Province now accepting applications for 'Alberta is Calling' moving bonus

Brendan Coulter · CBC News

· Posted: May 01, 2025 4:44 PM EDT | Last Updated: 14 minutes ago

The Alberta authorities is offering to screen moving costs for up to 2,000 skilled tradespeople who settled successful the state past year, arsenic portion of its "Alberta is Calling" campaign.

On Thursday, applications opened for a $5,000 moving bonus, disposable to those who arrived betwixt May 1 and Dec. 31, 2024.

The archetypal 2,000 applicants from a database of eligible occupations — including craft mechanics and operation labourers — will person a one-time, refundable taxation credit. 

To qualify, applicants indispensable beryllium moving afloat clip and beryllium either a Canadian national oregon a imperishable resident.

The programme falls abbreviated of what the United Conservative Party promised during the 2023 provincial predetermination campaign.

At that time, enactment person Danielle Smith pledged a $1,200 outgo to health-care and child-care workers on with skilled tradespeople, nether a $17-million program, arsenic portion of a broader occupation and economical maturation strategy. 

When announcing the programme successful March 2024, Alberta's Jobs, Economy and Trade Minister Matt Jones defended the changes, saying the state talked to manufacture and did different owed diligence earlier settling connected parameters. 

Industry groups praise program, accidental much is needed

More than a twelvemonth aft the programme was announced, the shortage of skilled commercialized workers successful Alberta is inactive "quite significant," according to Business Council of Alberta president Adam Legge.

He added the occupation could get worse implicit the coming years, with 700,000 skilled trades retirements expected crossed Canada by 2028.

"Every 1 of my members that employs skilled trades is facing a shortage, and that is everything from aviation needing craft mechanics, it's car dealerships … everything from carpenters, framers, plumbers, electricians," said Legge. 

"I don't cognize of a azygous manufacture that is saying, 'Hey, we're OK close now.' They're each successful an acute shortage, which is truly expanding the contention to get immoderate of these constricted accomplishment trades talent," said Legge. 

Incentive programs designed to pull much workers are effective, helium added, but much are needed. 

"Thankfully the inclination is improving, but it's specified a big, large undersupply that it volition instrumentality immoderate time," helium said. "We request a full big of solutions to the problem."

Data from Statistics Canada suggests advancement is occurring erstwhile it comes to the operation assemblage workforce. 

Alberta's operation occupation vacancy complaint was 4.1 per cent successful the 4th fourth of 2024, down 1.4 percent points from a twelvemonth earlier.

But Calgary Construction Association president Bill Black says a deficiency of workers is inactive affecting decisions successful the sector. 

"It's going to bounds the magnitude of enactment you tin perpetrate to, due to the fact that if you tally retired of labour and you can't perform, past you person a existent problem," helium said. "It whitethorn besides summation the outgo of labour due to the fact that you whitethorn commencement to spot radical poaching each other's workers."
 
Black said the relocation bonus is simply a "step successful the close direction," but he's calling for much manufacture engagement successful provincial decision-making and a broad strategy created to code the workforce shortages. 

In a statement, Jones said the state is expanding apprenticeship opportunities, fast-tracking overseas credential recognition, and investing successful grooming grants for skilled trades workers.

Alberta does not way the occupations of caller residents, but wide the state added 168,221 residents from the archetypal 4th of 2024 to the archetypal 4th of 2025, according to StatsCan data.

Last year, the state added 36,082 residents done interprovincial migration.