CANADA: Labour Shortage In Tourism Business, Sex Tourist Jailed In Alberta.

A job fair this weekend for tourism businesses looking for employees was particularly busy this weekend with employers looking for applicants.

There were about 40 operators at the fair in Kensington, P.E.I., organized by the Tourism Industry Association of P.E.I. The association's director of training and education, Kathy Livingstone, said that is significantly more than usual.

"There is a labour shortage," said Livingstone.

"Obviously a huge need, because we have a lot more employers than we've had in the past."

Livingstone said students still provide an important resource for filling positions during the busy summer season, but operators are increasingly turning to older workers as well.

These older workers, perhaps retired from careers but not ready to stop work entirely, said Livingstone, are good candidates for part-time work throughout the year.

Sex tourist jailed

Canadian prosecutors have praised the Gardaí in Kerry for the vital role they played in apprehending a sex tourist who flew into Ireland to abuse a 14-year-old girl.

Last week in an Edmonton court, Canadian Jashua Tremblay (34) of Fort MacMurray, Alberta, was sentenced to four and half years in jail for 'grooming' and molesting the girl. He had pleaded guilty to three charges related to luring to facilitate child pornography, luring for sexual contact as well as flying to Ireland for actual sexual contact with a child.

He met the Irish girl - who was then aged 13 - in an online forum and 14 months after he first preyed on her he made the first of two trips to Ireland where he booked them into hotels and a holiday home. Tremblay engaged in sex with the victim during both visits, which took place during the school holidays in July and October 2013 when the girl was 14.

It was during his second trip to Ireland that neighbours living close to a holiday home Tremblay had rented in the Portmagee area noticed inappropriate behaviour between the two, became suspicious and notified the gardaí.

The girl from one of Kerry's main towns had told her father she was staying with a friend during Tremblay's visits. By the time Gardaí were alerted Tremblay had already left Ireland. He was subsequently arrested in another jurisdiction and was deported back to Canada where he was charged under Canada's sex tourism laws.

The child sex tourism law, which came into effect in 1997, means Canadians can be prosecuted in Canada if they sexually exploit children in other countries. According to an "agreed statement of facts" presented to the court Tremblay had convinced her they were in a legitimate relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.

She came to believe she was in love with him and believed she would move to Canada and marry him when she turned 18. He also told her he wanted "100 kids". During the two years he preyed on her using online messages, at least one letter and audio messages. He also sent naked pictures of himself; encouraged the girl to send explicit images of herself and sent audio messages about sexual act he wanted them to perform.

Crown Prosecutor Craig Krieger praised the Gardaí for what he described as their 'thorough investigation." "I really want to give credit to the police in Ireland. Even though they probably knew from the beginning there was a slim chance of them seeing the accused face to face,they put a tremendous amount of effort to prove the identity of who this adult was who had come to violate one of their kids," he said.

"Normally only Ireland would be able to prosecute him," Krieger said outside court. "But because of this special provision, we were able to prosecute him here for the sexual contact with a child."

"Under the old system, that only could have been prosecuted in Ireland," he said. "So they would have had to wait for him to appear there somehow someday which probably would have been a slim hope."

Tremblay is the first person to be convicted of child sex tourism charges in Alberta.

Predator brainwashed my daughter, court told.

The father of Jashua Tremblay's young victim told the Canadian Court that the convcited sex tourist had brainwashed his daughter.
In a victim impact statement, the young girl's father told how Tremblay's actions devastated his relationship with his daughter who threatened to harm herself after he was caught.

He described how he "had endured a period of serious stress which ate me up" and claimed the entire case has led to his ill health, a cancer diagnosis and the closure of his business.

The court was told that the victim who is now aged 18 and attending college did not want to file a victim impact statement because she wanted to leave the entire episode in the past.

Iceberg Alley Attracting Lots Of Vacationers

Temps may be climbing, but those who are more apt to frolic in cooler environs than soak up the sun don't have to pack up their gear. The Points Guy reports that a huge iceberg in Canada is attracting a slew of tourists that are itching to get up close and personal with a slab of ancient ice.

The huge iceberg showed up near Ferryland, Newfoundland, shortly after Easter Sunday. Situated at the tip of what's known as Iceberg Alley, an iceberg isn't really that big of a deal except this one is really big. It's so large, in fact, that it's even impressing the local community, which has seen plenty of ice. It's not surprising, then, to learn that tourists are flocking to the 'berg, creating bumper-to-bumper traffic in a town of just 500 people.

"It's a huge iceberg and it's in so close that people can get a good photograph of it," Ferryland Mayor Adrian Kavanagh told CTV News. "It's the biggest one I have ever seen around here."

Just how big is it? Photos are circulating around social media showing people dwarfed by the iceberg's ice tower. Other photos show a helicopter perched on the huge iceberg, looking like a tiny speck against the pristine white ice. And it's not the only one, Kavanagh says that on a clear day, visitors will be able to spot up to five or six additional icebergs, making for pretty impressive Instagram shots.

According to CTV News, fans of this huge chunk of ice can thank particularly strong winds off the coast of Greenland, which are pulling the ice down south. And yes, you can credit global warming, too, since that's contributing to the Greenland ice sheet's shedding.

If you can't make it up to Ferryland anytime soon it's about an hour south of St. John's for anyone looking to get their bearings.