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Calgary's mayor tells Marcus Gee how he plans to realize Jane Jacobs' vision on the Prairies. He just has to convince the developers

But can he get Calgary to buy in? To an outsider, at least, sprawling, car-dependent Calgary seems to be an unlikely place to realize his Jane Jacobs-inspired ideas about livable cities.

Building Up: Making Canada's Cities Magnets for Talent and Engines of Development, he argued that the successful city of the future will be a place in which: "People live where they work and play. Density is high. Public transit is a preferred choice. Young people can afford to live downtown. Classes and socio-economic backgrounds are mixed ...

the purpose is to attract people and prospective employees “and to address our longer-term workforce needs.”

The second reason is to further develop and diversify our business base in a more sustainable way to complement our strength in areas like energy,

third reason, particularly coming back from our research, is to highlight how this city has evolved from an arts, a culture and a cosmopolitan global business centre perspective

As Alberta’s population spikes and shifts with a booming economy, its education system has become a tale of two realities – one with hundreds of millions in new spending and a glut of students, and another facing hundreds of teacher layoffs, empty classrooms and budget shortfalls.The province, facing a baby boom in some areas that will add another 100,000 students to its enrolment by 2020, on Tuesday announced that it will spend $550-million over the next several years to build 22 new schools and renovate another 13.

Some of the new schools will open as early as 2014. They are largely for the boom towns – including two in Fort McMurray, home to the oil sands – which have drawn young workers starting families and made Alberta the only province in Canada to experience a growth in school enrolment in recent years.“You’ve got to do it. Our school population is growing and we need that space,” said Education Minister Dave Hancock.While many applauded the future infrastructure spending, it contrasts with present-day austerity. School boards across the province are facing major budget shortfalls this year – $100-million altogether, by one estimate – that will almost certainly mean hundreds of teaching jobs will be slashed. Boards in Calgary and Edmonton have closed low-enrolment schools in recent years as young families priced out of the downtown real estate market flee to the suburbs.Some wonder why the province is building new schools while slashing services in existing ones.“I think it was a complete shock to everybody. As we’re facing up to 1,000 teacher [position] cuts – that’s our estimate – all of a sudden here’s this big announcement for $550-million,” said Sharon Armstrong, vice-president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association. “Do we need facilities? Absolutely we do, but the situation is we also need to maintain that teaching force.”

Mr. Hancock rejected the argument, saying education funding has grown substantially over the past decade and will grow again as oil revenues recover from the economic downturn.“We’ve had to ask people to tighten the belt a little bit, but it’s a tough budget year,” the minister said. “We’ve got to start [building] now while prices are low. We’ve got to invest in buildings in key areas where there’s a very significant need. … [Program funding] will pick up again as things go forward.”This year’s budget, which projects a $3.4-billion deficit in a province accustomed to surpluses, cut programs and reduced overall funding to all 62 of Alberta’s school boards. The Edmonton Public School Board is cutting 344 full-time jobs next year because of budget shortfalls, including 229 teaching jobs. The Calgary Board of Education projects it will cut another 280 positions.The “dichotomy” between an infrastructure splurge and programming cuts is part of Alberta’s boom and bust cycle and leaves school boards frantically slashing or hiring from year to year, said Jacquie Hansen, president of the Alberta School Board Association. The group has pressed the province for long-term, predictable funding agreements.“While it’s good we’re looking ahead in terms of our capital, we’re in tough times today,” Ms. Hansen said. “We tend to budget based on what our oil and gas revenues are doing, and we need something more stable.”

In 2008, just over 1.8 million self-employed people worked at home, or 60 per cent of the total, up from 50 per cent or 1.4 million eight years earlier.

Robyn Bews, program manager for WORKshift with Calgary Economic Development,

According to economic development, research consistently reveals that employees who telework two days per week are 15 to 40 per cent more productive than their office counterparts

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have enormous potential as employers of skilled immigrants. At the same time, they can benefit from the skills, experience and innovation that skilled immigrants can bring to their organizations. ALLIES has undertaken research to better understand the programs and policies that can engage and influence the human resource practices of SMEs. Drawing on an examination of programs, policies and organizational efforts aimed at SMEs in ten provinces and 20 cities, and more than 50 interviews with key informants, this research proposes eight practical ideas for cities, governments and service providers.

A tailored strategy for SMEs is needed because SMEs are concentrated in different sectors than their larger counterparts. Recent immigrants are a large part of the workforce, and, overall, they have the skills, education and experience to contribute to Canada’s economy. Current programming does not focus on assisting SMEs to hire new workers. SMEs are motivated by immediate need and financial incentive. They want to mitigate the risk of hiring decisions, particularly when hiring outside of their personal networks. Because SMEs tend not to have formalized structures in place, they can easily and quickly adopt new practices. To be effective, programs for SMEs must be simple, straightforward, and available on demand. Hiring programs for SMEs should be targeted by sector or industry, or for growing businesses. SME programs need strong communications and marketing support to be successful.

Hiring Programs 1. Activity-focused internship – Positions for mid-level professional skilled immigrants will focus on a core business area (e.g. E-commerce, export activities, financial management). 2. One-stop shop for recruiting and HR support services – Gives SMEs a single point of access to a wealth of government and community programs, and provides screened, qualified candidates to employers ready to hire. 3. Online database of screened candidates – Provides on-demand access to qualified candidates in a particular industry or sector. 4. Wage and orientation subsidy – Encourages SMEs to hire a skilled immigrant, and enhances their capacity to provide orientation and training to new workers.

The latest report from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and RBC Royal Bank shows about half (47 per cent) of executives surveyed expect employment numbers to increase at their companies over the next 12 months. Twenty-two per cent are projecting increases of five per cent or more.Sixty-four per cent of respondent expressed optimism about the Canadian economy -a notable increase of 23 per cent over the previous quarter.The same amount -66 per cent -were optimistic about their company's prospects of the next year, according to the survey.

