And here begins the mass layoffs

[kal104]

Shaw to downsize workforce, estimates about 650 will accept voluntary packages
The Canadian Press The Canadian Press January 30, 2018

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/ne...182021283.html

I found the following quote from the above article to be interesting.

"Among other updates, Shaw plans to make more use of online and smartphone apps to provide customer support and to provide more self-installed services, the company said."

This raises an interesting issue. Is this downsizing simply due to the planned rollout of new "customer self-help" technology? Or, if this new technology doesn't meet Shaw's "customer service" expectations will they rehire customer service reps via a 3rd party from jurisdictions that have labour costs that are currently lower than in some Canadian provinces (i.e. no $15 minimum wage). This option could include "near shoring" from the USA where many states have lower minimum wages than in parts of Canada (albeit the current US / Canadian currency exchange may not make that an attractive option) or offshoring to the Philippines where labour is cheap but where they can hire individuals with reasonably good spoken English.

On a side note, I find this cost cutting to be quite ironic given the extremely generous company pension given to the late Jim Shaw. When he retired in late 2010 at the age of 53 years old, he received a $495,833 per month pension (almost 6 million dollars per year, or about $16,000 per day) from the company. I'm sure there are many Shaw employees who would love to make in a year what he was able to make in just one week on his company pension. A link to a news article written about this in early 2011 is below, followed by the 1st paragraph of that article (in quotes).

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...article567977/

"As departures go, it was one to remember. In his final act as Western Canada's kingpin of cable, Jim Shaw walked into an Italian restaurant in Vancouver last November for a lunch with a small group of investors. On the menu: drunkenness, with a side of verbal assault. He was inebriated enough, witnesses say, to mock his guests (calling one a "lightweight"), to snap at his fellow Shaw Communications executives in order to get them to shut the hell up, and to turn the affair into a bizarre, awkward occasion."

[Dave]

Shaw to downsize workforce, estimates about 650 will accept voluntary packages
The Canadian Press The Canadian Press January 30, 2018

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/ne...182021283.html

I found the following quote from the above article to be interesting.

"Among other updates, Shaw plans to make more use of online and smartphone apps to provide customer support and to provide more self-installed services, the company said."

This raises an interesting issue. Is this downsizing simply due to the planned rollout of new "customer self-help" technology? Or, if this new technology doesn't meet Shaw's "customer service" expectations will they rehire customer service reps via a 3rd party from jurisdictions that have labour costs that are currently lower than in some Canadian provinces (i.e. no $15 minimum wage). This option could include "near shoring" from the USA where many states have lower minimum wages than in parts of Canada (albeit the current US / Canadian currency exchange may not make that an attractive option) or offshoring to the Philippines where labour is cheap but where they can hire individuals with reasonably good spoken English.

On a side note, I find this cost cutting to be quite ironic given the extremely generous company pension given to the late Jim Shaw. When he retired in late 2010 at the age of 53 years old, he received a $495,833 per month pension (almost 6 million dollars per year, or about $16,000 per day) from the company. I'm sure there are many Shaw employees who would love to make in a year what he was able to make in just one week on his company pension. A link to a news article written about this in early 2011 is below, followed by the 1st paragraph of that article (in quotes).

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...article567977/

"As departures go, it was one to remember. In his final act as Western Canada's kingpin of cable, Jim Shaw walked into an Italian restaurant in Vancouver last November for a lunch with a small group of investors. On the menu: drunkenness, with a side of verbal assault. He was inebriated enough, witnesses say, to mock his guests (calling one a "lightweight"), to snap at his fellow Shaw Communications executives in order to get them to shut the hell up, and to turn the affair into a bizarre, awkward occasion."

They are closing a number of call centres and consolidating them in Victoria, so it does not seem to be all about minimum wage. Some of the Wind/Freedom do it yourself stuff works ok, perhaps they are expanding its use.

