Alberta’s runaway oil and gas industry has stretched its labour and manufacturing capacity to its limits.
With human resource companies scouring Canada to lure tradespeople west, Thunder Bay’s manufacturing base may offer a competitive edge to cater to the country’s most thriving economy, while keeping its skilled workers at home.
“That’s a real area of opportunity and we’re going after it,” says Mayor Lynn Peterson of the city’s Oil Sands Initiative being promoted to local businesses.
City officials and local manufacturers want to tap into some of the spinoffs from Alberta’s resource supply and service sector where infrastructure project spending is expected to top more than $100 billion over the next decade.
As well, urban sprawl and rising property values have outstripped the ability of many Alberta municipalities to harness its rapidly expanding economy.
Thunder Bay development officer Richard Pohler says the city is formulating specific initiatives for local firms to be more aggressive in pursuing business leads.
“The message we’ve gotten is Alberta is maxed out from an infrastructure standpoint,” says Pohler, with a labour shortfall of 96,000 and very little industrial space available to attract new firms.
Albert Economic Development regularly publishes an Oil Sands Industry Update, listing a slew of major multi-million dollar projects, some having life spans of 30 years or more.
Pohler says there’s significant opportunities in metal fabrication, especially with steel piping, tubes, pressure vessels and tanks.
Both Peterson and Pohler say given Thunder Bay’s solid manufacturing base, transportation links, and central-Canada geographic location, there’s no reason why goods and components can’t be built locally and shipped west for final assembly.
The idea has drawn interest from just under 40 local companies, says Pohler, with the City of Thunder Bay and local development agencies having hosted about a half dozen information meetings since last fall.
A working group of local engineering, steel fabrication, machining and hydraulic companies has been formed to pursue contracts and an Alberta-based marketing person will soon be hired to represent Thunder Bay firms out west.
One Thunder Bay contractor has already secured work at the Horizon Oil Sands mega-project in northern Alberta, considered the largest construction project in Canadian history.
Tom Jones Corp. is one of many subcontractors at the $10.8 billion open pit mine and refinery site, 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
Canadian Natural Resources, a Calgary-based oil and gas developer, is spending close to $30 billion over the next 15 years to double the size of its oil sands mine.
Tom Jones is being very selective on what type of work they’re pursuing. “We’re sticking to what we do best, which is pile driving and concrete pouring,” says general manager John Jones.
He says the slumping construction sector in northwestern Ontario forced the company to look west for work. Parker Jones, a company estimator, says there’s “endless opportunities” in the industrial, commercial and retail sectors in Alberta. But the challenge is not finding work, it’s being able to deliver.
There’s a huge demand for construction people.
“You have to make sure you have the right qualified people that are willing to travel there,” adds John Jones. “The conditions aren’t exactly ideal. You’re pretty north and it can be cold. Accommodations are a huge issue. We’re fortunate we’re on a site where (they) provide room and board to our people and it’s excellent.
“You don’t go out there and take on work and say I’m going to hire a bunch of locals. Locals do not exist.”
An airstrip built next to the site is used to fly in specialized workers from as far away as Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, “which is a big, big plus.” he says. Tom Jones handpicks a crew of tradespeople to fly out of Thunder Bay directly to the job site for two-week work rotations, with one week back home.
“They’re happy and still able to maintain a proper family life.”
