I'm an entrepreneur and I live in centre Ottawa, but I've been out to northeast Calgary on occasion. You have to be very careful when people talk to you about shortages of low-skilled workers. What they may be talking about is a shortage of low-paid workers. If the pay is adequate, then you should see people coming to work there, if not from within northeast Calgary, then from other parts of the area.
The second thing is to push the employer on what shortages of skills they are running into. Is it literacy? Is it something else? If so, then they can put some emphasis on getting that done.