"Candidates are getting pickier again, getting fast job offers," says Sharlene Massie, chief executive of About Staffing in Calgary. "The employers are slow to follow, thinking they have a large choice in candidates, then losing out because the market has shifted. The employers will catch up soon."

He's noticed a particularly high level of increased hiring in oil and gas -particularly oil -but also financial services, accounting, transportation, construction, and human resources, as well as administrative head office jobs."There's more of a shift to Calgary being a hub of financial activity," he says.Compared to a year ago, employers have gone from hiring to fill vacancies to hiring for new positions -a clear signal of continued job growth.

What politicians are doing is creating the illusion that they are creating jobs by short-term fixes that actually weaken the region’s ability to compete,

Canada’s stronger economy is becoming a magnet for Americans hunting for work.

14 million Americans are out of work – the equivalent of more than 40 per cent of Canada’s population. On the other side, some employers – particularly in Alberta’s oil sector – say they can’t find enough skilled workers, prompting the country’s federal immigration minister to publicly muse last month on how to admit more skilled Americans.

Luring skilled American workers to Canada is on the federal government’s radar, as well. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney recently noted Canada could do more to tap into America’s skilled labour market.“We are looking at ways … that we could do a better job of accessing unemployed American labour,” he told the Calgary Chamber of Commerce last month. “We think particularly in the energy industry, that might be a significant solution to some of the emerging labour market shortages.

strategic plan and upgradi

Calgary Economic DevelopmentContribution: $25,000Project: Development of sector profiles

ity of BrooksContribution: $7,000Project: Web portal development

Tighter labour market means businesses must have succession plan

Calgary Economic Development

Companies that don't place a high priority on identifying, mentoring and training high-potential employees to move through the talent pipeline are going to be left in the dust when the economy picks up and the baby boom generation retires during the next decade

notable increase in housing difficulties experienced by newcomers (nation-wide and locally) increasing reliance on immigration for Calgary’s economic growth intensifying disparities faced by immigrants in finding and maintaining appropriate employment impacts of income and employment disparities on housing outcomes

average percentage of immediate family after-tax income spent on housing was 50 per cent 23 percent of responders reported worrying about their housing situation all the time 30 per cent reported that their housing situation was worse in Canada than in their home country only 10 and 7 per cent reported that being close to their cultural/national community and faith community respectively was something they liked about where they live the most commonly reported resource for help with finding housing was friends (60 per cent), compared with 13.5 per cent for family and 12.8 per cent for immigrant services

increase the number of affordable housing options that are appropriate for newcomers in terms of size, location, and proximity to amenities ensure settlement funding recognizes housing as critical to settlement and provides adequate resources enhance collaboration and communication between the homeless and settlement sectors to increase joint program design, planning, and service delivery for newcomers

ConsiderCanada.com and CanadaEnTete.com, two new Web sites that provide comprehensive information for global companies considering expansion into North America.

According to the World Economic Forum, Canada has benefited from the soundest banking system in the world for the last three years running. For the eighth consecutive time, KPMG's Competitive Alternatives study finds Canada leading the G7 with the lowest business costs. The C.D. Howe Institute, which studies social and economic policy, also stated that Canada's international reputation as a destination for capital and investment is better than it has been for a generation

Economic development professionals from Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Québec City, Winnipeg, the Waterloo Region, and Saskatoon work together every day to guide international companies to the Canadian city or cities that offer the most strategic fit," says Michael Darch, Executive Director of OCRI's Ottawa Global Marketing team. "ConsiderCanada.com and CanadaEnTete.com are the latest tools at our disposal to bring new opportunities home.

What if, however, you were told most of your mortgage or all of your rent could be paid off instantly, or you could send your kids to a national daycare program? Still bored? Yet that’s exactly what could have happened if Canada didn’t have a productivity gap with the U.S., according to Roger Martin, dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

Canada trails the U.S. in GDP per capita by $9,300. In 1981 that gap was only $2,600. If we got back to the 1981 gap, the average family would see their disposable, after-tax income go up by $8,800, according to the institute, which is the research arm for the task force chaired by Martin.

That would be like having almost all the mortgages and rental payments disappear. It would be like having enough money to pay for a national child-care program and still have enough left over for the biggest tax cut in history

The reaction was that Edmonton's southern "partner" in the oil industry -Calgary -began to attract the head offices of various oil companies, and consequently outside business interests, including American ones.

In the new global economy, however, Edmonton is developing a reputation as the centre of other industries -industries that cannot necessarily be physically located within the downtown core.

David Whitson, a political science professor at the University of Alberta, notes that Edmonton has started to become a high-tech hub, including the pharmaceuticals industry.

Canada's oil patch is scrambling to bring back foreign workers, desperate to avoid a repeat of the labour crunch that clobbered the industry three years ago.

In 2008, oil sands capital spending hit about $18-billion (Canadian). Projections by Calgary-based investment dealer Peters & Co. suggest industry will surpass that level by next year. By 2014, the firm forecasts capital spending will exceed 2008 levels by nearly 25 per cent.

The Alberta government says the province will be short 77,000 workers in the next 10 years. The Petroleum Human Resources Council has predicted up to 130,000 new workers will be needed in the coming decade, both to staff new jobs and replace retirements.

In a sign that labour shortages have returned to Alberta, a major industrial employer launched a hiring campaign Tuesday to attract 9,000 workers in 2011.

Ledcor Industries Inc. has already hired 3,800 workers so far this year.

“Whenever there are quotes about the size of projects, it’s often 50 per cent labour and 50 per cent material,” Walker said.