News briefs

Improve access to higher education: former Alta. premier • Women hit double digits in board representation • GE’s severance pledge • Video pitches social work career • Alberta’s ‘insatiable’ demand for oil workers worries N.W.T. • Temp assignments spur corporate housing

Improve access to higher education: former Alta. premier

Calgary
— Keeping pace with the United States requires Canada to boost access to university and college educations, former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed said at a dinner marking his Woodrow Wilson Award for public service. Funding for post-secondary education is an investment not an expenditure, and Canada is not doing enough, he said, adding that more scholarships should be made available.

Women hit double digits in board representation

Toronto
— Women held 11.2 per cent of more than 4,000 board of director positions at Canadian companies on the Financial Post 500 list, a new report by the advocacy group Catalyst shows. That’s up from 9.8 per cent in 2001. The percentage of firms with no women board directors remained unchanged at 51.4 per cent. Crown corporations have the highest number of women directors, at 23.7 per cent.

GE’s severance pledge

Fairfield, Conn.
— General Electric says it will ask for shareholder approval of severance payments to executives terminated for performance reasons in cases where the value of the deal is 2.99 times the person’s annual base salary and bonus.

Video pitches social work career

London, Ont.
— Employers looking to promote social services careers have a new video that highlights work in the field. High school and university students can view social workers in action, thanks to a new offering from the Ontario Association of Social Workers’ Western branch. The video is available in French and English for $39.95. For more information contact [email protected].

Alberta’s ‘insatiable’ demand for oil workers worries N.W.T.

Calgary
— With Alberta’s oilsands projects snagging every available worker employers can find, Northwest Territories Premier Joe Handley is wondering who will build the 1,200-km-long Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline. Labour shortages in the sector dominated an Arctic gas conference in Calgary.

Temp assignments spur corporate housing

Toronto
— Canada’s corporate housing industry was worth $170 million last year, a report by Royal LePage Relocation Services shows. The growing trend of temporary assignments has employers interested in apartment units available for short-term accommodation, the report states.

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