Hopeful workers attend first job fair for long-awaited Corner Brook hospital

Local hopefuls came out to a Corner Brook job fair for the workers needed to build the city's long-awaited new hospital — and the companies involved say they hope to hire as many of those locals as possible.

"We understand that it's very important for the local community to look at some job opportunities, so if that's important for the local community it's important for us, and we're going to spare no effort to make sure that opportunities are there," said Ferdinand Bakalli, project director of the PCL-Marco Group joint venture.

PCL-Marco Group was just one of the involved companies at the fair, which attracted people from a variety of trades and fields in hopes of making connections and hopefully scoring a job on the $750-million hospital project. The contract for that project was awarded in June to Corner Brook Health Partnership, made up of the Plenary Group, PCL Constructors Canada, Marco Services and Johnson Controls Canada.

"It's a great opportunity for anybody who's a skilled labourer or equipment operator or many other things, so why not come out and give it a try?" said Sheldon Hatcher, who added the project represented an opportunity for him to stay home with his wife and two young children instead of travelling to Alberta to work for half the year.

"It kills, you know," he said of spending May through November away working. "I don't get to come home, no breaks, no turnarounds. I'm in the bush and that's it."

There will be two or three years of work on the project, which is a great opportunity for local workers who often have to head west for employment, said Gerry Sharpe, project manager for a partnership between N.L.'s Cahill Group and the Ontario-based Plan Group, which will be working on the hospital.

Hiring as many local workers like Hatcher as possible is a goal for the Cahill-Plan partnership, he said, adding the turnout was great. There were people of various experience levels, and there can be a place for all of them on the project, he said.

'Everybody deserves an opportunity'

"Everybody deserves an opportunity to get in and develop their skill sets."

Sharpe said he was especially pleased to see people from the College of the North Atlantic attending, and said there are opportunities on the project for workers just beginning their careers as well as for those with more experience.

"It's great to get some people straight out of school, and you can really help them set up their skill sets properly moving forward," he said.

Not all of the hopeful job seekers who attended the fair were in the skilled trades. Vicki O'Neill, an interior designer in Corner Brook who moved back home after 15 years living elsewhere, went to the job fair because she hopes she can continue to stay in the province.

"I know that the design is mostly done but I'm hoping that there's other positions," O'Neill said.

"I'd like to get involved with such a big project in my home community."

A second job fair for the hospital project is planned for the new year.

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