Glad to see some informations that is not biased. What I would like to mention is that SW Ontario is about to be torn apart by a tar sands refinery. Our local MPP is pushing the Government to get the environmental assessments handled in a speedy fashion.

Just what this means is not clear, however we are about to lose thousands of acres of farmland and wildlife habitat to again supply the US with cheap fuel. How much more to we give up for them.....

Why do I mention this, because to supply the US with cheap gas, diesel, and jet fuel I will lose my home. Not that its anything special but I will never have a place on the river again, not where I can see eagles every day, and deer, turkeys and other wonders of nature. This needs to be looked into, and soon as we have been stalked by Shell for the past 2 years with no solution in sight.

Shame on you, Alberta! The government and business leaders...
For allowing the destruction of the Environment and polluting the Waters. Sending tarsands oil to the U$ so they can wage war around the World and fly planes that spew dioxins & carcinogens. All for the pursuit of money!

While it is true there are many Newfoundlanders working in the tar sands, being a Newfoundlander I feel it is an insult to be called a Newfie. It puts us in the old standard of the stupid newfie. Without all the newfoundlanders in Alberta most of these projects wouldn't have the required work force. As CBC you should use better judgement when selecting your words. Would you use the "N" word when you talk about people from Africa.

The oil sands developement needs to be slowed down to to a manageable pace. Who is really benefiting from this breakneck expansion? A few developers and ruthless realtors? Oh and don't forget the huge multinationals that are making record profits. These profit gluttons continue to say that they can not afford to institute company housing with oil at $100 plus per barrel, and yet they could at $18? The people that have been lured to Fort McMurray with the thoughts of owning any kind of a home and raising a family have been rudely awakened. These companies have the ability to stabilize the housing costs and enjoy the spin off of relible employees for generations but instead they are only interested in the quick buck and leaving the mess for the next CEO to deal with.

I don't understand the insanity.

I understand there's a lot of jobs, and a lot of money to be made. I understand it's a good investment for foreign oil companies.

I don't understand why the government is so hell-bent on selling it off so quickly. They are robbing future generations, destroying habitat, and seriously impacting the health of a lot of people (workers, regional First Nations, everyone around the globe impacted by climate change). Why are they not demanding more and putting into long term funds for the future of the province? Why are they not capping emissions?

Are they trying to cram through projecs before invetiable environmental and greenhouse gas regulations? Or are they just trying to get the oil out of the ground before there's no more natural gas and/or water to support extraction?

The oil isn't going anywhere. Slowing down, protecting the environment, allowing infrastructure and services (hospitals, housing) to catch up to needs, how can this be viewed negatively (especially given the labour shortage?)

This is mismanagement of the worst kind. They're creating enormous impacts now, and they'll have nothing to show for it later. I don't understand why Albertans don't demand better.

these projects too few dollars are being put into wind energy which might drive down oil prices and stop poisoning communities downstream. The conservatives have chosen to attack the land and destroy it for many decades if not centuries. It is the saddest season in Alberta's history.

It is a known fact that Canada has the second most oil reserves in the world. Given this fact, why do we pay so much at the pumps?
Free market is the answer I hear on a regular basis, but in my reality I don't believe it to be fair. I think fair would be for Canada to have it's own refining capacity and stop selling crude to America. I think we should refine and sell to satisfy our needs then with what is left over sell it on the market to the nations next door.We should keep our cost low and raise the price for eveyone else to make up for the profit loss. We all pay taxes should we not all benefit from our nations natural resources. I consider our natural resources to be a national asset and if you are a Canadian Citizen then benefits to having the most natural resources in the world, would in turn somehow benefit Canadians. I realize this industry does benefit us by creating jobs, and is a very imortant part of our economy. When our American cousins try to funel our resources for their profits, and Canadians are paying more than we realy should have to there is a problem!

I love the way that this is written,

'Meanwhile Eastern Canada...'
'While Easterners...'

