Editor:
Re: Businesses brace for labour shortage (March 27 RMO).
So the mayor believes the only thing Banff has to offer is “lifestyle.”
The title of this article should have read, “Banff businesses collaborate to find ways to keep wages low for the young workers of Banff.”
Why is it when market conditions lend themselves to a much needed wage increase in order to attract good workers, the business community works so hard to abuse programs like the Temporary Foreign Workers Program in order to keep mainly young people in this community from getting a fair wage?
This is not an attack on all businesses in this community because many are amazing employers, nor is it an attack on the lovely people that come to Banff via the TFW program. However, it is an attack on those businesses that are abusing this program, using it as a tool to control their workforce and keep wages low. Currently, it is acting as a tool businesses are using to maintain the status quo rather than finding innovative solutions to attract workers here.
Sure lifestyle is a big part of why people come to Banff, but it is hard to enjoy a “lifestyle” when living below the poverty line, bunking with 10 of your friends and wondering where your next meal is coming from. Yes, you cannot compete with the wages up north, but that doesn’t mean you cannot pay a fair wage that allows people to live in your community comfortably.
Banff leaders need to realize that “lifestyle” is something that many tourism-based communities can offer and that maybe Banff isn’t so special simply because its Banff. It is its people that make it special and it is time to start taking care of all of those people, including those that some don’t want living in “their” neighbourhoods.
Wages can be a part of a larger conversation, along with affordable housing, and other services to help a part of the community that most often gets ignored in our community.
We like to talk like we are an innovative community, however, seeing the solutions being offered up by our leaders is less than inspiring. Simply promoting lifestyle or some sort of “right of passage” is not going to cut it. To find innovative solutions, I wouldn’t start by putting a bunch of old people in a room deciding what is best for young workers. I would start by talking to those young workers themselves.
Dan Tatton,
Canmore
