Canada: 100,000 jobs to Ireland

Two Western Canadian delegations of construction employers were in Ireland Tuesday with offers of as many as 100,000 jobs, a spokeswoman said. The twice-yearly job fair in Dublin attracted a group from the British Columbia Construction Association and Alberta companies, while the second was from Saskatchewan, whose premier, Brad Wall is attending, the Globe and Mail reported. Saskatchewan also paid for federal immigration officials to attend and process applicants. Wall is scheduled to host a reception for applicants Saturday, the Globe said. Abigail Fulton, vice president of the British Columbia Construction Association, told the paper the domestic work force isn't filling the demand for burgeoning projects and Ireland is a natural recruiting source. "We have a construction boom; they have a bust," she said. Ireland went into economic distress four years ago and construction work has fallen by 60 percent since, the newspaper said. The delegations are emphasizing an eighth of Canada's 34 million people have Irish ancestry and the two countries share a common language, the report said.