I never thought much of Jim Shaw especially after they moved their HQ Calgary, but he's gone now so not much more I want to say about him. I think he was a good business person but he could have been less brash but i suppose that was part of his character. His brother doesn't seem to have the rough edges. Shaw service used to be fairly Good, but I've noticed the quality is not as good now. I think it's a lie the executives tell themselves that the customers won't notice but they do.

[H.L.]

Boy, that's a lot of jobs! never mind, lots if green jobs around.

[ctzn-Ed]

Shaw gets what they deserve. They turned their nose at us when we made them who they are. It's their and Calgary's problem now and thank goodness!

[ctzn-Ed]

Speaking of technology that may jeopardize thousands of job, Global news announced a few minutes ago that Suncor is doing a trial on automated heavy haulers over the Steepbank area at their base plant. If this works out, there goes thousands of jobs for the entire oilsands. Thanks America as they pretty much have strangel on the oilsand now.

FYI: For those that are not familiar with the base plant layout, the site l has a river running through it; on the West side is the processing area and, across the river, the east side is primarily mining with a few small plants.

[envaneo]

And it's all the NDP's fault!

I'm not sure about the exact numbers but during the last election 95% of this board was all ra, ra Notley. Oh isn't she great? She's from Edmonton, "We're going to stick it to the 40 years of PC rule at last," Those were the battle cries of this board during Notley's campaign winning speech.

So you have only yourselves to blame for voting her in. I'd give Notley so far a 3.5 out of 5. And I was Jim Prentice guy, so there you go.

[H.L.]

And it's all the NDP's fault!

I'm not sure about the exact numbers but during the last election 95% of this board was all ra, ra Notley. Oh isn't she great? She's from Edmonton, "We're going to stick it to the 40 years of PC rule at last," Those were the battle cries of this board during Notley's campaign winning speech.

So you have only yourselves to blame for voting her in. I'd give Notley so far a 3.5 out of 5. And I was Jim Prentice guy, so there you go.

☺😊🌷

[Gemini]

And it's all the NDP's fault!

I'm not sure about the exact numbers but during the last election 95% of this board was all ra, ra Notley. Oh isn't she great? She's from Edmonton, "We're going to stick it to the 40 years of PC rule at last," Those were the battle cries of this board during Notley's campaign winning speech.

So you have only yourselves to blame for voting her in. I'd give Notley so far a 3.5 out of 5. And I was Jim Prentice guy, so there you go.

This board was never 95% Notley. Sure there are a fair share of SJW posting but 95% is OTT. I'm sure there are a fair number of them posting that would have been pretty happy if the P C's had of stayed in power.

[ctzn-Ed]

How is it the NDP's fault? Im a Liberal, and recall the Tories fattening their wallets and purse at our expenses and they're still considered darlings. Norway's legacy fund is closing the 300 billion; why is our heritage savings- in today's dollar less than the 80s when we sat at 16 billion dollars. Naturally, you conservatives will blame the NDP for that as well; this is such a North American mentality where one does wrong but has no shame to blame others for a problem they created. Those damn NDP and their frivolous cost of that penthouse for Alison Redford and daughter. How dare they they wasted tax payers money like that before they got into power.

[KC]

Layoffs will continue hitting oilsands in 2018 | Fort McMurray Today
January 1, 2018

“...In a December interview, Tim McMillan, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, argued federal and provincial regulations had not quelled any fears and uncertainties investors had towards Alberta's oil industry following the global crash in oil prices in late 2014.

The thousands of layoffs that hit the oilsands in 2017 will continue into 2018, said McMillan.

A slowdown in construction following the completion of some projects, or the cancellation of others such as TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline, means future layoffs in that field as well.

