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Edmonton Companies News & Discussion

To be clear I was in favor of call centres (although centre would be a misnomer in this sense) employing people working from home -- the lower wage would at least be compensatory to working from one's own abode. It would kind of be akin to collecting clicks on the internet. The jobs don't demand a high level of skill.
 
Love it! “A fifth Indian Call Center…..to YYC.” I mean, er, “IT” Compnay. 😂😂

Just read the description of what they do….”provide support to more than 50 companies.” This is the true definition of a call Center. To even enunciate my message, they also have an office in “Moncton.” Moncton, is THE call Center of Canada, but it looks like YYC will take that title. But it’s all under the guise of “IT.”
investalberta.ca

HCLTech opens office in Calgary

HCLTech announced the opening of its office in Calgary, Alberta, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Invest Alberta to advance technology collaboration and innovation in the province.
investalberta.ca investalberta.ca
 
MacLac said:
Love it! “A fifth Indian Call Center…..to YYC.” I mean, er, “IT” Compnay. 😂😂

Just read the description of what they do….”provide support to more than 50 companies.” This is the true definition of a call Center. To even enunciate my message, they also have an office in “Moncton.” Moncton, is THE call Center of Canada, but it looks like YYC will take that title. But it’s all under the guise of “IT.”
investalberta.ca

HCLTech opens office in Calgary

HCLTech announced the opening of its office in Calgary, Alberta, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Invest Alberta to advance technology collaboration and innovation in the province.
investalberta.ca investalberta.ca
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I would still have preferred if we had gotten those jobs. Idc what we call them... Call Centres, IT, Space Janitors... That means jobs for people in need and money circulating in the economy...
 
ChazYEG said:
I would still have preferred if we had gotten those jobs. Idc what we call them... Call Centres, IT, Space Janitors... That means jobs for people in need and money circulating in the economy...
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Agreed. If they pay property taxes and employ residents, bring them in. Getting picky about attracting only certain industries is investing in stagnation and instability.
 
archited said:
Again, we are talking about an industry that is famous for "bait and switch".
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Mind blowing that Smitty had to sign an MOU to get their "5th Indian (Call center) company," to set up a 250 man shop in YYC. She is so desperate to fill up their empty DT...curious to see if these "250 souls" will be local or 250 newly stamped work visas....just saying
 
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MacLac said:
Mind blowing that Smitty had to sign an MOU to get their "5th Indian (Call center) company," to set up a 250 man shop in YYC. She is so desperate to fill up their empty DT...
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This also highlights that the province plays a significant role in bringing business and industry to Alberta's cities. The provincial ministers have the mandate and capacity to do much more national and international travel and business attraction than the cities and councillors.

There isn't even a comment or contact from anyone from the city of Calgary on press release meaning the city likely wasn't involved in actively bringing this company to YYC. But province and Rick Christiaanse, CEO of Invest Alberta (a Calgarian) were.
 
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With the big Big Industrials continuing to leave DT YYC in droves, Conoco for 1,000 souls, Imperial - 900+ souls, WJ - 1800 souls. All they're good for is bringing in warm bodies to fill the 1,000,000's of empty cubicles, handing them a phone and saying, "Thank you for calling (insert name of company, ie, Amex, BofA, Target, Burger King, how many I help you today?"

But don't worry, according to stats - "YYC's fintech employment is up over 64% in NA and leads the way with growth." They sure do lead the way with Call Center growth.
 
MacLac said:
With the big Big Industrials continuing to leave DT YYC in droves, Conoco for 1,000 souls, Imperial - 900+ souls, WJ - 1800 souls. All they're good for is bringing in warm bodies to fill the 1,000,000's of empty cubicles, handing them a phone and saying, "Thank you for calling (insert name of company, ie, Amex, BofA, Target, Burger King, how many I help you today?"

But don't worry, according to stats - "YYC's fintech employment is up over 64% in NA and leads the way with growth." They sure do lead the way with Call Center growth.
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Yup! What’d I’d tell ya! “YYC’s fintech is up 61%.” Haha! I love Glubish trying to spin this as something other than, “the UCP gov’t paying Indian Call Center companies to set up shop in DT YYC to get lease up some of their abandoned real estate.”
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ChazYEG said:
I would still have preferred if we had gotten those jobs. Idc what we call them... Call Centres, IT, Space Janitors... That means jobs for people in need and money circulating in the economy...
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Perhaps a good term is IT adjacent, although maybe that is being too generous. I also suppose they have way more vacant downtown office space to try fill than us, so it wouldn't be the first time desperation was spun as something much more positive.
 
David A said:
Perhaps a good term is IT adjacent, although maybe that is being too generous. I also suppose they have way more vacant downtown office space to try fill than us, so it wouldn't be the first time desperation was spun as something much more positive.
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Are those jobs the greatest? Absolutely not, but no city in Canada, and particularly in Alberta right now, can be shunning thousands of jobs simply because they're not exactly fancy.

Edmonton has a big issue in terms of job market right now, which is having way too many highly specialized jobs. These jobs are amazing if you can get them, and there are plenty of openings, but I was not about to go on two to three years of school again to learn a trade and get a job, at 35 years of age, while unemployed, because the city can't get a grip on attracting other kinds of jobs. I'll just leave for somewhere where I can get one and, like me, there are lots of people out there.

Even worse, there are people who don't even really have that option. My motto is any job is better than no job, as far as this discussion goes.

My other big issue with our biggest complainant is that his constant insinuation that these jobs or companies are any less valuable because they are, specifically, Indian or Chinese, is inherently xenophobic and racist. I wonder if the criticism would be just as big it the companies were American, or Australian, or European...
 
Sorry guys, I am not changing my approach to this and I will ALWAYS flag these "YYC Fintech" posts as I have always done in the past.
 
MacLac said:
Sorry guys, I am not changing my approach to this and I will ALWAYS flag these "YYC Fintech" posts as I have always done in the past.
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I don't think there's a single Edmonton office landlord with empty space to fill that would turn down a call center tenant right now.
 
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