Upwards of 700 businesses attend Site C networking sessions

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – More than 700 businesses attended sessions in Northern B.C. along with the thousands of job applicants who turned up to Site C job fairs locally and in the rest of the Province, says BC Hydro.

Events were held in Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson, Fort St. John, Mackenzie, Prince George, Quesnel and Tumbler Ridge. As reported earlier, over 5,000 people applied for jobs on Site C at all the fairs combined.

Peace River North MLA Pat Pimm has been pushing for local work on the Site C project, and says he knows that Fort St. John has a highly skilled workforce and talented business community.

“With more than 1,400 people attending the Fort St. John job fair and 240 businesses participating in the business networking session, the contractors for Site C now have first-hand knowledge of what the community can contribute to the project,” he ssaid.

Peace River South MLA Mike Bernier said over 1,500 job seekers and over 250 businesses attended the job fairs and business networking sessions in Dawson Creek and Chetwynd, combined.

BC Hydro was joined at the sessions by some of the contractors working on the Site C project, including Peace River Hydro Partners, ATCO Two Rivers Lodging, along with companies providing site preparation and security services.

Peace River Hydro Partners received the contract for Main Civil Works, and ATCO is completing construction and operation of Site C worker lodge.

Representatives from local chambers of commerce, employment agencies, the Industry Training Authority, Northern Lights College and the BC Construction Association’s Skilled Trades Employment Program also participated.

“The purpose of the job fairs and business sessions is to facilitate local employment and contract opportunities on Site C construction,” said President and CEO of BC Hydro Jessica McDonald.

“We want to make sure that local and Aboriginal businesses and workers have every opportunity to benefit from this project.”

Although the latest round of the job fairs and business sessions have been completed, people interested in jobs on Site C construction are encouraged to apply directly to the companies working on the project online through workBC, Employment Connections, and at Site C’s website.

Businesses interested in working on the Site C project are encouraged to register with the Site C Business Directory, register with BC Bid, to receive information about Site C procurements, and to monitor Site C’s website for business opportunities.

BC Hydro says the construction of Site C will create 10,000 person-years of direct construction employment over the eight years of construction — and amount in approximately 33,000 person-years of total employment through all stages of development and construction.

“We received several thousand resumes and are in the process of reviewing them,” Ardith Brule, Human Resources Director for Peace River Hydro Partners, said. “There are a lot of good candidates that we will interview in the coming weeks to fill various labour and management positions.”

Peace River Hydro Partners alone will require 600 workers by early summer of this year, before peaking at 1,500 workers in 2018.

Construction of the $9-billion project started last July, and will be completed in 2024.