Presentation to CRC-REP Enduring Community Value from Mining Project, by Professor Keith Storey from the Memorial University Newfoundland, Canada, and International Advisor to the Enduring Community Value from Mining project.

1. Balancing Opportunities and
Challenges Long Distance Commuting
for remote Australia and Canada
Professor Keith Storey
Memorial University Newfoundland, Canada
And
International Advisor to the Enduring Community
Value from Mining project

2. Presentation to the
Cooperative Research Centre for
Remote Economic Participation
(CRC-REP)
Enduring Community Value from Mining
Dr. Fiona Haslam McKenzie
Principal Research Leader

3. 3

4. Jan 2009 - Mar 2010
7,890-10,600
4

5. Evolving Rationale for
Onshore Commute Work
1970s
• No alternatives – remote locations
• Cost incentives
– 1970s end of long boom; post-Fordist lean
production
– No government support for resource towns
– Environmental assessment
Present
• Aboriginal land claims
• Post-2000 resource boom
• Labour/infrastructure shortages
5

6. Resource
Camp
Resource
Commute
Commute
Urban Centre
Camp
Urban Centre
Type 1: No Alternative Construction
Type 1: No Alternative Production
●
● Polaris, NWT 1980-2002 zinc, lead 6

7. Evolving Rationale for
Onshore Commute Work
1970s
• No alternatives – remote locations
• Cost incentives
– 1970s end of long boom; post-Fordist lean
production
– No government support for resource towns
– Environmental assessment
Present
• Aboriginal land claims
• Post-2000 resource boom
• Labour/infrastructure shortages
7

8. Resource
Camp
Resource
Camp
Regional town
Commute
Urban Centre
Type 2: Regional Host Community Construction
Commute
Regional town
Urban Centre
Type 2: Regional Host Community Production
●
● Fort McMurray, Alberta – oil sands, 19678

9. Resource
Resource Town
Resource
Camp
Commute
Resource Town
Urban Centre
Urban Centre
Type 3: Residential Community Construction
Type 3: Residential Community Production
●
● Labrador City – iron ore, 1967-
9

10. Be careful what you wish for: Commute
work and regional development in the
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo,
Alberta, Canada
Keith Storey
Memorial University
St. John’s, NL, Canada
10

11. Source: Alberta Geological Survey
http://www.ags.gov.ab.ca/energy/oilsands/index.html
11

12. Fort McMurray
12

13. Oil Sands Projects and Upgraders 2013
40
37
35
30
24
Number
25
Projects
20
Upgraders
15
15
12
10
5
5
3
3
0
0
Operating
Construction
1
Approved
0
Application
Announced
Project Status
13

14. 14

15. Host Community Issues
• Growth without development
– Short-term “permanent’ residency
– Fly-through community
• Commute workers cost rather than benefit host economies
through use of:
– physical infrastructure – roads, airport, housing
– social services – health, policing, social assistance
• Transient nature of commute work makes host communities
less attractive places to live
– Fly-over community
• Commute workers and business by-pass local communities
15

16. Municipal Development Plan
Regional Growth Management
Objectives/Strategies to 2030
231,000
116,000
• Promote permanence and longterm residency
• 40,500 additional housing units
• Development of rapid transit
system
• Consolidation of camps north
and south of Fort McMurray
• No increase in the work camp
population
50,000
16

17. Location
Population
Percentage
Urban
72,944
62.6
Rural
4,192
3.6
Camps
39, 271
33.7
Total
116,407
100
Source: RMWB Census 2012
Proximity to
Fort
McMurray
Operations
Jobs
% Operations
Jobs
Within 50 km
13,891
27.9
Within 75 km
32,271
64.8
Within 100 km
45,787
92.0
Source: RMWB MDP 2011
Source: RBWB Municipal Development Plan 2011
17

18. Assumptions and Comments
• Growth will occur as predicted
– resource demand; environmental issues; transportation;
project costs
• Necessary infrastructure will be developed
(housing; rapid transit; commercial/retail space)
– Province been happy to approve projects, generally failed to
adequately anticipate/fund growth in RMWB
• current provincial deficit
• CRISP for Athabasca Oil Sands Area unfunded
• slow to release land
• Highway 63 twinning
18

19. Highway 63 Alberta
Radway to Fort
Mackay 426 km
Photo sources: Wikipedia; Epoch Times; Financial Post; jalnopik; Calgary Sun; CBC
19

20. Assumptions and Comments
•
Growth will occur as predicted
–
•
resource demand; environmental issues; transportation; project costs
Necessary infrastructure will be developed
(housing; rapid transit; commercial/retail space)
–
Province been happy to approve projects, generally failed to adequately anticipate/fund growth in RMWB
•
•
•
•
•
Industry co-operation
–
–
•
current provincial deficit
CRISP for Athabasca Oil Sands Area unfunded
slow to release land
Highway 63 twinning
labour shortages likely to continue – competition for labour; temporary work permits
current/projected camp, airfield and other infrastructure investments
Worker preferences
(MDP calls for total camp population to be stabilized)
–
Future workforce willing to live in Fort McMurray?
•
•
•
•
willingness to relocate
travel time means likely many will still have to live in camps
affordable housing constraint to in-migration
high percentage of operations workers currently willing to pay own travel
20

21. Worker preferences
• Alberta
– 2005: only 1 in 4 interprovincial workers relocated to Alberta in
next 5 years (Statistics Canada 2013)
• Fort McMurray production workers
– 35% of Shell, 25% Syncrude fly in at own cost
– Decision factors: housing costs; place preference
• Queensland Resource Council
•
2012 survey of 2000 Queensland workers
– 71% of non-resident workers would not change their accommodation
arrangements
– choice of employment accommodation important to employee decisionmaking
– both residential and non-residential options need to be available to recruits to
maximize available sources of labour
21

22. Conclusions
• Commute work likely to be with us for foreseeable future
– communities can’t ignore it or make it go away
– can’t reject it outright, need to work to optimize outcomes
• Government priorities
– need to decide on importance of regional growth/regional
development
• development decisions; shared benefits; infrastructure investment
– act or be left behind by industry decisions
• Workforce preferences
– while labour in short supply need to recognize significance of
worker preferences for community/regional planning
22