How many newfoundlanders live in fort mcmurray

It would be nice to go back there but right now we don't have the means to go back there," said Bragg.

Just days before she was evacuated from the apartment she was renting in Fort McMurray, she paid her rent for the month of May, which left her bank account dry. Bragg said she would prefer to stay in better accommodations than a shelter, but finding an affordable hotel has been tough.

Bragg is thankful for the assistance from the Red Cross and volunteers at the shelter, but she's hoping she won't have to stay there long.

Caroline Hillier is the producer of the St. Today, the Alberta oilpatch is facing a double-edged sword — dealing with the fallout of cratering crude prices on one side, and addressing health concerns caused by COVID on the other. On the economic side, there have been billions slashed from planned capital investments, big voluntary production cuts, and project slowdowns.

On the health side, concerns have been expressed about the use of fly-in workers, and the possibility they could unwittingly spread the coronavirus. Sajid said companies have been working to adjust their operations to conform with public-health guidance — everything from altering shift rotations and work schedules, to changing how workers are fed pre-packaged meals instead of buffets , to enhanced screening and physical distancing measures.

I don't see those going anywhere," Sajid said. I don't see that shifting in a major way. University of Alberta professor Sara Dorow said the western province is currently facing the "double whammy" of a health crisis and an oil crisis. She said they are both separate and related issues, and have both separate and compounding effects on mobile workers. Dorow is chair of sociology at the University of Alberta and has been researching the political economy of the oilsands for over a decade.

She said the workforce has been reduced at some sites by up to 60 per cent, and there are questions about what happens next. Dorow said the current added stress and difficulty for fly-in, fly-out workers has been compounded by the financial and economic uncertainty they are facing.

Not just here, but in the places from which [fly-in, fly-out] workers come. This coverage is part of Changing Course, a series of stories from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador that's taking a closer look at how the COVID pandemic is affecting local industries and businesses, and how they're adapting during these uncertain times to stay afloat.

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Like thousands of others from the East Coast province, she now lives in Fort McMurray, the northern Alberta oilsands town, after her family was lured there for work. Balsom owns a publishing business and sits as a councillor with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray.

Alberta health officials reported 1, new cases of COVID on Thursday, for a total of 20, active infections across the province. Twenty more people died, officials said. By contrast, Newfoundland and Labrador reported 41 new cases on Friday, for a total of active cases — alarming numbers for a province used to near-zero daily case counts, but nowhere near the tallies in Alberta. There were active cases in Fort McMurray as of Thursday, local officials said in a news release.

He said his province will send five or six workers, adding that the government was still working out the details of the trip.