Saskatchewan on recruitment blitz to fill jobs. by Michael McKiernan, National Post

Saskatchewan is backing up its Ontario recruitment drive with a cash inducement of $20,000.
The money will be available to university and college graduates who relocate to the province for at least seven years.
Next week a delegation led by Premier Brad Wall will descend on Toronto, where he will announce further details of the incentive program.
A group of about 25 politicians and business leaders from Saskatchewan, including Pat Fiacco, the Mayor of Regina, will try to sell their province and fill vacant jobs at a series of events on March 31 and April 1.
"It's fair to say there is no area where we aren't looking for people. In the financial sector, health care, construction, in engineering, anything you can think of," said Mr. Fiacco. "The growth in our province has been huge and we still need more people." Saskjobs.ca, a Web site run by the province's career and employment services department, lists more than 6,000 jobs currently available.
The visit comes hot on the heels of last week's tax-cutting surplus budget announcement in the province.
Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer bucked the national downward trend, projecting a surplus of $424.5-million for 2009-10 despite a 12% increase in government spending. Revenue from Saskatchewan's rich supply of natural resources has fueled the economic boom in the last few years.
While oil and gas revenues have taken a hit in the recent downturn, potash has filled the void. The province produces a third of the world's supply of the mineral, which is used to make fertilizer.
Donald Atchison, the Mayor of Saskatoon said he would play up the affordability of life in his city when he makes the trip next week. The average price of homes sold in his city in February was $281,681, $80,000 less than in Toronto, but the Mayor also emphasized that commutes of more than 15 minutes are rare in Saskatoon.
"I hear all the time from people who came out for two years for university or a job relocation and they've ended up staying for a lifetime," he said.
But the challenge of getting people to head west in the first place remains. The province, with a population of about one million, spent about $800,000 on recruitment efforts last year, including a similar mission to Toronto as recently as September, 2008.
Mr. Wall held a reception at the legislature in Regina earlier this month to welcome 86 new families who moved from Ontario since that campaign, but Mr. Atchison hopes the extra cash can tip the balance for those whom he failed to convince last time.
"I think people from Saskatchewan are too humble. They aren't vocal enough about what a great place this is to live. But now the rest of the world is beginning to find out. I think the Premier is doing a great job of promoting us," he said.
In Regina, Mr. Fiacco acknowledges Torontonians may fear losing the amenities of a big city, but he puts that down to ignorance, citing museums, a symphony and theatres he argues are cheaper to attend than in Toronto.

Best Places in Canadian Provinces and Territories

      
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                                  Overall
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       Singles      Mid-Career   Families      Empty-Nesters  Retirees
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   1   Calgary      Ottawa-      Ottawa-       Toronto        Ottawa-
                    Gatineau     Gatineau                     Gatineau
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   2   Iqaluit      Calgary      Toronto       Ottawa-        Toronto
                                               Gatineau
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   3   Ottawa-      Whitehorse   Calgary       Calgary        Calgary
       Gatineau
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   4   Victoria     Yellowknife  Fredericton   Victoria       Victoria
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   5   Yellowknife  Iqaluit      Yellowknife   Canmore        Montreal
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   6   Edmonton     Edmonton     Guelph        Charlottetown  Vancouver
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   7   Guelph       Guelph       Quebec City   Vancouver      Kingston
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   8   Canmore      Victoria     Kingston      Montreal       Quebec City
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   9   Whitehorse   Toronto      Hamilton      Parksville     Guelph
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   10  Montreal     Montreal     Montreal      Kingston       Halifax
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   (*) From Who's Your City? by Richard Florida

Ottawa: favorite city in Canada?

Source:
Ottawa-Gatineau tops in list of favourite cities to live
By Krystle Chow, Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 11:00 AM EST

Click to Enlarge

(Darren Brown)

Popular urban studies theorist Richard Florida has named Ottawa-Gatineau as the best city in Canada for mid-career people, families and retirees to live in, as well as one of the top three cities for singles and empty-nesters, in his latest book.

Mr. Florida – widely cited for his work on the effect of creative and artistic workers on a city's economic development – said in the Canadian edition of his new book, Who's Your City?, that Ottawa-Gatineau is the most attractive place to live in the country for young professionals and families with children, while Calgary gets top billing for singles and recent university graduates. The National Capital Region took third place for the singles category, after Iqaluit.

In the "empty-nesters" group, Toronto was chosen as the top destination, with Ottawa-Gatineau named as the second-best city for that demographic.

The ranking takes into account the percentage of the city's population that fits a particular life stage, the regional economic growth and climate for creativity, talent and tolerance, the amenities and quality of life factors such as arts and culture, and the specific cost of living.

Despite Ottawa-Gatineau's reputation for being a "boring ... bureaucratic town," the city ranked more highly overall than Canada's three largest urban hubs: Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

While Mr. Florida named Toronto as the best city for younger baby boomers whose children have left the family home, as well as the second-best place for families with children and retirees, the city was surprisingly left out of the top 10 best places for singles.

Meanwhile, Mr. Florida's book called Montreal and Vancouver "best buy" locations, with the former cited as the eighth-best city for empty-nesters and only the 10th-best destination for all the other life stages.

Vancouver made an appearance on two of the categories – empty-nesters and retirees – taking seventh and sixth place for each respective demographic. It was outshadowed by the provincial capital Victoria, which was named as the fourth-best location for singles, empty-nesters and retirees, and eighth-best for young professionals.