Meeting With Oilsands Firms Deemed Productive

Meeting With Oilsands Firms Deemed Productive

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 15:16

An official with the Northern Development Board Corporation says good progress was made at a recent gathering for companies and entrepeneurs wishing to build economic ties with Fort McMurray.

Dean Desjarlais says northerners from La Loche to Cumberland House recently assembled in Buffalo Narrows to discuss opportunities associated with the oilsands and the building of the new road link between northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan.

Desjarlais says it’s not clear how many jobs could be open to people from the North just yet. However, he says questions continue to be raised — including a query about the possibility of a seven-days-in/seven-days-out schedule to potentially double the workforce from northern Saskatchewan.

Desjarlais says it was also revealed at the recent meeting that businesses wishing to establish themselves in the oilsands will have to pay a tax to the municipality of Wood Buffalo.