Riley Brandt
Jeremy Landry left and Kevin Paquet ride south of Fort McMurray. Landry’s saving up to pay off his quad snowmobile Mustang and truck — a toy collection common in the oilsands city
Young workers make big money fast and spend it just as quickly
Driving down a dirt road though boreal forest just south of Fort McMurray we stop dead in front of a concrete barrier on the side of the road. On the other side of the marker is a group of about 10 guys and one lone gal on quads ripping up a muddy open area with high jumps at the back concealed by forest.
Kevin Paquet drives up within inches of my foot and takes off his helmet to reveal the dirty tanned red face of a young man who works outdoors slick with sweat from the jump he just completed. He’s here from Quebec City working as a hydro vac operator in the oilsands and in residential construction. He’s returned home once already and probably will again. The 22-year-old isn’t bored exactly; it’s just a different kind of lifestyle.
“I work pretty much all the time” he says.
His work buddy Jeremy Landry from Wainwright Alta. adds there’s not much else to do — except maybe drinking. Landry’s only staying in Fort McMurray until he can pay off his debts. That’s $7000 for his yellow quad $10000 for his snowmobile $40000 for his Mustang and $76000 for his truck. He’s been in Fort McMurray for four years.
After days of touring around streets packed with white work trucks jacked high above the ground with big toys in the back Landry’s collection of wheels isn’t surprising. Almost everyone owns a quad a dirt bike or a snowmobile.
Salaries in Fort McMurray are of course part of the reason for these lavish recreational habits. In 2005 Statistics Canada reported the Fort’s median income as $124592 a year; the median for the rest of the province is $73823.
The reason most of these predominantly young men are in Fort McMurray is the money. They are here for a short period of hard work and fortune building.
Take 19-year-old Brad McDonald. He’s been in town for one month and already knows he’s leaving. He’s actually hoping to retire back home in Nova Scotia as quickly as possible.
“Everyone comes to Fort McMurray with a five-year plan” says Colleen Tatum owner of MXC Racing and Off-Road Shop. She sold many of these young men their quads and snowmobiles. She knows how much they spent on accessories for their trucks and she knows that many of them will opt to stay in town whatever their plans. “Most people come and buy a truck” she says “and then they buy the accessories and a quad so there’s not much (money) left over to go back with.”
The situation is so common that a financial advisor in Ontario has caught on and is targeting young people in Fort McMurray with an “Exit Strategy” financial plan. Sparked by the experiences his own brother-in-law had while working in Fort McMurray Falk Hampel a German immigrant living in Sarnia posted an Internet ad aimed at the young workers who want to save enough to go home.
“Those guys are hard workers” he says “but they are not really financial planners.”
So Hampel offers them basic investing advice and helps with budgeting. People in their 20s especially those who are willing to move across the country for a labour job don’t have a realistic concept of what $100000 really represents or what it can do for them. That’s how they get in trouble with expensive items like quads he says.
“Those five-year plans don’t work” he says “and it has a lot to do with financial planning.”
When the exit plan does work out young people leaving the oilsands can find themselves well ahead of the curve.
On the next night at the same site down the dirt road a group of Newfoundlanders are trying out Dwayne Angell’s new dirt bike and enjoying a small tailgate party.
Shannon Rideout a 26-year-old construction worker from Summerford Nfld. drinks a can of Coors Light and talks about heading into Edmonton to get a large tattoo on his chest. Angell ribs him about shaving his chest later that night.
Even given little extravagances like a road trip for body art he’s saved enough to buy a house in Edmonton. After living in Fort McMurray for 10 years and working for most of that time he can’t wait to leave.
His friends aren’t taking him seriously though and joke that he won’t make it out. But he’s determined and lowering his voice leaning in so close I can see his blond eyelashes he repeats: “Within a month.”
