Mountain Man
Senior Member
Well, seeing as how the U of C is cancelling the Petroleum Engineering courses, the next oil "boom" clearly won't be the jobs boon Kenny wants it to be.
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Calgary & Alberta Economy
- Thread starter Oddball
- Start date
JonnyCanuck
Senior Member
I think we have to refrain from calling them 'oil & gas booms'. For sure, things are going to improve for the O & G companies who cut costs, payed down debt, merged with other companies and survived this prolonged recession.
What is unlikely to happen is any new oil sands projects which was a great source of job creation. Three of the four federal political parties are clearly in opposition to any expansion of fossil fuels. Investors are paying attention to this.
What we need is an 'energy boom' in Alberta which is not all fossil fuels (although we must maintain that production level at the very least), but the addition of renewables. Smart companies like Suncor are already diversifying by making an investment in hydrogen fuel. Others will follow. Combine that with a growing tech industry and this will surely change the negative image that many Canadians and people around the globe have of Alberta.
I think the best thing that could happen is for the oil and gas industry to get enough of a pickup, for things to stabilize and more or less stay static and not ramp up enough so as to let other industries trend upward. We've been on a good roll with recent tech startups and venture capital money. Calgary has some solid advantages that we forget about sometimes. In the past week I've talked to two different couples who recently moved here from Vancouver. Both were very happy with their move, and are realizing those advantages.
A mentality and image change is something that doesn't happen overnight, but IMO the change has been picking up speed.
A mentality and image change is something that doesn't happen overnight, but IMO the change has been picking up speed.
Silence&Motion
Senior Member
For that to happen, Kenney should definitely stop going around telling people that "the last barrel of oil burned in the world will be Alberta oil". Definitely evokes dystopian imagery of Easter Islanders chopping down the last tree on the island.
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JonnyCanuck
Senior Member
Kenney can say some inflammatory things needlessly although I have not heard him say 'will be Alberta oil' as in the definitive sense. What I have heard is other Canadian energy supporters say the same thing, more or less. The point they are making is that Canadian oil exports are more supportive of ESG principles than most other exporting nations.
1. Canadian producers are doing a much better job with reducing emissions and carbon capture.
2. Something that is never acknowledged by critics of the oil sands, is the time and money spent on reclamation once an oil field has been expended.
3. Canada is widely known as a proponent of universal human rights
4. Canada has a reputation of being a friendly, ethical and reliable source for oil and gas
It is for these reasons, that supporters advocate Canada as the 'go to' source for fossil fuels as the world transitions to renewables. It likely will never happen but at least there is a vision.
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Disraeli
Active Member
According to this report, Calgary might reach vacancy levels in the low to mid 30s.
Silence&Motion
Senior Member
But by all means, let’s approve a dozen more greenfield developments and raise taxes to pay for brand new infrastructure to support them.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
The article is talking about office vacancy though, not residential vacancy. I guess the financial point is the same though. Even during a boom time, there’s no reason to have approved over a dozen new peripheral neighbourhoods.
It’s not a pile of jobs, but still good news.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/rbc-bringing-300-tech-jobs-to-new-calgary-innovation-hub
https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/rbc-bringing-300-tech-jobs-to-new-calgary-innovation-hub
Silence&Motion
Senior Member
Just thinking about the argument that Rollin Stanley has been making connecting the downtown "death spiral" with the way we subsidize suburban sprawl. Basically, Calgary encourage sprawl in order to increase tax revenue, but it just ends up costing more money while sucking investment out of the areas that are already serviced by infrastructure.
darwink
Senior Member
Every pool of people like this is awesome - a big company will attract different people to relocate and retrain than startups.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
U.K. tech firm chooses Calgary for Canadian headquarters
Test Driven Solutions founder says Calgary provided the right environment to fuel the company's growth.
calgaryherald.com
Beltline_B
Senior Member
Plenty of small but good news stories. They don’t seem like a huge deal at the time, but they add up.
UrbanRED
Active Member
I'm extremely bullish on the future of Calgary/Alberta, and I've really formed this thesis in the last few months. I suspect that there are a couple strong trends working in Calgary's favour:
1. For many folks (myself included - as well as many of my peers in the technology industry) job location has become permanently disassociated with living location. The biggest problem working against Calgary for many people was that there weren't any relevant jobs here. You had to go to 'superstar' cities if you wanted to work in your chosen field. That isn't necessarily true anymore. This should reduce the barriers to folks moving to Calgary.
2. The relative cost of living is much lower than other cities, making it an extremely attractive value proposition. I've personally seen many people move from Vancouver/Toronto to Calgary, partially because their role was made remote and because they can afford a home here. I suspect that this trend will continue to play out for a long time.
3. I think the investments made to diversify Calgary's economy are starting to fruit, and you're seeing lots of home-grown tech companies, but also a growing film industry, growing ag-tech, and alternative energy growing in Calgary. They obviously have a long way to go to replace O&G, but I think it may happen faster than people suspect.
4. The quality of life here is fucking superb! Ignoring all economic constraints, it's a great place to live. Close to the mountains, 4 nice seasons, its clean as hell, limited crime, I think people take a lot of this stuff for granted. Of course, you combine this with the removal of barriers to entry (e.g. job locations) and the cost of living and it's a no brainer for many people. I think there are a lot of positive virtuous cycles in the near future.
1. For many folks (myself included - as well as many of my peers in the technology industry) job location has become permanently disassociated with living location. The biggest problem working against Calgary for many people was that there weren't any relevant jobs here. You had to go to 'superstar' cities if you wanted to work in your chosen field. That isn't necessarily true anymore. This should reduce the barriers to folks moving to Calgary.
2. The relative cost of living is much lower than other cities, making it an extremely attractive value proposition. I've personally seen many people move from Vancouver/Toronto to Calgary, partially because their role was made remote and because they can afford a home here. I suspect that this trend will continue to play out for a long time.
3. I think the investments made to diversify Calgary's economy are starting to fruit, and you're seeing lots of home-grown tech companies, but also a growing film industry, growing ag-tech, and alternative energy growing in Calgary. They obviously have a long way to go to replace O&G, but I think it may happen faster than people suspect.
4. The quality of life here is fucking superb! Ignoring all economic constraints, it's a great place to live. Close to the mountains, 4 nice seasons, its clean as hell, limited crime, I think people take a lot of this stuff for granted. Of course, you combine this with the removal of barriers to entry (e.g. job locations) and the cost of living and it's a no brainer for many people. I think there are a lot of positive virtuous cycles in the near future.
I'm pretty much of the same mind. Calgary has had 7 years of challenges and bad news stories, but the city is definitely trending in a good direction.