CAMPBELLTOWN, N.L. – Times have gotten tough in the seaside town of Campbellton, N.L.
The population is about half of what it was 20 years ago and, with the fishing and lumber industries gone, the workforce has been forced to head elsewhere for jobs.
Tony Edwards has been working in Western Canada for seven years, while his family lives back in Campbellton.
“Things were rough,” he said. “I had no choices.”
He said his salary, working in Alberta’s oilsands, is three times more than what he would earn in Newfoundland.
That may make life easier and allow him to afford a camper and a new patio, but he’s rarely home to enjoy them. He travels back and forth between the Rock and the oilsands every two weeks.
His wife, Mary Lou, shoulders most of the workload on the home front, taking care of their 14-year-old granddaughter, Jurnee, who is disabled and needs constant assistance with everyday tasks such as getting dressed and walking outdoors.
On top of that, she requires regular medical appointments that are five hours away in St. John’s.
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It puts even more pressure on him to keep working out West.
“I got no choice,” he said. “I’m stuck where I’m at, really.”
New numbers from Statistics Canada on Wednesday show the number of Atlantic Canadians working in Alberta has tripled in the past 10 years – an estimated 20,000 of those are Newfoundlanders.
Even those who don’t commute to Western Canada are working in other parts of Newfoundland and Labrador.
For towns like Campbellton, it means a constant struggle to maintain services – such as the volunteer fire department – leaving residents fearful of the future.
It also means, with a scarcity of men, women have taken charge.
“Women are running things, which is a good thing,” Clark said. But, she worries that those women doing everything will be left burnt out.
“It’s just me,” Mary Lou Edwards said. “I got to do everything.”
“I really don’t think he’s gonna find something in Newfoundland that makes the money he’s making up there,” she said.
According to Statistics Canada, men from Atlantic Canada who migrated to Alberta for work had a 79 per cent gain in earnings.
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