[Mining Sector] Labour-short Oz poaching Canucks – by Michael Madigan (Winnipeg Free Press – May 20, 2011)

Michael Madigan is the Winnipeg Free Press correspondent in Australia. He writes about politics for the Brisbane-based Courier Mail.

They’ve ravaged Calgary and pillaged Edmonton, and Canadians can be sure to see a whole lot more of them in the years ahead. Australian mining companies are turning corporate Vikings as they grow increasingly desperate for what has become a rare and precious resource — skilled labour.

That Canadian mining companies also resemble Norse seafarers in their own desperation to feed the insatiable appetite of Canada’s resource sector doesn’t faze the Australians.

The Australian organizer of a recent jobs fair in Canada, Rupert Merrick, says the globe’s booming energy sector is crying out for skilled workers, and all is fair in love and war.

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