Out of province applicants

I currently have 15 years experience in another large provincial government and have been looking into relocating to Alberta to be closer to family. Trouble is, I'm not even getting screened in for jobs that I am completely qualified for, and those I am over qualified for. I figured it may be easier to apply to something lower level than I am now given I am more of an unknown and may need to work my way back up again a little bit. But nada. For context, I am very carefully looking at requirements etc and have hired dozens of people myself as an executive. Pretty demoralizing to not even get a hit on analyst level or middle manager jobs. Is it just a complete waste of time applying if you don't already live in Alberta?