...”

http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/201...s-in-2018-capp

Oilers Entertainment Group lays off 30 people to focus on core business
Gordon Kent

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loca...-core-business

[Drumbones]

How is it the NDP's fault? Im a Liberal, and recall the Tories fattening their wallets and purse at our expenses and they're still considered darlings. Norway's legacy fund is closing the 300 billion; why is our heritage savings- in today's dollar less than the 80s when we sat at 16 billion dollars. Naturally, you conservatives will blame the NDP for that as well; this is such a North American mentality where one does wrong but has no shame to blame others for a problem they created. Those damn NDP and their frivolous cost of that penthouse for Alison Redford and daughter. How dare they they wasted tax payers money like that before they got into power.

Havnt you heard, Alberta is not a country, only a province of a country. Many billions of dollars come out of Alberta in equalization and royalties to other provinces and Ottawa each year. As a province of Canada we would not be allowed to stash a fortune away. Likely any savings over 20B would then be forwarded to the federal government of Canada, our country. If we were an independant nation and monies leaving to Ottawa had been stashed since Leduc #1 in 1947 our savings account would be very large too. Being a province of Canada we must share with the have nots, Quebec, and the federal systems and social structures. Versteen?

[envaneo]

In Alberta we have the Heritage Trust fund:

http://www.finance.alberta.ca/business/ahstf/index.html

[Drumbones]

haha We all know that of course but people are always saying we should have 300B in there like Norway and I am just trying to explain why we don't. 😢 I think Norways oil fund is now over a trillion dollars though

[kkozoriz]

If Alberta was using the Heritage Fund to invest in projects throughout the country, the Feds would be overjoyed if it was much larger than it is now. The idea that the Feds won't allow it to grow past it's current size is a lie that Ralph came up with so he could divert royalties to general revenue.

[KC]

Ralph?

What happened to Alberta’s cash stash: The life and death of the province’s rainy-day fund - The Globe and Mail

“In 1987 Premier Don Getty put a stop to the transfers and subsequent governments have spent largely all of Alberta’s energy revenues. Despite strong investment returns and some small top-ups, the fund’s value has essentially flat-lined.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ticle24191018/

Nelson: There’s no winning with our rainy day fund | Calgary Herald

fund

Chris Nelson, For The Calgary Herald, July 24, 2017




“It’s been three decades, but some things stick and I’m sure that was close to Getty’s exact words.

Six months later, Getty halted the annual depositing of a percentage of energy resource revenue into the fund — 15 per cent of royalties then, although it had been double that initially in 1976. Soon enough we were taking money out.

Of course, there was more to that decision than the advice of some Quebec politician. By 1987 Alberta was going through a bust that inevitably follows any boom, so this ‘temporary’ measure of halting inflows was announced. Yeah, sure, wasn’t income tax supposed to be temporary as well?

So, adjusting for inflation, in the mid-80s, the Heritage Savings Trust Fund was worth about $11,000 for every Albertan. Today, it’s worth a tad more than $4,000. ...”

First, if I win the lottery, I’m getting the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) to look after my newly arrived loot. That would be the arms-length bunch who’ve been administering the fund for many years — one of those rare wise decisions this province took, although the current lot are nibbling around the edges with their own picking-winners program.

OK, so the very good news? These overseers blew the doors off, managing an annual return close to 11 per cent. That resulted in more than $2 billion poured into the government’s general coffers in the last financial year.

Yep, that bountiful return was sucked into the maw and, poof, now it’s gone. The fund did hang onto about $182 million as inflation proofing, meaning we have $17.5 billion in various investments remaining. Current...”


http://calgaryherald.com/opinion/col...rainy-day-fund

Bolding mine

[kkozoriz]

And Peter Lougheed is rolling over in his grave.

[PunjabiOil]

Apparently Enbridge's finance team consolidating to Calgary - loss of 100-150 positions.

[KC]

And Peter Lougheed is rolling over in his grave.

Well his family story was a great teacher.


Lougheed House - Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lougheed_House

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loug...seExternal.png

[H.L.]

Apparently Enbridge's finance team consolidating to Calgary - loss of 100-150 positions.

Never fear, Notley said there will be thousands of green jobs!

