City exploring program to fill job vacancies, find entrepreneurs from foreign countries

City council is exploring a provincial program that could help Cold Lake attract foreign workers and entrepreneurs.

Council made two motions at last Tuesday’s meeting, to submit an application to designate the City under the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program – Entrepreneur Stream and to have staff work with business owners and local agencies before submitting the application for the Rural Renewal Stream.

These programs focus on economic immigration for workers and entrepreneurs to settle down and work or start businesses on rural communities, the provincial government says.

“We’re gonna dive into it. And so we’ve given direction to administration to really take a hard look at work with the province and our local Chamber of Commerce on that,” Mayor Craig Copeland told Lakeland Connect. 

“We know the biggest need right now is finding workers. And so we’re really going down that stream, and how we can simplify the program because we’re hearing from our business community that it takes over a year to get somebody to come in here.” 

The City would look to form a committee to manage this program if it comes to fruition, believing they would have partners in the Cold Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, Community Futures, and Cold Lake and District FCSS.

This group would communicate with employers on their needs and collaborate with the workers on best ways to settle into the community.

Other communities in the program include Brooks, Grande Prairie, Taber, and Whitecourt. 

“We are going to look at maybe forming a partnership with various entities to manage this, but certainly council’s fully supportive of getting involved,” said Copeland.