Back to U.K. for Calgary transit workers recruited during boom

Calgary transit drivers have been told by the provincial government they cannot stay in Alberta when the two years run out, under the temporary workers program.

Photograph by: Archive, Calgary Herald

Eighteen transit drivers from the U.K. -- settled in Calgary for the past year and a half -- will have to leave Alberta by next spring, victims of the province's slowed economy.

Brought over to work for Calgary Transit when the boom years made it difficult to fill many city jobs, the drivers have been told by the provincial government their temporary work permits are just that -- temporary, and they cannot stay when the two years run out.

"People did believe they would be staying here, become citizens here," Mike Mahar, president of the transit union, said. "They upset their lives, sold homes, uprooted their spouses, (took) their children out of school.

"Most of them, there's nothing to go home to."

Mayor Dave Bronconnier has sent two letters to the province, asking that it reconsider the decision as a one-time-only exception.

"We again would appeal to the province to reinstate that program," Bronconnier said.

"Although the economy has cooled off considerably from two years ago, if you look a number of years down the road, we will still be in a labour crunch.

"We encouraged people to move here with their families. I'd like to keep them employed."

Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk said with the Alberta economy slowing down, jobs in the province can easily be filled by locals.

"They came under a well-defined contract," he said Monday. "It's difficult for employers to demonstrate there are no Albertans available to take their jobs.

"Alberta's policy is to always extend the opportunity to Albertans first. Hire local unemployed Calgarians first."

In 2008, after futile provincial and countrywide searches for employees, the City of Calgary headed overseas, spending $185,000 on a trip to England to recruit transit drivers, heavy duty mechanics and planners -- the first overseas hiring since the 1970s. While there were 270 positions available, 35 people were hired and moved here, including 20 drivers. Eighteen of the drivers remain with the city.

Most arrived in the first half of 2009 and their two-year permits will expire between Jan. 27 and July 15, 2011. They will no longer be allowed to work in Alberta, although transit spokesman Ron Collins said rules are different in other provinces and some may be able to move within the country.

The Calgary Police Service also hired a number of overseas recruits, with 64 U.K. officers in the 2008 training classes.

Of all the overseas hires, the transit drivers were the only ones who fell into a semi-skilled category that didn't automatically allow them to apply to be permanent residents.

However, the province was reviewing allowing new occupations to be included, but suspended that before Calgary's business case on the transit drivers could be heard.

While the City of Calgary struggled to fill job positions in 2007 and 2008, that had changed by 2009. In the first nine months of that year, applications for positions doubled over the same period in 2008. At the same time, the city was re-evaluating every vacant position and posting fewer jobs.

Since the U.K. transit drivers arrived, Calgary Transit has hired another 47 new operators and will be hiring another eight in the next month. Collins said if the 18 on staff are forced to leave, they will be replaced.

Lukaszuk said thousands of temporary foreign workers have had to return home since the province's economy hit a rough patch and jobs began disappearing.

Ald. Joe Ceci, who raised the issue Monday at council after hearing from a distraught family affected by the decision, points out a number of the U.K. drivers brought over their families and bought homes.

"They came to us as part of a larger group and a portion of that larger group are underway in terms of residency, citizenship," Ceci said. "I sincerely hope the province would reconsider."

Bronconnier said they will continue to talk to the province about options to keep the drivers.

kguttormson@theherald.canwe st.com.