The City of Lacombe Mayor Grant Creasey is concerned that job outsourcing may cause problems for the community.  Recently, the Mayor wrote an opinion piece for the Edmonton Journal in response to a piece by former Athabasca Mayor Colleen Powell called ‘Opinion: Closing Athabasca University campus will hurt school, community and Alberta.’ 

In a similar sense, Creasey feels that the ‘Work Away Policy’ passed by Lacombe’s largest employer, Alberta Financial Services Incorporated (AFSC) will mean fewer job opportunities for those in the local community. The policy allows employees to work remotely anywhere in Canada. 

“It is important to remember that Athabasca University, and AFSC, were deliberately placed in our respective communities to promote rural development and viability. Premier Lougheed had a vision for Alberta that included locating publicly funded entities beyond the Edmonton and Calgary metropolitan regions – he recognized that strengthening rural Alberta strengthens all of Alberta,” said Creasey in the piece. 

He says council has expressed their concerns through letters to MLA, Ron Orr, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, and Premier Jason Kenney that have received little acknowledgement. 

“Like AU, AFSC was intentionally placed in our community to support economic viability in smaller rural communities – and indeed it did, bringing highly-skilled and highly-paid employees to our community for years. Simply stated, AFSC's "Work Away Policy" disadvantages Lacombe and negatively impacts our local economy. It increases commercial vacancy and results in less overall commercial investment,” said Creasey. 

Powell’s piece claims the closure of the Athabasca University campus in favour of virtual-style learning poses a similar problem for the community health of Athabasca. Creasey thanked the former Mayor for bringing the issue into light. 

“These changes should concern us all, and we hope that Albertans will agree. Exporting publicly funded, high quality jobs from small Albertan communities to Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal is ultimately harmful and will damage the economic viability of not only Athabasca and Lacombe, but all of Alberta,” Creasey concluded.