Apparently Canada is just the East. According to this article, the West is just this money-hungry exploit-the-environment group of people who care only about dollar signs. Meanwhile, the East are these loving poor souls who have to deal with the aftermath.

Oh, get over yourselves. Thank God Western Canada has the strong economies of BC, Alberta, and now-emerging Sask. to prop up the pathetic coffers and inefficient manufacturing of the East. If we left Canada, the East would be bankrupt !

While I do share some concern for the environmental impact the oil-sands are having on Alberta, and the climate change effects, I also think its ironic and easy to sit back in Toronto (Canada's biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions) and criticize.

So it seems that the CBC considers it appropriate to refer to Newfoundland pipefitters as "newfie" rather than Newfoundland pipefitters.They didn't refer to "yankie lobbyists" or "chink investors" or to Norwegians in a disparaging manner.This should be corrected in this item and not be used again by a national broadcaster that is being funded with taxpayer's dollars including those from Newfoundland which is a Canadian province!In an age of political correctness and awareness this is completely unacceptable.The CBC should know better.

I don't even need to see this documentary to know what their angle is - the short article says it all. It is quite funny that the above comment regards this as unbiased.

What a bunch of socialist/tree hugging trash. Like all things CBC. I won't watch this, like I haven't watched anything on the TV network for 10 years. No I don't even watch hockey on Saturday night. You have outlived your usefulness to this fine country.

If the federal government legislated ALL the refineries to be in Alberta and ALL of the revenue to be handed over to Ontario, do you think then they might stop whining ?

Over and over, it is how "Eastern Canada", "Thunder Bay to Cape Breton" are effected. Better hurry with NEP II, Alberta needs to be put in it's place.

Why are we still idependant of the U.S. anyways? With a large portion of the resourses in this Country being U.S. Corporation owned, we have the resourses in this Country deflected to the U.S. and have absolutely no say nor do we have protection from our own Government. Our Government is a mear puppet or pawn for the U.S. and they only do as they are told by the U.S. administration. Afghanistan is just another prime example of this. So we get to watch this country's resourses go south and why? They are not Canada's resourses but resourses owned by Companies that aren't Canadian. The resources that are owned by others just happen to be in our Country. With this type of free trade...and keeping Canada a seperate entity from the U.S. is just another perfect "legal" but immoral way to launder money. The only way this will change is if Canada became part of the U.S. (which these large U.S. Companies don't want for it cuts into the double dipping profits), or the U.S. dollar plumits so low that Canada can take the U.S. over. Either way, we are already targets for the U.S. governments' enimies (Terrorists) and we let our own government put us in this position. All we can do about it now is b@&ch and ride it out. Hope for the best before it's too late for us as a people and society and the environment as a whole.

Makes me sick to think CANADA is allowing this to go on. OUR natural resources being tossed away to other countrys with no regard for the long term economic and enviromental effects.

Great program. Thank you all.

So what do we do, Canadians?
Tom Woodford, will you film our response?

Once again the powers that be never cease to amaze. They constantly play the word game to dupe the average Joe and then go ahead and sell us out to their wealthy connected friends.
By the time the majority of the people learn enough to get angry the damage is already done.
I Thank CBC for thier fantastic reporting.

It's glad to see this documentary film with objective perspective. There're always dicussions about economic growth and environment protection. It's related the politics for most of time. How much does a Canadian know the new technology is under developing in its institutions, and how much does a normal Canadian could know what what the politician's doing under the table? Thanks for CBC in providing a diverse angle.

Shame on us Canadians for not properly nurturing our natural resources. It is time for Canadians to stand up and take control of our natural resources - starting with the petro sector. It is time to nationalize these energy resources and follow a model similar to Norway's STATOIL.
Think about it, we could provide free university education for Canadians. We could completely fund our Medicare for an aging population. In short, we could ensure a high quality of life for future generations of Canadians.

Great Show, thanks CBC!

The show points out we are only in this game to give our resources and soverenty away. Can you believe that eastern Canada doesn't even have a secure source of fuel? We have the power to make sure this resource can be more cleanly exploited but we are doing nothing.

