There is an effort underway locally to attract laid off Oshawa GM workers.
Councillor Mike Anthony told BayToday that he believes North Bay is an attractive alternative for the families, and they could help solve some the labour shortages being experienced by companies unable to fill available skilled jobs here.
"We've got employers here that are screaming for skilled tradespeople," explained Anthony. "And we haven't been able to find them locally. These employers could be doing more if they had full workforces in place."
The plant’s closing will toss more than 2,500 employees out of work, but if you include the jobs affected in the Canadian auto-sector workforce, that number balloons to 15,000 working for auto-parts suppliers,
"Some of those folks might have the right skill sets to be able to fill those jobs here,"
Anthony thinks local employers and the economy can benefit if some of those workers move north.
"Some of these folk will be surprised to learn about North Bay," says Anthony referring to the misconception the city is too far north.
"When they realize it's only three hours up the road, some of them might come up to work during the week and return during the weekend, but my real hope is that some of these people will see North Bay and realize it's a place you don't need to make as much money, and a house is half to a third of the price. You can be on a beautiful lake in five minutes after work and still be close enough to the big city to go to a ball game on the weekend."
Anthony admits the plan is in the early stages.
He hopes initially that YES Employment can use connections to similar agencies in Oshawa to reach out to laid-off workers and lure one or two hundred who would have the right skill set to come here and fill these jobs.
"We're a winter wonderland of jobs up here and these folks are suffering and out of work."
Ian Kilgour, the city's new Director of Community Development and Growth is on board says Anthony, and is going to look into how the City can help.
"It's an idea worth pursuing, it's not a big cost and it could really help the local community."
