No day at the beach: Ontario tourist town hard hit by labour shortages
Global News
A seasonal restaurant on the beach in Port Stanley, Ont., is encouraging seniors or retired people to apply as a way of addressing the labour shortage.
A popular beach destination in southwestern Ontario is far from immune to Canada’s labour shortage, but one restaurant is taking a unique approach to try to fill positions.
GT’s On The Beach in Port Stanley, Ont. — about a 40-minute drive south of London — recently posted online that it is looking to hire mature or retired candidates for cleaning and setup.
Andy Gates, who owns GT’s with his wife Carol, told Global News that traditional hiring methods simply weren’t working. He said the business, which runs seasonally from the start of May to late September, begins its hiring process in January and has struggled to fill the cleaning position.
“We thought outside the box and thought, OK, ‘Who can we target who this might be of interest to?’” he explained.
“Instead of looking for somebody full-time, could I get three or four mature people who are looking to find something to do, make a little extra money?”
Jean Vedova, owner of the Kettle Creek Inn, could empathize with the struggle to fill positions. She told Global News she’s ecstatic to reopen the kitchen for May 24 with new chef Nikola Gucanni and sous-chef Sarah Martins, but last year was a different story.
“For the last couple of years, it’s been very difficult to find enough good staff, particularly for the kitchen. That’s a thankless place in order to be able to work,” she explained.
“We were noted for our incredible dining and that’s why last July, when things came crashing down, we really had to just close the kitchen totally because to try to fill that gap was going to be impossible. If it was possibly filled, the worry was that we would not be able to deliver the same product and there would be nothing worse than getting a bad reputation.”
A new witness's testimony became emotional after she named the accused, Michael Smillie, as a high-ranking gang member.
The sudden closure of a major ski resort because of a labour dispute has thrown Quebec's Charlevoix region into uncertainty threatening winter-season revenues for local businesses.
The old order is gone and shouldn’t be mourned, Prime Minister Mark Carney says as President Donald Trump doubles down on his push to take over Greenland.
Last spring, Lyndsay Richholt of Kelowna, B.C., was given six months to live without a liver transplant.
'He engaged earnestly, with at all levels of the Chinese government,' the Saskatchewan premier told reporters on Tuesday.
Annie Calamia says she was expecting a calm, comfortable recovery at Maissoneuve-Rosemont hospital, but instead felt like she stepped into a danger zone.
The union says nearly half the positions Grace General Hospital are vacant, while 36 per cent are empty at St. Boniface General Hospital.
A new report found that 2025 ranks in the top 10 years of all time for the most insured damages caused by severe weather in Canada.
The pop star sat in the front row as Trudeau spoke about Canada not interfering in other countries' domestic policy to seize oil and assert influence.
Metal detectors are being installed detectors in urban emergency departments across Regina and Saskatoon, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) says.
RCMP say it's believed the two men, who were stopped at a traffic stop, have firearms. No shots were fired.
Quebec's finance minister says he has shared his concerns with his Ontario counterpart about that province's intention to remove Crown Royal whisky from liquor stores.
At the TDSB's accessibility committee, executive officer of finance Craig Snider suggested the province's supervisor had not made cuts or reductions to the existing financial plan.