I live in Edmonton, Alberta and my Uncle (Paul Guthrie) drilled the first independent well in the Leduc Oil field in the 1950's. Our province has been blessed with an abundance of oil not just in the Leduc Oil field but the tar sands in northern Alberta have created a building and mining boom that has depleted provincial and Canada's human resources to the breaking point.

Alberta and Federal Government Team Up to Shore Up Worker Deficit

CBC reports that the Alberta Government has developed a strategy to bring 86,000 extra people into the workforce over the next 10 years.

The idea is to recruit skilled workers related to construction and engineering in that field. I have also heard that companies like Tim Hortons and Tyson Foods are also working with the Feds and Alberta to participate in the same program.

In an MSNBC story, Dick Bond, Tyson's new president and chief executive, said the company was working with the Alberta authorities. "We are going to four countries throughout the world to try and get the plants staffed," he told analysts on Monday.

"You walk down the street in Edmonton and there are 'help wanted" signs everywhere," said Joanne Hall at the commercial division of Alberta's ministry of agriculture, food and rural development. She said the temporary foreign worker program would apply to skilled and unskilled staff, though there are no fixed targets for overseas recruitment.

I can attest to the proliferation of "for hire" signs everywhere. Wendy's has full color 4' X 8' signs in front of their restaurants with a the slogan "Discover the Difference."

Small business owners need to get creative in recruiting and attracting workers. be prepared to renovate your policies and benefits including increased pay rates, flexible work hours, and special incentives. Treat your recruiting, training, and retention strategy as important as you would your marketing and sales efforts.

Background on the Alberta Oilsands

Wired Magazine has an article that states Alberta's oil rivals that of Middle East reserves. Wikipedia also has an extensive informatio here.

Alberta sits atop the biggest petroleum deposit outside the Arabian peninsula - as many as 300 billion recoverable barrels and another trillion-plus barrels that could one day be within reach using new retrieval methods. (By contrast, the entire Middle East holds an estimated 685 billion barrels that are recoverable.) But there's a catch. Alberta's black gold isn't the stuff that geysered up from Jed Clampett's backyard. It's more like a mix of Silly Putty and coffee grounds - think of the tar patties that stick to the bottom of your sandals at the beach - and it's trapped beneath hundreds of feet of clay and rock.