Off The Fence - Economic recession takes its toll on friends and family

Susan Thompson
Express staff

The recession has had some personal consequences for me and my husband.

We’re losing some good friends.

One couple we know is moving back to Vancouver. Another couple we know is moving back to Ontario.

In both cases, our friends made the difficult decision to pack up and leave because of the lack of work here.

The men in both couples got laid off, so they’re heading back to their families elsewhere, in the hopes that they’ll have more support and a better chance of finding work.

The cost of living is so high here they’re also hoping it’ll be easier to afford to live back in provinces with public auto insurance and other perks.

We wish them well, but it’s sad to see them go. Good friends, the kind who don’t just take but are always there for you, are hard to find.

It makes me wonder how many other people are returning to their hometowns in other parts of the country right now - or are thinking about it.

Alberta has been attracting people from all over the country for years thanks to our previous labour shortage and the abundance of high-paying work in the patch.

My husband’s a welder, and often when he’s on a local job he’s the only local there. Workers come from everywhere, from as close as over the B.C. border to as far as Newfoundland and the U.S.

Now that’s there’s no work, it’s inevitable for that trend to reverse and for the province to start to clear out. At least for now.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

We’ve known many guys who have had to leave their wives and kids on the other side of the country for months at a time to support them. Those families will be reunited, and communities cleared out by the draw of black gold will have a chance to start to come back together again.

The same is true of families here at home too.

Men who have made a living by heading out to the patch for winter, leaving their families behind and making single moms out of their wives, are going to be around a lot more. I know my husband has been home more this winter than he’s ever been.

That takes an adjustment too, and money worries can make it tough.

But maybe it will mean more families can start functioning as families again, instead of being subjected to the strain of crazy work hours and always-changing schedules and a missing parent.

There’s never been such a thing as a 40-hour work week in the patch after all, and usually it’s go go go 24/7; the slowdown means people might be forced to return to more human schedules, the kind that actually work with regular business hours and school days, the kind that are less likely to cause exhaustion, stress, injury, and often, divorce.

There’s no question things are shaking up and changing and that a lot more of us are going to have to find our place again.

In the meantime, all I know is that as a born-and-raised Albertan, I’m staying here, and my husband and I will tough it out as best we can.

We’re working so far, and as we watch good people sitting waiting or looking for work, we appreciate that more and more.

We’re just old enough to have seen this province go bust before, and survive, so we know it can be done and we’re willing to hang on until things one day get better. I’d like to think there’s some true Albertan grit in that.

But I guess when it comes to seeing how many other people feel the same, only time, and oil prices, will tell.

Copyright © 1999-2009 Smoky River Express. All Rights Reserved.
No part may be reproduced without written permission.

View our Privacy Statement.
Send website suggestions to the Webmaster