Canadians can say they care. But they don't. If they did, they would be doing something about it. And they are letting the politicians sell our country by the pound and wash it away with what is left of Canadian democracy (have you guys not noticed that our political system is going down the tubes in the last few years? This is what oil and money does?).

We should follow the example of other countries who nationalised the resource, exploited it in a controlled manner and kept the proceeds to themselves.

We will need major reform politically for anything good to happen here by the way. Hope this is at the top of your mind.

ACT: You can make a difference.

Hmmm unbiased, I'm not sure I can completely agree with that statement. I haven't even seen this documentary and I'm sure that eveything brought forward will have a negative spin towards Fort McMurray and the oilsands. First of all I've been a local resident of Fort McMurray for the past 5 years. This town is no different than any other town that I've lived in. Sure there are drugs and infrastructure difficulties, but this is no different than any other growing community in Alberta. If you want to find drugs you can find them like any other town. But it's like any place, 5% of the town has bad areas and the other 95% is a normal functioning community with, schools, theaters, hockey rinks, and amazing community attractions such as the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre, Macdonald Island and many other great liesure facilities that attract people to this community.
As for the increased cost in housing, which has been deemed "unafordable". I can personally tell you that even with the increased cost in housing that ones disposable income is considerably more than any other community in Canada. Also compare the price of housing in Fort McMurray to Vancouver or Calgary. Not a huge difference yet the average yearly income in Fort McMurray is nearly double to tripple that of those cities. I personally can't understand why more people aren't flocking to this great community?
I work out on site with an oil company who treats thier employees like gold in order to retain and attract new personnel. I work with new state of the art equipment that operates efficiently to maximize every Kilojoule of heat burned. This equipment is so efficient that our company actually receives carbon credits from the government. Yes there is pollution but it is more efficient than any other coal, wood, or black liquor fired, generating station in operation in other parts of the country.
The economic spin off alone is so drastic that the prices of houses in western Canada have been increased in the last 3 years because of Fort McMurray. Fort McMurray puts food on the tables for families spanning all across Canada. Yet all people outside of Fort McMurray see is the negative aspects shown in the media.
So I'm interested to see this documentary. I'm hoping that it will be unbiased yet reading the introduction to the program I don't think that my view of the community will be shown. I suppose you must live and work in Fort Mcmurray to truly understand what the community has to offer.

I live just 2 1/2 hours south of Ft.McMurray I enjoyed the documentary and can't help wishing that our former premiers had more backbone like Newfoundland/Labradors' does when it comes to the states. It seems we are practically giving away the oil and yet Bush is yapping about it being "dirty". Did he ever hear the saying about biting the hand that feeds you? Stelmach should open up negotiations with China and screw the states.
What is Bush thinking when it's all American companies up here? Why is it so easy for the ordinary person to see how the states are using Canada,but not the ones making all the decisions?We hold all the cards in this game.
Because we have the oil we have the power! Wake up Stelmach and Harper!!

Well, that was all at once an eye opening and frightenting experience.

You would stand yourselves in good stead
to make the doc available on line imho.

If you are serious about the message, allow it to be carried. Many of us would be happy to spread the word.

Brilliant! Thank you.

I continue to be impressed with the content of your program on a regular basis. This doc about the Alberta oil sands was one of the best. I think it is so important that CBC continues to make TV programs with issues that really matter. It seems that so many people are unaware of these important issues in our country. As far as the oil sands go, I personally think that we(Canadians) need to gain more control. It seems that the Alberta government are making serious mistakes. It reminds me of the situation in NL when we destroyed the cod stocks. I'm not sure when governments will catch on to the idea of sustainable development. Some times I find it so hard to believe that humans are so resistant to change, no matter how logical it seems.

why are they calling it the tar sands when it is the OIL sands; and we do not work 3 shifts/day - we work 2 shifts/day.

I hope they are going to profile people who have made Fort McMurray their home and not only profile people chasing the dollars!

What this documentary portrayed seems to me some very irresponsible policy by both the National and Alberta Governments. This is regardless of who or where the oil is sold to.