[Dave]

Apparently Enbridge's finance team consolidating to Calgary - loss of 100-150 positions.

Never fear, Notley said there will be thousands of green jobs!

I went back through this forum and it seems to have been very quiet for the last 3 months - so much for all the mass layoffs. What happened to that?

I think the 30 layoffs cited yesterday and the 150 above are just part of the normal pattern of business adjusting things and not attributable to any economic downturn and I don't think anyone is blaming these on the provincial government.

The unemployment rate is actually coming down in Alberta and jobs are being added -Edmonton's unemployment rate has come down considerably, but I don't think there is any forum that cites the jobs being added, only the negative seems to get the attention and coverage.

For those of you that thrive on doom and gloom, the sky is not falling - really!

[KC]

This isn’t too active either:

Layoffs and Downsizing News, Articles & Images | Calgary Herald
http://calgaryherald.com/tag/layoffs-and-downsizing

[H.L.]

Apparently Enbridge's finance team consolidating to Calgary - loss of 100-150 positions.

Never fear, Notley said there will be thousands of green jobs!

I went back through this forum and it seems to have been very quiet for the last 3 months - so much for all the mass layoffs. What happened to that?

I think the 30 layoffs cited yesterday and the 150 above are just part of the normal pattern of business adjusting things and not attributable to any economic downturn and I don't think anyone is blaming these on the provincial government.

The unemployment rate is actually coming down in Alberta and jobs are being added -Edmonton's unemployment rate has come down considerably, but I don't think there is any forum that cites the jobs being added, only the negative seems to get the attention and coverage.

For those of you that thrive on doom and gloom, the sky is not falling - really!

People have no EI left, they aren't counted! We had 700 jobs last month, whoopie! FYI, lots of people In Calgary that were laid off, left AB, God I can't think why??

[KC]

Apparently Enbridge's finance team consolidating to Calgary - loss of 100-150 positions.

Never fear, Notley said there will be thousands of green jobs!

I went back through this forum and it seems to have been very quiet for the last 3 months - so much for all the mass layoffs. What happened to that?

I think the 30 layoffs cited yesterday and the 150 above are just part of the normal pattern of business adjusting things and not attributable to any economic downturn and I don't think anyone is blaming these on the provincial government.

The unemployment rate is actually coming down in Alberta and jobs are being added -Edmonton's unemployment rate has come down considerably, but I don't think there is any forum that cites the jobs being added, only the negative seems to get the attention and coverage.

For those of you that thrive on doom and gloom, the sky is not falling - really!

People have no EI left, they aren't counted! We had 700 jobs last month, whoopie! FYI, lots of people In Calgary that were laid off, left AB, God I can't think why??

Because we didn’t plan for oil or gas prices to fall and wipe out thousands of jobs. Why we didn’t plan for a rainy day, I don’t know.

[kkozoriz]

Because we didn’t plan for oil or gas prices to fall and wipe out thousands of jobs. Why we didn’t plan for a rainy day, I don’t know.

RalphBucks, diverting royalty payments to general revenue and tax cuts.

[envaneo]

And then there's the 180 job losses over the recent city dealership scandal.

[Glenco]

So, why is it that almost half of Albertans doubt an objective, empirical fact?
As Tombe points out, partisanship plays a role.
Among UCP supporters, 32 per cent say they think the economy is starting to recover.
For supporters of either the Alberta Party or the Alberta Liberal Party, it's 47 per cent.
And among NDP supporters, 70 per cent believe in the recovery.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4655284?__twitter_impression=true

[popo]

Apparently Enbridge's finance team consolidating to Calgary - loss of 100-150 positions.

Sucks for Edmonton when one of the largest private employers downsizes and reloactes to Calgary. Part of the trend of the past 40 years I guess.Sure they are energy related jobs, but as Finance positions the city loses the ability to have a large workforce of that background and give people different employers to chose between. I imagine the loss makes our city's brain pool smaller, and harder to attract other companies. It makes sense for Enbridge. Cheap office space in Calgary; consolidation; and a much larger talent pool (after all the O&G layoffs) of Finance staff to draw from.

