The oil sands project of northern Alberta has produced an economic explosion as has rarely been seen in world history.  It’s probably North America’s biggest resource boom since the Klondike gold rush of 1898, and it could permanently transform Canadian politics to boot.

Alberta’s oil and gas riches have not only showered prosperity on its 3.2m residents but are also causing a tectonic shift in Canada’s economic and political landscape.

According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, oilsands extraction and processing projects valued at C$60bn ($53bn, £27bn, €40bn) are on the way over the next five years. The rush has produced an economic bonanza: Alberta’s growth rate, adjusted for inflation, is expected to reach 7 per cent this year. That is far above the 1.7 per cent projected for Ontario, the industrial heartland where manufacturers have been hit by bad times in the Detroit-based automotive industry and a strong Canadian dollar – itself buoyed by the oilsands boom.

Unemployment in Alberta has fallen to 3 per cent; jobs are available for just about everyone able and willing to work. So many from Newfoundland have been moving west in search of jobs that Air Canada operates a “Newfie Express” linking Fort McMurray, the centre of oilsands activity, to St John’s, almost 4,000km to the east.

Growth in western Canada is shifting political power.  For the first time, Alberta and British Columbia have a combined population higher than that of Quebec, and will therefore be entitled to more federal MPs come the next redistribution of seats.

Alberta has reaped huge economic benefits, but has not saved as much of its oil revenue as have such other oil-rich areas as Alaska and Norway.  Rapid growth has also imposed costs on the environment.

The impact of oil and gas development and urban sprawl on the environment has also come under scrutiny. Dave Poulton, executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in Calgary, cites a shrinking caribou population, an “unproven but perceived” fall in grizzly bear numbers and extensive damage by off-road vehicles to the slopes of the Rockies. Among the worries is the oilsands projects’ appetite for water: about four barrels of water are required to extract a single barrel of oil.

Concerned groups, including some in the oil industry, suggest the province develop a better long-term fiscal plan and constrain development to proceed in a more orderly fashion.

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