As said inside this piece uncontrolled and accelerated development usually ends in just as fast of a decline. Such a project has both costs and rewards and if it is not managed we as Canadians will have far more problems when all the money is spent away.

What worries me even more is the fact that the Alberta and national governments are not putting Canadian interests first especially in environmental damage and our own energy security. You cant take care of your "brother" before you take care of yourself...

I don't agree with such sovereignty issues as portrayed but such things need to be considered first before you go mad with the next rush. If we are to become a long sustained "energy exporter" we should do as such.

I tire of Eastern Canada complaining about the oil sands, yet are more than willing to keep their hand out for Alberta's surplus of money. Has any easterner stopped to think about why the Canadian dollar rose with the boom in oil sands work?
The program was far from being fair handed. Near the end they mentioned being able to get at the oil without strip mining? I've been doing that for years. Its called SAGD. Maybe a little fact finding would help before making a heavy handed eastern minded documentary about Alberta's natural resource.

Environmentally, it is not near as bad as its being played off. Any of the major oil sands players are having to abide by more and more strict environmental laws, and new innovations in the process are coming out with each passing day. It boggles my mind that every Canadian is now saying "That's our oil!", yet they have no part in the extraction process. Yes, lets up royalties, so eastern Canada can get more money from oil, while the workers in Alberta suffer to bring money to the rest of Canada while losing work in the process.

If someone in Eastern Canada wants to talk to me about the tar sands, please do some research first in the matter, instead of just spouting the "Its our oil, raise royalties" or "Its not environmentally friendly."

To the person losing his home over a refinery being built, Im sorry to hear that. Stories like that are always swept under the rug when dealing with big business. A sad side effect that comes with the acquisition of acquiring land. I hope things end up working out for you.

Are there any technologies out there that can remove the oil from the tar sands in a more environmentally friendly manner. Realistically, the market will demand retreival of this resource. So it would be nice to find a better way to get it out.

I hope that those who view this documentary recognize that it is biased like everything else. And can someone tell me why journalists and film makers have become experts in our society?

My heart goes out to you Gayle, but I'm afraid you can't expect any sympathy from most Albertans. Most Albertans are woefully ignorant that Ralph Klein, the former Premier had given away the resource and that Albertans are totally screwed. On top of that, we are becoming an international environmental poria. Albertans and Alberta democracy is dying the death of a thousand cuts and the sad part is most are unaware. I fear for the next generation.

Wow, that was some great information. That should be required material for all schools, offices, homes and government buildings! How can I get a copy?!
We need a leader like the east coast Premier! Its rare for someone in this day to have the balls to stick by what they know is right and best in the long-term, despite it being unpopular in the moment. How did you manage to vote in a bunch of cowards?
I too am concerned about my home, I was born and raised in Alberta and now the government is allowing foreign companies to rape the land for no benefit of ours. Good foresight and values guys. They certainly will not be remembered in a positive light?wishing the future was now.

I haven't been so upset since watching Al Gores documentary. How do we voice our concerns about the raping of our country? I was wondering why the Ads about restoring the land back to it's former state are no longer shown on T.V. It was all a lie. Who paid for that Ad? I fear for the lives of my grandchildren. Who is getting paid off to sell Canada? Harper investigate. Why such a long delay in carbon capture? Our poor fragile planet. I am ready to join the fight against this. Where do I sighn up.

a very informative documentary--nice to know that Canada has done so very little to secure our oil future yet we don't hear anything from any in government to make any changes to secure our future. We are worse off than most banana republics. Too bad this doc was not aired before the Sask. and Alta. provincial elections to educate the public a bit more. I shutter to see what our country will look like in a few more years.

The Selling of Alberta should be shown in the classroom to every student across Canada. They must be made aware of the destruction of their future. This was a doomsday warning. Thanks CBC for this educational program even though I won't be able to sleeo tonight because I am so mad and the feeling of helplessness has overwhelmed me.

