OLDS — Town council has voted to try to fix a local labour shortage by partnering with the Town of Innisfail on a provincial program to help businesses obtain pre-qualified immigrants faster.
In an email to the Albertan, chief administrative officer Brent Williams explained the opportunity arises under the provincial government’s Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, which is designed to bring immigrants to rural communities.
Williams said there are two streams under this program.
He said Olds has already qualified for the Rural Entrepreneur Stream, which is designed to connect foreign businesspeople with local businesspeople or available properties in order to start new businesses or purchase existing ones.
“The town entered this stream in early 2022 and has a few active immigrant participants. But nothing final has come of it yet,” he wrote.
The second stream, the Rural Renewal Stream (RRS) is the one that Olds and Innisfail are considering partnering on.
Its purpose is to connect immigrants to certain communities that can provide support to recruit and retain newcomers.
“That’s where Olds falls short of the criteria to become a designated community,” Williams wrote.
“We are working toward meeting the criteria, but that will take 12 – 24 months. This is where we are hoping to leverage a partnership with Innisfail.”
Williams said RRS “allows local businesses that are facing labour shortages to access a larger pool of pre-qualified immigrants more quickly.
"It has been made clear from many local businesses that they require support with the labour shortages and council heard their concerns loud and clear,” he wrote.
During discussion on the matter in town council, Williams said Olds and Innisfail officials had held initial discussions regarding partnering on the program and those discussions “have been positive.”
“They have agreed to let us partner with them under their designated stream for the RRS," he said.
“That’s very exciting and I look forward to mayor (Jean) Barclay from Innisfail and her council and/or staff and administration to get back to us,” Town of Olds Mayor Judy Dahl said.
“This is really good for our community, thank you for all your work on that,” she added.
A motion to approve a partnership with the Town of Innisfail to become a designated community under the Alberta government's Rural Renewal Stream passed unanimously.
