Alberta comes calling for British Columbians, but experts expect few will bite

On Monday, Kenney launched a $2.6-million “Alberta’s calling” advertising campaign, touting the booming Alberta job market, Canada’s highest average salaries, detached-home costs in Edmonton and Calgary that are one-third that of Vancouver or Toronto, and shorter commutes to work.

But employment recruiter Henry Goldbeck said he finds it hard to fill jobs in Alberta.

“It’s more common that we move people from Alberta to B.C.,” said Goldbeck. If he was recruiting for similar positions in both provinces, “it’s going to be harder to recruit from outside Alberta.”

“I’m sure there are cases now, with this advertisement, where people are going to look at housing costs and they’re going to say, ‘wow, that makes sense for me and I’m going to do that,’” Goldbeck said. But, he added, when his firm is headhunting, such cost-of-living factors “are usually secondary.”