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Today’s work camps are fit for blue-collar kings (more…)

To organize or not to organize? The question is no longer so simple in worker-hungry Alberta (more…)

After 40 years and $30 billion of investment, the Alberta oilsands industry is now well into its second wave growth target of two million bpd output by 2010. And there’s no shortage of media and public commentary on how the industry, and Alberta, is mismanaging the project. So, what about the so-called third wave of development – the really big pulse that is expected to create at least another 32,000 direct jobs, draw upwards of $100 billion in additional investment and apply even more pressure to produce the resource in a socially and environmentally responsible way as it shoots for five million bpd by 2030? With labour shortages, rising material costs, increasingly skeptical stakeholder interventions and a media gorging itself on as much negative news it can find or create, can the industry realistically make these targets? Former Dome Petroleum executive Gordon Kelly went into this media-ized heart of darkness and came away with a personal perspective on why the outlook for the industry appears very encouraging. (more…)