But as domestic and foreign workers alike return to Canmore and Banff this winter, an age-old obstacle remains: As housing costs in the Rockies continue to escalate, where are employees going to live?The Job Resource Centre’s annual winter hiring fair is being held Thursday — from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Cascade Shops in Banff — bringing together job-seekers with recruiters from more than a dozen of the Bow Valley’s biggest companies.
The next issue of Calgary Sun Headline News will soon be in your inbox.“There are always some last-minute positions that still need to be filled,” Lankhuijzen said, referencing the ski resorts. “From what we’re hearing, they’re overall in good shape. They just have a handful of positions still left in different departments.”As one of Canada’s biggest tourist hot spots, the Bow Valley faces unique challenges when recruiting seasonal workers.
“It is very expensive and very limited, especially in towns like Banff, where we’re constricted by being in a national park,” she said. “That being said, lots of employers are close to capacity for staff housing,” she said. “They don’t have the vacancy they might have had in years prior.”For a large-scale entity like Banff Sunshine Village and Ski Resort, the biggest challenge isn’t finding enough workers, but determining where they’re going to live.
“It is much tighter than it has been in previous years,” she said. “Housing in the Bow Valley is something that is a restraint and it hinders a lot of our year-round positions.”That’s a sentiment shared by other business owners and tourism-sector representatives in the area. Andrew Shepherd, general manager of The Malcolm Hotel in Canmore, said any labour shortage the Bow Valley experiences is directly tied to the region’s housing unaffordability.