We noticed them as soon as we got into Western Canada. In Altona, Manitoba, the first little Canadian town we got into after we crossed back  from the US we saw a few of them. As we moved west through Manitoba, there were more of them.

All through Saskatchewan there were more, a lot more.

In Alberta, they are everywhere. The biggest sign at any  business is of course, the name and logo of the company. The second biggest on almost every business, large or small says “Help Wanted.”

Some are much more creative, some, amazingly so. The message is loud and clear, if you do business in western Canada your biggest nightmare is hiring and keeping competent people.

If you have friends or relatives unhappy in their jobs or unhappy because they don’t have a job at all, do them a big favor, just tell them to go West.

In Western Canada there is opportunity for them all.

Usually by the middle of October here in northen Alberta, winter is starting to settle in. The fall colors have been replaced with skiffs on snow and the North Saskatchewan river, pictured here as it meanders through the heart of Edmonton, is starting to ice over. Not this year though. While it dipped down to freezing last night, by early afternoon today it was 12 degrees (mid 50′s) and that’s a pattern that is forecast for every day for the next week.