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Chamber looking for answers on labour issues

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Drumheller & District Chamber of Commerce President John Shoff said employers wanting to remain competitive need to look at different options.

John Shoff, president of the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce is still hoping for answers from the federal government on access to labour after it made significant reforms to the temporary foreign workers program.
   The service sector in Drumheller felt the crunch when the program was suspended earlier this year, and then was reintroduced with reforms. With the 2015 summer season looming, Shoff is hoping to hear something.
   “I do know of a lot of areas in Alberta where it doesn’t matter what the wage is, they can’t get employees,” said Shoff.
   He says chasing wages to get people does nothing but drive inflation. With temporary foreign workers, he says it costs employers more to bring them in, but it keeps wages normalized.
   “When you are looking at an unskilled entry level job, if they have to be paid $20 per hour, now you are paying the guy who is pouring a cup of coffee $20 per hour, and you multiply that by all the people he needs to run that business, that cost has gone up exponentially, What do you do? You charge more for that cup of coffee,” he said.
   He said wage is not the primary factor however, it is just making sure there is access to labour.
   “It (temporary foreign workers program) kept businesses alive. You have businesses out there where it doesn’t matter what you offer for a wage, there is no one coming in to apply for that position,” said Shoff.
   Alberta is heading into a new territory with the declining price of oil. This could mean a slow down in the sector, which could add to the labour pool. Shoff said he doesn’t expect it to change the labour situation in Drumheller.
   “It will slow a bit, but you still have to maintain infrastructure here,” he said. “I don’t think it will effect us much, a lot of our industry is on the service side. It will impact us a bit, but it certainly won’t impact us as much as in areas where they are doing heavy exploration.”
   Crowfoot MP Kevin Sorenson acknowledges that labour is one of the biggest issues facing the Alberta Economy.
   “We want to make sure that Canadians have the first opportunity for jobs." That being said, the Minister has stated "That we have some parts of the country where we have long-term labour issues and we cannot continue to address it with a temporary foreign worker program. It is going to take something more permanent,” he said. “So looking forward we are going to be looking at ways that we can keep this economy moving ahead and we recognize that access to labour is one of those things that can stall an economy.”
   He says employers have to look at a number of options to remain competitive.
   “Immigration numbers are one way to address it. There is a number of other ways we can look at it. The program is still there, although it says you can’t exceed the 30 per cent of the workforce. There were some businesses that were using it to as their business management plan for labour.”
   He says one of the problems with the Temporary Foreign Workers Program was there was no way to fast track immigration.
   “The Minister of Immigration or the Minister of Employment say we can’t continue to have a temporary program solve a permanent problem. This country was built on immigration and we still need this.”
   Both Shoff and Sorenson see better movement across provincial borders as a factor that could alleviate the situation.
   “We have to have programs to encourage individuals to go where the opportunities are. That is why my grandfather came up here in 1905. He came for the job, he came as a way to sustain himself. We have to make sure our policies reflect that,” Sorenson said.

Rink rats keep ice smooth for Nacmine skaters

grant and bob komarnisky

Grant, left, and Bob Komarnisky volunteer to keep the ice in Nacmine prepped for local skaters to enjoy. Above, the team work on cleaning the ice before they flood.

There is nothing more Canadian than touching blade to ice and gliding across a fresh rink. Thanks to a father-son team in Nacmine, residents have been able to enjoy this quintessential winter activity.
   Bob Komarnisky of Nacmine has had a second winter job for the last 15 years. He and his son Grant, and often George Harder volunteer to make sure there is smooth skating on the Nacmine ice ink.
   Before Christmas, The Mail caught up to Bob and Grant. They were busy doing their second flood on the rink. They had lost one already because of a Chinook and while the ice was fresh, it was well used.
   Bob explains the whole process takes about three hours. They clean and sweep the ice and use a snow blower to make a clean edge along the boards. The team typically does about three floods to smooth out the daily wear and tear. Because the ice is new, they are working to smooth out air pockets. They do a hot flood.
   “I don’t know if we are experts or not, but we have our routine anyway,” chuckles Bob. The crew is out there often two or three times a week working on the ice
   The Nacmine community Association built the rink and shelter and provides the equipment including brooms, snow blower and a water wand to spread the water.

Staff Sergeant supports tough distracted driving legislation

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Drumheller RCMP Staff Sergeant Art Hopkins says he supports more stringent penalties for distracted driving

Despite a $172 fine, distracted driving continues to be a concern locally and provincially.
   In the last session of the Legislature, MLA Moe Emery brought the issue back into the light by proposing tougher distracted driving legislation. His proposal would see the fine bumped up to $250 as well as three demerit points.
   Staff Sergeant Art Hopkins says they are losing the battle combating distracted driving.
   “Not just in our detachment, it is province wide, it is across the country. It is very noticeable the amount of distracted driving. It is just getting more and more prominent with the use of cell phones with texting abilities,” said Hopkins. “There is not a day goes by that as I drive my own vehicle around, I see people texting and talking on the phone all the time.”
   He is aware of Emery’s private members bill and feels this could be a tool that would help enforcement.
   “We have tried enforcement, we have written a million of these tickets and it has had little to no effect,” he said.
   He said at first people were cognizant of the new law when introduced in 2011.
   “Initially when the law was announced, it dropped drastically, but now it is running rampant. We don’t have enough members to police that.”
   “For using a cell phone, texting on these devices, or distracted driving as a whole, we have to make them personally more responsible for it. That means if the fine is heavier or there are demerit points, it would mean people losing their driver’s license.”
   He said it is not difficult for drivers to comply with the law.
   “There are many ways to get around it, you can go and buy an earpiece that communicates with your cell phone so you are hands free. It’s cheaper than what the fine is right now, there is no reason not to comply with this,” he said.
   This approach has worked well with other traffic issues.
   “If you look at impaired driving, it used to be a $300 fine and six month suspension. In order to show some reduction in it, they had to continually increase the penalty because there just aren’t enough policemen to do everything. You have to make the deterrent heavy enough that it will actually work. The present fine for distracted driving is not a big enough deterrent.”

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