It is hard to believe this was billed as a documentary rather than the OpEd piece that it actually was.

Not only were the spokespersons carefully chosen to provide a slanted view, but the "facts" were often either wildly inaccurate, selectively chosen or misused. Example: If the oil sands area was truly the size of Florida they would stretch from 130 km north of Fort McMurray to almost 200 km south of Edmonton. By area, Florida is some 10 times larger than the oil sands!

Not that developing the oil sands are without challenges that must -- and are being -- addressed. Fast enough? Maybe not, by why slag folks like Keng Chung that are trying to make a difference by examining Chinese technology -- not acting a a shill for the Chinese government as you suggest.

Finally for the Newfoundlanders wanting to go back to the Rock and to Danny Williams' paradise, they should notice that the oilfields of the Grand Banks are quickly approaching their peak and -- without significant new discoveries -- they will be returning home to a province that still ranks as #1 for unemployment in Canada.

Perhaps someday the Canadian tax dollars that fund the CBC (which includes a substantial portion from Alberta) will be used to provide a balanced view and a true documntary.

It seems unbelievable that as the consequences of global warming are seen as more and more dire, more and more oil is being extracted. Not only fiddling while Rome burns, but adding fuel to the fire. Not to mention the incredible damage to Alberta's enviromnent. The Norway angle is interesting . . . remember when Canada had its own national oil company? One wonders if resistance to Petrocan and "western alienation" served the U.S. more than any one in Canada's west. Outside influence?

Having lived in Fort McMurray for more than seventeen years,before making the decision to raise my family elsewhere, I was particularly interested in seeing this film.

While I wouldn't go so far as to describe the film as unbiased, I would applaud the director for approaching some subjects overlooked until now. For example, the trials of a commuting family. I am not sure what the ratio of commuting oisand workers is, but I would wager that it is much higher than most people could imagine. What the film failed to describe is why the people commute, or in the case of the couple from Newfoundland, why they want to move away.

Fort McMurray is at the epicentre of an incredible economic boom. This is a communtity that has been repeatedly portrayed in the media as a boom town fueled by illicit drug use and populated by a sort of "rough and ready" people that allegedly behave more like actors in a Hollywood wild west movie than like real Canadians living in a real community.

Sadly, this film failed to disuade this commonly held opinion. Certainly the city has all of the difficulities of much larger places in terms of illegal behaviour. Certainly there is greed and graft and all sorts of socially unpleasant activity, just like any other large modern centre.

This documentary fails to make clear to the rest of Canada, the real impact this sudden and seemingly unstoppable growth in oilsand development has had on the community of Fort McMurray. Fort McMurray was not built or planned with the idea that it would have to sustain the population that it now hosts.

The difficulties for the people of this region translate not only to inadequate and unaffordable housing but also to overcrowded and inadequate traffic management, to overcrowded schools, inefficient medical care and inadequate infrastructure. Any requests for provincial or federal help in terms of correcting any of these deficits is seen as ridiculous greed.

This is a community that is playing a huge role in fueling the economy of Alberta and subsequently the economy of the country as well. The difficulties of the citizens are routinely overlooked in pursuit of the the almighty foreign dollar. This unmitigated growth has come at more cost than can be measured by simply citing environmental issues. These certainly ought not be downplayed, but the human costs of his boom should be better acknowledged.

Fort McMurray is not a disposable community. The people who live there don't see it that way. It is a shame that the rest of the province and that the country see them that way.

One wonders why this program was not shown both nationally and locally prior to the recent provincial election in Alberta. I am certain it was ready for viewing before today. One wonders if it would have made a difference.

Well done documentary.
I had known a bit about the Alberta Tar Sands before and the horrifying things that are resulting from it. This documentary made me see even more horrors of the tar sands, especially how the albertans are so willing to give it away without at all considering the long term effects. There needs to be a stop put to this, or another solution, is there someone (or more) within the Alberta government or the Canadian government to contact, to demand action? Please let us know.

