Canada's ambassador to Ireland says businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador should get a jump on a looming skilled labour shortage by turning now to the Emerald Isle.

Loyola Hearn told a business audience in St. John's that there will be an estimated 70,000 jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador in seven years' time, with no one available to do them.

The crunch is expected to be particularly tough in skilled labour, once large projects — including the Hebron oil field and the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project — kick into gear.

Hearn, a former federal fisheries minister and former provincial cabinet minister in Newfoundland and Labrador, said Ireland has a workforce willing to go abroad because of the turmoil in the domestic economy.

"Canada has by now by far become the destination of choice," Hearn told the St. John's Board of Trade.

"If you went over and did a poll right now over there, you're looking for work, where do you want to go, I would say six to eight out of ten would say Canada.

He noted that Saskatchewan, which has been recruiting already in Ireland, drew thousands of applications at a job expo.

"They've latched right on to Ireland, and they're really going after these skilled people," said Hearn, adding that Irish workers face no language barriers in coming to Canada.

"Really, what you're getting, you're getting the most highly educated people in the world."

Mark Dawe, the chief operating officer of the Bennett Group of Companies, said Irish recruitment is already underway.

"We're being approached by companies constantly for skilled workers, semi-skilled workers," he said.

"The unemployment rate in the skilled construction trade is 40 per cent [in] in Ireland. And these are people with great skills, great synergy with Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to work," he said.