Think I'll Go Out to Alberta

"New Waterford [Nova Scotia], population 6,500 and falling, embodies one of the less remarked-upon implications of the oil sands bonanza: a profound social and demographic shift in the small communities that furnish so much of the project's labour force during its massive construction phase.

So many of New Waterford's men are working out of town that the fire department can't recruit volunteers and the dart leagues are foundering. The local high school is having a difficult time finding coaches. A great number of children are being raised by their mothers. And finding a plumber or electrician is next to impossible.

Meanwhile, some of the youth heading west in search of jobs are staying there, exacerbating the town's attrition and raising questions about the future sustainability of basic services.

“There's hardly a household you can go by without running into someone working in the oil sands,” Mr. Morrison says. “There's a lot less men around. It's unbelievable. They're either getting ready to go or they just came back. In the 40 to 50 group, they're all out there.”

Whereas the number of people living in Canada swelled 10 per cent between 1996 and 2006, the number living in Cape Breton Regional Municipality decreased by more than 10 per cent – the largest drop of any census division. The municipality includes Sydney, Glace Bay, New Waterford and a handful of smaller villages.

While declining birth rates have abetted this slide, the bigger issue is what demographers call out-migration: people leaving and not coming back.