[Glenco]

Goes to prove how fragile our downtown business cluster is and yet there are people locally who are trying to pull it apart.

[The_Cat]

Sad to see that people don't check the facts any more.

[KC]

Sad to see that people don't check the facts any more.

Not sad. It shows that people are both highly adaptive to change and success orientated. The politicians have led the way and people are quickly learning to discard crazy notions of reason and any compuksion to say things that have basis or grounding in accepted reality or {name your basis}.

Civility has been tossed aside too.

[PunjabiOil]

The individual who shared this information is now backtracking. It's now not 100-150 positions in Edmonton moving to Calgary - now the narrative is, 1,500 positions worldwide, and about 90 layoffs in Finance (~30 each in Edmonton, Calgary, and Houston).

Much different. Not too sure I entirely trust it now. Solid guy though, who has no reason to lie.

Maybe someone at Enbridge could confirm.

[Dave]

The individual who shared this information is now backtracking. It's now not 100-150 positions in Edmonton moving to Calgary - now the narrative is, 1,500 positions worldwide, and about 90 layoffs in Finance (~30 each in Edmonton, Calgary, and Houston).

Much different. Not too sure I entirely trust it now. Solid guy though, who has no reason to lie.

Maybe someone at Enbridge could confirm.

Sometimes the figures change for whatever reason. The corporate office for Enbridge moved from Edmonton to Calgary many years ago, so this is not what is happening here. I know someone who worked there at that time and Enbridge was really pressing him and I think a lot of other long time Edmonton employees to move to Calgary then. He and his family were happy here so he declined the offer, as I think many other long term Edmonton employees did. I think it set back his career a bit temporarily, but in a while he seemed to continue his rise up the ranks until he retired a few years ago. I actually think he probably ended up doing better than if he moved to Calgary.

[KC]

[FONT="]So, why is it that almost half of Albertans doubt an objective, empirical fact?[/FONT]
[FONT="]As Tombe points out, partisanship plays a role.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Among UCP supporters, 32 per cent say they think the economy is starting to recover.[/FONT]
[FONT="]For supporters of either the Alberta Party or the Alberta Liberal Party, it's 47 per cent.[/FONT]
[FONT="]And among NDP supporters, 70 per cent believe in the recovery.[/FONT]

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4655284?__twitter_impression=true

So far, we seem to have avoided a replay of the 1980s problems caused by that dip in oil prices.


From 2016:

Varcoe: Miserable Alberta recession no match for '80s upheaval

Chris Varcoe, Calgary Herald
Published on: April 5, 2016

“Alberta’s housing situation has been hit, but interest rates remain much lower today than the early 1980s, when the prime rate topped 21 per cent.

“Alberta’s economy was not nearly as large or as sophisticated, and we are more diversified today than we were 30 years ago,” Hirsch says. “I don’t think we’ll see the tsunami of mortgage defaults, and that’s what we saw in the 1980s.”

University of Calgary economist Herb Emery agrees the current downturn doesn’t have the acute housing pain of the 1980s, when thousands of people saw the value of their homes evaporate. Between 1981 and 1985, house prices in Calgary fell by more than 30 per cent.

“The amount of suffering in the 1981-82 recession was just severe,” says Emery. “There’s no comparison to the 1980s.”

...”


http://calgaryherald.com/business/en...r-80s-upheaval

Alberta recession one of the most severe ever, TD Economics report finds | CBC News
John Gibson · CBC News · Posted: Jul 18, 2016

“By contrast, the job losses in 1982-83 were twice the magnitude and the combined effect of that decade's two downturns kept Alberta's unemployment rate near 10 per cent until almost 1990.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...cast-1.3684056

[KC]

Where’s the specific Transmountain layoff news?

