Yellowknife (May 16/05) - A hot southern labour market combined with a lack of skilled Northern tradespeople is behind Diavik's move to provide southern workers with round-trip flights to Edmonton, a company spokesperson says.

"We can't replace all of our tradespeople with Northern tradespeople because they're just not there," said Diavik's Tom Hoefer. The free-flight benefit is "all about retention of the workers we have."

Hoefer called the extra cost of flying back to Edmonton a "disincentive" for southerners who could work elsewhere.

With large projects including the Northern Alberta tar sands, "all of Western Canada is a very hot marketplace for skilled workers," Hoefer said.

Brendan Bell, GNWT minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, acknowledged the trades shortage.

"That's amplified in the North," Bell said.

Programs such as the Aboriginal Skills Employment Program - which involve the federal and territorial governments, as well as the diamond mine operators - may help get more people ready for trades employment, Bell said.

"We see this as a collective responsibility," Bell said of the need to develop the Northern workforce.

And with the lowest unemployment rate in the country, "many people are already working," Bell said, though he acknowledged the need for the GNWT to help get jobs for people within the territories' smaller communities where the unemployment rates are higher.

According to Diavik's Socio-Economic Agreement signed with GNWT, 66 per cent of the company's workforce must be from the North. With 510 of 730 workers currently qualifying as Northern, the company's ratio is at 70 per cent.

The same agreement says the company can only provide flights for workers to southern destinations four years from the start of production.

Bigger pay North

A Statistics Canada report released in early 2004 says the average Northern diamond mine worker earned $61,639 per year from 1998-2001, or 30 per cent more than southern workers in similar positions. However, skilled workers can earn considerably more.

Valued by Hoefer at $250 each, the 11 yearly return charter flights amount to a benefit of $2,750. The company is still trying to determine whether the flights are a taxable benefit.

Since the mine opened in early 2003, Northern workers have been provided with flights to and from the mine site while southern workers have not.

Concerns the new policy may encourage Northern workers to move south are unfounded, Hoefer said.

"If we're starting to see pressure of that kind, then it's something we can address," he said.

Diavik plans to review the free-flight benefit next July.