Alberta's Unplanned Boom Ready to Bust

Alberta's growth has spiralled out of control. Like the management of the health care system in the mid-1990's which led to the layoff of thousands of healthcare workers, Alberta's latest boom has been mismanaged and when the bubble busts all Albertans will feel the after effects. The Fort McMurray oil boom has been guided by a hard-right ideology. With no planning or controls on oil growth, Fort Mac doesn't have the housing for new workers or the roads to transport them to work.

Uncontrolled growth has spread to the rest of the province. Rent and housing prices have skyrocketed in Edmonton and Calgary. Both of Alberta's two major cities have housing prices as high as mega cities without the attractions of a large city. It has reached such unmanageable levels that entry level workers can longer afford to live in one of Alberta's 2 largest cities. Alberta also faces the prospect of losing other talented people who are fed up with the high cost of living and have the ability to find a lower paying job in a city with a lower cost of living.

Alberta's right-wing ideology has justified uncontrolled growth by touting the free market and saying the free market will adjust itself and the government doesn't have to get involved. Albertans have seen the effects of uncontrolled growth first hand when the boom turns to bust, the right-wing strangehold on the province will be the next to fall.