Who wouldn't want to live in Alberta? The unemployment rate is lower than in any other province in Canada. Alberta workers are earning the highest average wage in Canada. What's more, they receive the biggest pay raises in the country.
Alberta's average hourly wage is above $20 and an annual income of $66, 275. What's behind these good times? The province's growing oil industry.
Alberta sits on a whopping deposit of oil. The oil has been there for about 120 million years but the oil isn't like the one that flows in the Middle East. Alberta's oil are trapped in tar sands. Extracting oil from tar sands is costly and only became worthwhile to do it when the oil reached $40 a barrel.
Another reason why Alberta's oil industry has been taking off recently? Location. The Middle East supply hasn't always been reliable. In the past, oil producing nations from that part of the world has stopped delivering oil because they disagree with their government actions. This caused oil shortages and sudden, drastic price hikes. That's why so many nations are keen to help develop Canada's oil industry. They know that Alberta's supply is very reliable.
Over the next 25 years, Alberta is set to quadruple its oil production. Despite all the money flowing into Alberta, there are also some drawbacks to developing the tar sands. One problem is a lack of workers for the province' businesses. Many people are choosing to work in Alberta's well paying oil industry. Another concern? Housing. People moving to some parts of the province can't find a place to live. Many young people are choosing to leave school early so that they can make money in the oil industry. In some areas, the high school dropout rate is over 25 percent, one of the highest in the country.
The biggest concern? The damage that the oil industry is doing to the environment. Taking oil out of the tar sands destroys the ecosystems of the rivers, forests and bogs that lie above the sands. This upsets the balance of nature. It also means that there are fewer trees to cleanse the planet-warming greenhouse gases. For each barrel of oil that is extracted from the sands and turned into crude, 80 kilograms of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. The proposed tar sand developments will tear a hole in Canada's lungs-our boreal forest ecosystem.
So are the oil fields a blessing or a curse? If we use this resource wisely, everyone benefits. If not, there will be a huge price to pay.
