“More than 34,000 oil and gas workers in Alberta have lost their jobs since September 2014, and oil sands capital spending is forecast to further decline in the next decade,” says Hussey. “The massive capital spending of the growth phase of the oil sands industry is over. That and recent trends in extractive technologies and facility design cast further doubt on oil sands employment increasing significantly in the future.”
Hussey points out that the same industry that is cutting expenditures and jobs is also the fastest-growing source of carbon emissions in Canada.