The Fort McMurray oilsands have long hosted a large number of transient workers. Now, there's a fresh push for companies operating at the epicentre of Canada's oil and gas extraction to make their workforce more local.Thousands of workers use work camps set up by companies like Syncrude and Suncor in the Alberta oilsands. The Fort McMurray oilsands have long hosted a large number of transient workers.
Sandy Bowman, the mayor of Wood Buffalo, said in a statement that increasing the region's population is his priority, including those who are there temporarily. Smith said incentives could include creating more short-haul flights, so workers are able to travel more easily between the remote sites in the Fort McMurray region, and rebates for companies that hire locally.
"But there was pressure, actually, for oilsands companies to take care of their workers, to not put the burden on the community. And now we are seeing kind of the opposite narrative," Exner-Pirot said.Wood Buffalo population drops due to significant decline in commuters: municipal census Suncor said nearly half of its workforce — about 8,000 people — work and live in the Fort McMurray region with plans in place to localize more of its workforce.