Thousands of fossil industry jobs in Alberta are gone forever, even if oil prices ever return to $100 per barrel, and the shift has nothing to do with the province’s never-ending quest for a pipeline to tidewater, a leading government economist admitted this week.
“I’ve learned as an economist to never say ‘Never,’ but even if it were to come back, because of the use of better technology and innovation, the energy sector will not need as many people going forward,” ATB Financial Chief Economist Todd Hirsch told CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.
In the month of October, with almost 2,000 people working to build the Site C dam, a total of 18 apprentices were getting on-the-job trades training on the construction site of British Columbia's most expensive public-infrastructure project in history.
"That's pathetic," Premier John Horgan said in an interview.
A day after B.C.'s ruling New Democrats and their allies in labour groups made statements to mark the UN’s International Human Rights Day on December 10, the Indigenous peoples of the province were given a rude shock with the announcement of the provincial government’s green light for the controversial Site C dam project.
British Columbia Premier John Horgan announced on December 11 that his New Democratic Party government will proceed with construction of the $11 billion-and-counting ‘Site C’ hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in the province’s northeast.
