Parts of Alberta are already in a horrible mess because of the oil sands development. Examples of things I've heard about in the past few months:
The city of Edmonton had to rent heated warehouses for prople to park their camper-vans in. They were living in camper-vans on campgrounds, because there isn't enough housing for them, and they can't build new housing fast enough. Imagine making 'big bucks' as an oil worker, movine out west with your family, and then having to live in a camper van in a warehouse.
Small towns in northern Alberta are no longer small towns due to oil sands development. These no-longer-small towns don't have enough schools, hospitals, doctors, dentists to treat the larger population. The doctors that are there are being worked to the point of nervous breakdown, and leaving.
Oh, and also note that the oil sands never were "our back up oil". Well, not since 1994, anyway. When we signed NAFTA it included a provision that we can't NOT sell oil to the USA. (I know it's an ugly double negative, but that's how NAFTA says it). Under NAFTA, any oil producer in North America *must* sell to the *hightest bidder*; so we are not in control of who we do or do not sell oil to.
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The city of Edmonton had to rent heated warehouses for prople to park their camper-vans in. They were living in camper-vans on campgrounds, because there isn't enough housing for them, and they can't build new housing fast enough. Imagine making 'big bucks' as an oil worker, movine out west with your family, and then having to live in a camper van in a warehouse.
Small towns in northern Alberta are no longer small towns due to oil sands development. These no-longer-small towns don't have enough schools, hospitals, doctors, dentists to treat the larger population. The doctors that are there are being worked to the point of nervous breakdown, and leaving.
Oh, and also note that the oil sands never were "our back up oil". Well, not since 1994, anyway. When we signed NAFTA it included a provision that we can't NOT sell oil to the USA. (I know it's an ugly double negative, but that's how NAFTA says it). Under NAFTA, any oil producer in North America *must* sell to the *hightest bidder*; so we are not in control of who we do or do not sell oil to.