8,000 job losses are being reported in the media as a done deal.




https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex...-crisis-gender

Rex Murphy: Relax. Trudeau is busily solving our most urgent energy crisis: Gender
Rex Murphy
September 7, 2018

[howie]

https://saskatchewanherald.com/2018/...-falls-behind/

[KC]

https://saskatchewanherald.com/2018/...-falls-behind/

Doesn’t matter one hoot.

A whole lot of people still want to SEE austerity measures being taken to government spending during tough times and then massive catch up spending at higher costs when times are good. That’s just how it is, as it aligns with their manic depressive nature.


Alta Cuts Deficit, Adds 33,000 Jobs in 12 Months, while Sask Falls Behind

https://saskatchewanherald.com/2018/...-falls-behind/


Excerpt:

“Economists have noted that the Alberta Government’s refusal to engage in an austerity approach has improved the position of the province, by maintaining employment, and keeping income tax revenue stable through the crash. In contrast, Saskatchewan’s austerity approach has seen a near-doubling of the unemployment rate, and the highest number of unemployed in Saskatchewan history.”

[Marcel Petrin]

It's odd that the article used debt to GDP ratios, and not deficits, which is more relevant in that context.

[envaneo]

And Scott Hills plant is up and running. What are we going to do with all that oil if we can't get it out of the Province?

[H.L.]

And Scott Hills plant is up and running. What are we going to do with all that oil if we can't get it out of the Province?

Not a damn thing!

[DanC]

And Scott Hills plant is up and running. What are we going to do with all that oil if we can't get it out of the Province?

Fort Hills.

[envaneo]

And Scott Hills plant is up and running. What are we going to do with all that oil if we can't get it out of the Province?

Not a damn thing!

Most likely. At the table Thursday, we we're just talking about this. Colleagues of mine worked at this plant. And this plant wants to increase production?

[OffWhyte]

Where’s the specific Transmountain layoff news?

8,000 job losses are being reported in the media as a done deal.




https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex...-crisis-gender

Rex Murphy: Relax. Trudeau is busily solving our most urgent energy crisis: Gender
Rex Murphy
September 7, 2018

That 8,000 number is fake news.

Here's what TransMountain themselves had to say about job losses:

According to Trans Mountain officials, more than 2,000 people now work on the project. By the middle of next year, that number was expected to grow to 5,000.

No one has been laid off because of the ruling. But job losses are expected in the weeks ahead.

“Right now we are working on how to ramp down the different construction sites that were already underway,” said Trans Mountain spokesman Ali Hounsell.

“In terms of how many people are going to be out of work as a direct result is not clear at this point.”

Source: https://calgaryherald.com/business/l...-left-in-limbo


The 8,000 figure seems to come from what one nameless "pipeliner" told Brian Zinchuk for the pipelinenews.ca blog--hardly a reliable source. This invented-on-the-spot figure was then propagated by numerous blogs, troll factories, and even Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs. Of course Ms. Stubbs herself could do nothing to counter the point that the number was just pulled out of thin air:

Ms. Stubbs claimed the project’s halt is costing 8,000 direct jobs, but she gave no indication where the number came from.

Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...rans-mountain/


Now Rex Murphy has gotten hold of that figure and slipped it past the editors at the National Post without any fact checking. He should be ashamed of himself.

[H.L.]

Our nephew was laid off. He might go back to BC

[envaneo]

Wait for it, Trudeau will get TMP back on track during the election campaing. The election is just about a year away He better not sleep on this because it could also bite him in the, ahem..end. He's got Nafta and other issues to be concerned with.

[ctzn-Ed]

And Scott Hills plant is up and running. What are we going to do with all that oil if we can't get it out of the Province?

That is why the government bought the pipe line. The pipeline will be a go; why do we think the certain interest group fought the " we weren't consulted angle." That is as much of a nibble on a bone as they will get imo. The government has the " National interest" Trump card.