The Canadiana Backpackers Inn, Toronto
The statement “Go West young man; go West.” was made during the last century by Horace Greely, an editor and publisher who founded? both? the New Yorker Magazine and the New York Tribune Newspaper. He was adomonishing young adventurers to seek their fortunes in the wild west.
In our hostel, quite a few young people have arrived here with year-long work visas. These are easily available under reciprocal agreement with their home country.
Today history is seemingly repeating itself given the current economic boom in Western Canada. It has been said (quite accurately) that certain MacDonald’s franchises in Calgary have been forced to suspend? some of their? shifts due to the lack of workers to man the counters. In Toronto a MacDonald’s worker would earn “minumum wage” or about $8 per hour. In Calgary, that could conceivably almost double to as much as $15 per hour. I am told that in Fort McMurry that it could rise to as high as $18.
Why? I suppose that our shameful dependence on fossil fuels has a lot to do with it. It is a little known fact that western Canada contains eight times the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia – the majority of which lies in the vast oil sands of northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories.?
The result of the booming economy in Western Canada is so many jobs to be had; so few workers available to fill them.