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Muskrat Falls job allure worries HV-GB Mayor Jamie Snook

Jamie Snook, the mayor of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, says he is concerned that the prospect of higher earnings at Muskrat Falls jobs will entice more local workers to leave their current roles.

Losing nurses

11 years ago
Duration 2:06
Happy Valley-Goose Bay loses nurses to Muskrat Falls, reports Kate Adach

Happy Valley-Goose Bay Mayor Jamie Snook says he is concerned that the prospect of higher earnings at Muskrat Falls jobs will entice more local workers to leave their current roles.

Snook said only four nurses have left the town's hospital to work for the province's energy corporation, but said he is worrie it may just be the start of negative side-effects of the project.

"Nalcor can't just hide behind the fact that they're hiring and there's no impact," he said.

"There's a lot of collateral damage that can be left behind in other organizations if they fail to work with us."

According to Snook, this is an indication of bad things coming out of the hydroelectric mega-project.

"This example is yet another poor example of people not being in touch with what's really happening here and in denial that the project is having impacts. The time is over for those conversations," Snook said.

Snook said Muskrat Falls was supposed to mean more local people getting jobs, not workers looking for bigger paycheques.

The head of Labrador Grenfell Health said earlier this week that the Muskrat Falls project isn't to blame, and that it is always a challenge to keep workers.