CALGARY – Alberta’s energy minister says the government hopes people who have lost their jobs in the oilpatch will use the downturn to upgrade their skills.
Marg McCuaig-Boyd says skilled journeymen with the right credentials could move to British Columbia to find work until energy prices bounce back.
But she says workers with fewer skills should take advantage of apprencticeship programs.
The minister says where she lives in northwestern Alberta, skilled workers can move back and forth to B.C. on jobs if they have the right credentials.
McCuaig-Boyd made her comments Thursday at a meeting of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Land Administration.
She also says pipelines must be built to get Alberta’s oil to the coast and to overseas markets.
“It’s a tough time for everybody, not just oil and gas, there’s lot of jobs being lost in the services sector … this oil price is hurting a lot of Albertans, so you just have to hunker down and get through it.”
(CFFR, The Canadian Press)