Youths going en masse to Alberta, Sask. for work: report

i cross the country for work an average of 15 to 20 times per year, i live in nova scotia and i work in british columbia, my flights are paid, and i make three to four times what i would make in nova scotia, and i am treated with respect, not like a replaceable part, it is time for nova scotia employers to ante up and to start treating their employees with respect, because soon they won't be able to find any workers.

My kids are 16 and 12 years of age they speak both english & french and I tell them to get their education here in montreal and move out west later for their future get away from quebec and its high debt and taxes. Companies are closing or moving away from here.

There are pros and cons to sending gen' Y out west for employment. Sure there are jobs yet the cost of living is higher. All oilfield work requires expensive training before starting work, a lot is seasonal and weather dependent. It is a growing / learning experience yet unless in a 'camp' many will have spent their earnings without adding to a savings account. It all depends on the individual and their ability to make good choices, steering clear of the pitfalls and lifestyles of excess. The types of jobs and being away from home is why Alberta has the highest divorce rate in Canada.

Raven...I don't know about divorce rates but I do know there are a lot more then rig jobs in Alberta. Calgary and Edmonton are exploding and I can tell you there are no oil sands close to either city but a whole lot of IT, Engineering, Accounting, Banking, etc jobs.

If you have finished University and want to find a good paying position with growth potential Alberta is the place to be.

If you have no education and just need a good paying job then Alberta has those as well.

If your desire is to start your own business Alberta is a great place to be as well with lower taxes, ample supply of students and youth workers plus a great deal of money flowing to help your business grow.

There is always risk especially amoung the young of living life on the edge but compared to Montreal or Toronto Alberta cities are small and tame with far less temptations.

@ Raven please get your facts straight before posting comments.

Calgary has the youngest, best educated workforce in Canada — 60% of Calgarians have post secondary education

http://www.meetingscalgary.com/facts-and-figures

As for your cost living comment we have no sales tax and pay the lower income tax therefore have a very high disposable income.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/13-605-x/2003001/chrono/2003prov/4151911-eng.htm

Does anyone remember when Harper,Flathery,Clement & the gang went around Canada patting themselves on the back,telling us how our economy was doing great ??
What they did NOT mention to the electorate was that we rode out the economic storm because of the economic policies put in place by Paul Martin & the Liberals.
We are now seeing the effects of Harper's policies ............no jobs,low interest rates & higher debt......"steady as she goes" with the Economic Action Plan.Get out the shovels for the budget at the end of the month.
This government has NO PLANS for the economy,they will tell us that it is due to Europe,the USA(something we already know)
Isn't that what Flathery did in Ontario? We are going to see cuts bigger than what we saw in the 1990's;and those were done to recuperate from the Mulroney screw-up.
We gave them a large majority and now we can watch them screw up Canada,like only the PC's can.

@mascaren
What do your comments have to do with the article? As a economic and political science major in Ottawa, I can tell you that you are so far off the mark with your irrelevant comments that all I can do is shake my head. Go peddle your ideological goop elsewhere. I am thankful every day that I don't live in the type of country you push for.

It is time for Canadians to stop moving to find work and instead create their own jobs. The reason Calgary has so many jobs is because 10% of people here are slef employed. Why be dependent on the job market when you can take charge of your own future.

mascaren is correct. I live in Alberta and the economy is slow. The only way to make money is join the NAZI camps up north. The camps are full of drugs, alcohol, idiots, and hookers. Y would any one want to sacrifice there time to work at such an infested place ? I dont recommend people move to Alberta, the jobs available for the most part are just below the poverty line income jobs. Harper is full of crap and I hope Alberta on day wakes up and votes out the conservitives. I hear all the time that Ontario is booming and the renewable energy sector is creating a lot of jobs. I also think Alberta needs to veer away from oil and work towards a renewable energy sector. This would create more jobs and still allow the oil people to indulge in shit

Tim you sound like a bitter man who got turned down from a job in the oil industry.

geocatloe, you are right , i am bitter, but not for the reseason you suggested. The government is not being true it there word about Canada's action plan. I am also bitter because of the destruction the oil sands is doing to the planet. The progagandha that is on TV about how responsible the oil sands companies are about being enviromentally friendly is a lie.

