The fire in For Mac was certainly a tragedy and I’m still in shock as I write this. I’ve donated 20 dollars to the red cross and I know thats not a lot but it’s all I could spare for now. Thought occurred to me while donating the money, though, if the roles were reversed how much would we hear about how the East Coast is full of welfare bums looking for a handout and that AB would never ask for such things…and how many more of these catastrophes before people stop rationalizing them as a long series of one-offs and see them for what they are… —:(
This article appears in May 5-11, 2016.
Well! And I thought I was a bit of a jerk! You win OB!
Keep in mind that a large chunk of the workforce in Fort Mac is from the maritimes. Many of them commute back and forth when the plants are at full tilt. At one point I think I read that an estimated $2 million dollars per week was coming back to Nova Scotia from “migrant” workers sending money home to their families. I also know of people who went out there for a few years, lived in a camp, and saved every penny so they could come back here and start their own businesses. And if you think about the transfer payments to Nova Scotia that Alberta helped fund (at least in the years of high oil prices), you realize that Fort Mac has benefitted us all financially.
When I worked in Alberta, I don’t recall any disdain for Nova Scotians. We supported the idea of equalization payments to the have not provinces like Nova Scotia. The criticism was more of Ottawa vs Alberta thing.
I have lived all across the country, and this attitude is just martimers feeling sorry about themselves for absolutely no good reason. It’s part of the negative attitude that is so tiresome. Move on. Nobody is talking badly about you, so stop talking badly about yourself.