The Great Game

I love this headline:

Go west in the great Canada oil rush of '07

It is from a Guardian article about a ad campaign to recruit workers for Alberta.

[Canada]* has launched a campaign to attract 100,000 new citizens in an appeal reminiscent of the great colonial migrations of the middle of the 20th century.

Canada is the only developed country with a mass immigration policy. Imagine politicians in the States or Europe pushing a policy like this. And then try to imagine that the local media not caring about this story. That is Canada for you, the most pro-immigrant country in the world.

Workers and their families from scientists and machinists to doctors and carers are being urged to move to the province of Alberta to help cope with the demand for jobs fuelled by the oil boom. Canada already takes in about 250,000 immigrants a year - about 1 per cent of the population - but the opening of massive oil sands in the western province means that even that boost cannot meet surging demand for specialist and support jobs.

* spelling mistake in the Guardian