits, to the Apollo missions that culminated in the moon landing, and many, many space shuttle launches. They all have one thing in common: as soon as the weather becomes less than optimal, the launch is postponed. .

Now, Cape Breton, with its head stuck out in the north Atlantic, is the eastern most point in continental North America. (Newfoundland notwithstanding since it an island that is not considered part of continental North America). As some of you know, my DH Dan, worked for Environment Canada, even before it was Environment Canada and it was the Dept of Transport. As a result, in our house we watch the weather like other people watch Canadian/American/Whatever Idol. It has been my observation that sometime in the early part of November, the weather in Cape Breton reads as follows: High Wind Warning, Heavy Snowfall Warning, and Freezing Rain Warning with any combination thereof. This streak of “interesting” weather will continue for, at very least, the next 6 months. This has led me to two possible conclusions: Environment Canada has gotten very lazy in its forecasting and is hitting the “repeat” button for at least 6 months of the year OR the weather really is that foul.

For my own part, I believe it to be the latter rather than the former. Now this does beg the question: Why would a facility that is so dependent on good weather be placed in an area where the weather is so marginal for such a large part of the year?

Forgive me if I sound more than a little cynical, but I smell a boondoggle.

I am no stranger to boondoggles – from the Gigatext program that was supposed to be an English/French conversion program that the Government of Saskatchewan invested 5 million dollars, with no follow up whatsoever. Needless to say the 5 million vanished into the either, never to be heard from again. Then, there was the Squalus Jet Trainer, an apparently very nifty jet that could, supposedly, but used to train fighter pilots. With only a little Government funding, this could have brought the aerospace industry to Saskatoon, providing jobs and prosperity. Again, a nice idea in theory, but they had no real potential buyers for this item. Much to the chagrin of the good Burghers of Saskatoon, the provincial government declined to invest in this project. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth by said Burghers, when the company that produced the Squalus folded up their tents and took their prototype to pastures anew. The wailing decreased after it became known that there was some extremely “creative” marketing projections by that company. I suppose there was more than a little schadenfrude when that company in another guise moved to Alberta in 2003, with a revised version of the trainer which even after much investment, literally and figuratively, never got off the ground.


And who can forget that crowning achievement of all Maritime boondoggles: The Bricklin

It seems as though the government in its need not so much to do something but to be seen to be doing something, is ripe for the picking. The hopes of the people rise high as the purveyors of snake oil and humbug close in for the kill and the rustling sound you hear is that of money being tossed into the wind.