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Like a pat on the back delivered with a punch to the gut, Canada’s new jobless figures show just how stomach-churning Alberta’s employment picture is today.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that 10,000 new jobs were created in the country’s natural resource sector in October, mainly in Alberta.

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Yet, Calgary’s unemployment rate jumped above 10 per cent for the first time in 23 years.

So what’s the long-term solution to an immediate problem?

Well, here’s some free advice to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from Alberta employers and the unemployed in the oilpatch: Approve a pipeline.

Philip Howard, a father of two who was designing oil and gas facilities with computer models before being downsized about a year ago, believes approving a new pipeline would create jobs for Albertans like him who need work.

“That Kinder Morgan (line) has to get through,” he told Postmedia on Friday.

“That’s going to be a huge boost for us as a province and a country. It just makes so much sense that it’s unbelievable that people would go against it.”