I understand Mr.Comeau exactly, I am from Montreal originally but moved to Calgary in 98. I am very happy with the prospects for my 3 children, it is growing here and not 'depressing' as it was in Quebec, and even now in Ontario. Thanks God my wife knows how to make poutine however :)

Tim: If you are so concerned about things you should tell CBC guru David Suzuki and his buddy Al Gore to sell their huge homes (about ten of them between the two), sell their many vehicles and quit jetting around the globe....oh, sorry, it's okay for them to live high on the hog but not the rest of us.Also, there are thousands of mega-projects around the globe that make Alberta's oil projects look like a backyard sand box.The huge mining operations in Africa, Australia and China don't have the stringent environmental regulations like we do here in North America. It's become fashionable to pick on Alberta again because all the left-wing Socialists feel "Inconvenianced"..by the Truth. Go back to school, learn that the Earth has already gone through 3 ice-age periods that we know of, and get it thru your head that warming and cooling of the Earth has been going on since the beginning of time. I want to point out to you that the volcano that erupted in Iceland a couple years ago spewed more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all of human activity has in the past 200 years. Damn, let's get after those irresponsible Icelanders for not controlling their volcanic activity!.....yup...."Climate change".....OMG....let's "fight it'.....while we're at it let's fight tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters that "we" are creating....I can't believe...well, yes I can believe that the masses have been totally sucked in by the mass media and the men behind it. Hmmmm...I think I'll get in touch with Mother Nature & God and tell them to make it rain only during weekdays.....and ask them when the next cooling period will begin so I'll know to leave my SUV running as I know it will totally deter the upcoming glacial ice age...
Grab a brain people!!

Wow. To all the men on here in-fighting and catfighting, please just get together and measure your penis's already.

John, I am not a supporter of Al Gore or David Suzuki. John, I have a Master s in Enviromental Science, do not tell me to get a brain. You are correct with the earth s natural cooling and warming. I agree with you that we as a human race can not fight climate change. The man made chemicals we let into the atmoshpere have a drastic, unnatural effect on climate change. The chemicals posion our food, water, the air we all breath etc. Acid rain is a man made disaster. In Alberta acid rain occurs the most frequently up north at the oil sands. Destroying natural resources means we are destroying the ecosystem.

First well said John. People dont seem to realize that only about 420 sq. km of land is being disturbed (of which 65 km sq. is currently being reclaimed). Sounds like a lot right. Try comparing it to the size of New York (800 km sq). That concrete jungle will never be reclaimed and is 2X as large. Also care to gamble if the 8.2 MILLION people have a bigger negative impact on the environment than the oilsands?

Secondly Alberta is the land of opportunity. Myself, my wife, my two siblings and their spouses all work in fields related to the oilpatch. We are 29-44, all university educated, are all home every night, and the lowest paid is about 100K a year (the best is probably more than double that). If you are wondering, no we don't live in Fort Mac either (we could all likely double our salaries if we moved there).

Sara, you are right. It is said that childish fighting like this exists. Diplomatic discussions are hard to come by these days. To much TV watching

Mmmmmm. I don't know how the size of someone's penis is relevant.....but Tim......pretty lame response.

Sara: It's ten inches

Agreed with Sara... read, breath and relax. Its not worth imploding over.
After after a few decades of chasing pipelines, repairing and maintaining gas plants in Alberta I have seen the pros and cons. Yes a mature, educated person can make a great living out there, in fact if you dedicated a decade to working up North while spending little you could be well positioned for the future.
I can go back to work in the Alberta `patch with 1 phone call. Its reassuring yet nice to not be necessary.
I never hated the players, just the game.

WOW! Amazing how an article can take on a whole new topic. I'm 48, lived in Ontario all my life. Coming from a strict family background, I never had the guts to move out west when I was young - so I kick myself in the ass all the time. Now, I tell my 2 teenaged kids to take a chance & experience life out there. The older you get & the more settled in your ways, the tougher it is to make that move & take that chance! Do it while you're young, not commited & not settled- you just don't what you're missing!! Live life, take your chances & you will have no regrets. Besides, the air is MUCH CLEANER out in Alberta, so you'll be much healthier to boot!! And oh, I live in the Niagara Region - we have the highest rate of cancer - go figure................

