That headline is not click-bait, nor is it wishful thinking. In late May, Steve Williams, CEO of Suncor penned an editorial for the Calgary Herald (along with Justin Smith of the Calgary Chamber and Chris Ragan, an Economics professor at McGill University). In this editorial, Williams highlighted the importance of having the right climate policy, especially with the upcoming expiration of the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation (SGER), the internaitonal climate negotiations in Paris later this fall and public opinion in light of the new (left-wing) majority government in Alberta, Canada’s oil bastion.
Alberta’s Inefficiency Highlighted by Unproductivity
A new study was recently released which showed that Alberta had the highest unproductivity rates compared to other North American jurisdictions. Although the province’s growth is high, it has been driven by increases in labour, rather than improvements in productivity of individual workers. The study (see below for the article) goes into other aspects of productivity, but the industrial numbers are of concern here.
‘Job machine’ Alberta dead last in labour productivity among oil regions: report
The numbers are not a surprise to people involved in Alberta’s (mostly) extractive industries. Alberta suffers from more inclement weather, and crucially weather swings, that most of the jurisdictions surveyed. Productivity at most Oilsands facilities averages 3 hours for every 10 hours paid, in the estimation of this blogger (based on direct knowledge of the system). In addition, the increase in labour demand has led to the hiring of inexperienced workers, who typically take a few months to come up to speed but are charged with producing at full capacity right away. Finally, most industrial sites in Alberta are in fairly remote locations. The supply chain issues around construction materials in particular, result in further unproductivity per dollar spent.