Hirings
- Lowe's Canada, the home improvement chain, announced plans to hire approximately 2,800 employees for its 54 stores nationwide, in addition to its new locations set to open in Alberta and Ontario. Lowe's is the company that acquired Rona last year.
- The Government of Alberta has announced it will invest $60 million in bioenergies, which will create more than 500 jobs in the province.
- HSG Canada, the technological solutions firm, will hire 170 employees for its call center in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Last year, the latter had shut down its center in the island's capital due to lack of work.
- GE Aviation will create 115 new jobs at its Bromont plant in Québec as part of a $238 million investment project, among which $12 million from Québec government funding.
- CS Communications and Systems Canada will be able to hire 115 new employees and maintain 80 jobs in Montréal, thanks to a $200,000 grant from the Québec government.
Layoffs
- Hydro-Manitoba will eliminate 900 jobs or 15% of its staff, in all of its business sectors. The company which currently has 6,200 employees, will be offering voluntary departures in the spring.
- The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is abolishing 300 public service jobs, in an effort to reduce the province's major debt. Yet, Premier Dwight Ball was elected on the promise of not making any public sector job cuts.
- Pennecon, the engineering services company, has laid off 145 employees at the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric facility, in Labrador. Employees should be rehired in the spring, when weather conditions are more favorable.
- A fire at NorSask Forest Products, in Meadow Lake, has resulted in the layoff of almost half of the employees, that is, 65 people. The company hopes to rehire them at the end of the summer.
- Due to reduced work volume, the Canada Bread Company is shutting down its plant in Saint-Côme-Linière, in the Beauce region, leaving 56 people jobless.