The oil boom is all well and nice now however in 50 years it will all be over and Cagary and Edmonton andthe new cities built for the boom will be empty .Ask yourself what happens when the oil runs out and it will. Ontario may be having hard times but it will last and prosper because it is not a one horse economy. The young people who are moving out west now will live to see their children moving back east in droves. It is and absolute eventual fact

I think it's way too simplistic to attribute the migration to just the oilsands...and the stats bear it out. Here in BC we've been seeing in-migration for nearly 3 decades now. Statistically there are more Ontarians and Quebecois living here than Asians. (Just check out all the Leafs jerseys when Toronto plays the Canucks here). Plus, the whole world is moving to a Asia-Pacific period of domination and this will continue for several decades at least. It's not just Canada either, in the US the 10 fastest growing cities are in the West...and the 10 fastest shrinking cities are in the East.

And the new era of international trade means that all Canadians have to compete on merit with workers from around the world. For instance, there was a time when our Auto-Pact agreement with the US protected Canadian (mostly Ontarian) auto manufacturing jobs. But in the new era of "lean and mean" our Canadian manufacturers have to compete with better workers in Korea, Japan and Mexico.

Plus also remember that Alberta has done a pretty good job of electing responsible provincial governments for the past 40 years or so.

I can remember a similar boom in the early 80"s and having work for years in all provinces and territories I can tell you it is not as bad in the east as people let on nor is it as good in the west as people think. It is great where you make a living and have your family around to support you and yours and near as I can tell there are still millions more jobs in Ontario than anywhere else and most people I know make a hundred grand as a matter of routine. Dont forget Alberta is still small economy wise and in 50 years it will be a ghost town given back to the farmers that made it great however I suspect the polution from 50 years + of oil and gas will kill that as well

To Steve

Steve it is ignorant to throw out your theories without thought. Oilsands to run out in 50 years? Currently we are producing 2.1 million barrels a day. Proven reserves mineable (at current technology levels) is 176 BILLION barrels. At current production rates thats 225 years....

Still doesn't sound like enough? Actual reserves are 1.76 TRILLION barrels. Im thinking in the next 200 years they will likely be able to develop technology to access the remaining 1.6 TRILLION barrels. Hypothetically even if we triple the production rate and technology allows even 30% recovery we would still be good for hundreds of years of production.

Steve don't you just hate it when facts get in the way of your opinions?

No I dont hate facts but I question yours we have the second largest reserves in the world behind Saudi Arabia and their reserves are questioable .Time to reach peak oil 35 years do you really belive that our resources will be exploited over 225 years. I have seen the reserve and estimates for oisand production and a lot is based on possible not proven. However The point I am making is an economy need to be highly diverse to be sustainable. I am not envious of alberta in any way I lived on Vancouver Island for a few years and did not care for the high cost and drug problems prevealent all over the island. I lived in Albeta as well and it was a great place. I hope you still can inhabite it if production goes on for 225 years as we all no oil companies dont care about you and the enviroment just profits. Dont you hate it when common sense get in the way!

To Gulp...I'm sick of people like you pretending they glad they moved to BC but I wouldn't be so smug. While Alberta and Sask get mostly young, energetic people... BC gets mostly people who want to retire for the "soft-life" after they have made their fortune in other provinces. Just watch as these old-timers start to drag down BCs medical system. Then you'll be begging them to move back to Ontario and Quebec. Haha.

Besides this discussion is about youth migration but I guess your east envy always gets in the way

I'm 20 and a licensed welder. I was screwed out of my job in Toronto and couldn't find work for nearly two months (anywhere I wouldn't loose my fingers mind you). Within four hours of sending resume's to the Saskatchewan job bank I had accepted a job offer and started packing. Moving from a city to the small town oilpatch is not easy, but nesessary. For all those fellow members of Gen Y who ask, "Dude, where's my job?" I can tell you this: It's here!
I am no longer unemployed, but I cannot say the same for my friends back home. For the most part they won't come here, because like the majority of Gen Y, they're just too afraid to leave home

I moved to Alberta 7 years ago and have no regrets. Hubby never missed a paycheque, and I am now working part time in order to spend time with the kids. Life is good. Long live the oil patch!