On the social side of things, I think back to the start of Fort McMurray, which of course was there many centuries ago, through when Great Canadian Oil Sands came, and then Syncrude, and then most recently, the latest kind of growth spurt in the mid-1990s and 2000s. It is a town that grows incrementally, so there are step changes.
One of the things I think the Alberta government has done particularly well recently is to create regional planning and actual infrastructure plans for the high-growth regions in the province. That's allowed it to become very clear about what's required in terms of land release, housing development, and infrastructure, and also what's required in terms of getting people to live and work there. It's one thing for the oil sands companies to have their engineers and their spouses come up there and work and do their thing, but you need to have teachers, and nurses, and people to work at McDonald's, and all of those things. So actually planning for it, I think, is quite important.
When I consider, as a Canadian, the Ring of Fire, or even the LNG opportunities in northeastern British Columbia, that's an area where governments need to say that if they're going to do this, it isn't all about how they extract the resource; it is about determining what is actually needed to make sure it's healthy and vibrant and that the benefits are maximized for the community. It was a little late in coming to Fort McMurray, but it's there now.
I would say that the federal government's role is to look at that, to view it, and to see if there are opportunities where they can participate. They're a strong participant in the colleges, in the skills development, and that's been very critical. It's really about planning and it's about accepting and understanding that the social side of things is really critical in a community like Fort McMurray.