The CBC should be given a medal form its onesided coverage. It seems like the 2 based Toronto newspapers ( Star and Globe )and the CBC have a vendetta against Alberta. Always there seems to an article,a series of articles or a CBC doc. trashing the tar sands. You three organizations speak for your editorial boards and thats about it.

You seem to be stuck in the past where the feds need to be fed in order to give out politically correct hand outs. Those days are gone. Thank God.

The comments by the South Western Ontario resident is almost comical. Ontario's arrogance continues as the facade they "might" be able to hold up (Oil refinery) to stall the Tarsands? Ontario is basically finished as a power in Canada, Alberta will now comfortably move into this spot and all I can say is it looks good on Ontario as for years central Canada bled the west of its wealth, natural resources and above all, any political influence the west may have had.
Now we just have to ensure Canada elects a majority right wing government to ensure the left leaners are kept in check.
In this new age of development, growth and prosperity where will Ontario fit in seeing as the manufactoring billions have now moved to Asia? Will the west forgive and forget the past arrogance that kept the west under the thumb of Ontario, Ottawa and the Federal Liberals for over 100 years. All of this is about to change thank God!

Thank you so much for this documentary. I appreciated several things about it, one of which was that it used the term tar sands. I noted the transition among supporters a few years ago to the term oil sands and consider it to be a marketing and political term, and totally inaccurate.

The development of the tar sands is technically complicated, and there is only so much you can put into a one-hour documentary, but to me the craziest part of the whole tar sands process was left out. It was mentioned that the process has a lousy energy return of only two barrels for one equivalent barrel invested. But what lies behind that ratio is that vast amounts of stranded natural gas is used to produce the steam to separate the bitumen from the sand. But then they still only have tar, which they "upgrade" by stripping the hydrogen from more natural gas to make the lighter less viscous products like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. It is the equivalent of using gold to make lead and on the face of it looks like borderline insanity.

But that's not all. They are rapidly running out of natural gas, so the next plan is to build nuclear reactors to make heat for steam processing and to crack water to get the hydrogen for upgrading. Oh boy!

The tar sands project is little more than a thermodynamic boondoggle in which little net energy is produced. The main product is money, which as the documentary showed sometimes functions as a social contagion.

The tar sands is the best evidence of the deep trouble we are in regarding the supply of energy to support our consumer lifestyle. That is, if this is the best energy idea from the 'smartest guys in the room', then we are in very deep trouble indeed.

Once again Canada is giving away its resources!
Why are we so happy to settle for Alberta receiving $3 for every barrel of oil produced when each barrel of oil is selling for $107?
Our government once again has given away a highly valued asset. It is Canada?s oil so Canada should benefit from it first and then sell the rest to the highest bidder!
Ottawa needs to realize to keep Canada going we need to first protect and then invest in our resources and economy.
If there is 100 years worth of oil in Alberta for the U.S. and the U.S. has 10 times our population how long would the oil last in Canada and how much cheaper would it cost us to fill our cars?
I applaud the Premier of NFLD Danny Williams for standing up to the oil companies and looking out for the best interests of the people. This needs to be embraced across the country. Funny how his support in the last election I believe was over 90%.
Maybe if Canada owned the oil, Alberta and NFLD received healthy royalties and the rest of us had affordable energy prices this country would slowly begin returning to the best country in the world!

Every goverment relies on oil to give their people electricity and by using the tar sands as a supply of oil,well it will polute our country even more then it already is. Every news report about the tar sands that i have watched have been biased.Tricking people into thinking that the tar sands are good.but im telling you right now,they do more bad then good.the tar sands can produce millions of barrels of oil but it takes just they amount of oil in one barrel to produce two which is really discusting because again,it does more bad then good. sadly, the tar sand project will go on untill we as a country get involvedand do as much as we can to stop the tar sands and save alberta,so we can save our country, so we can save the world!!!

There is no humanity in the destruction that is taking place in Northern Alberta. The path of this destruction includes all living creatures living on land, water and breathing in the air not our aboriginals. A person does not have to be a scientist to know that.

Ed Stelmach's comment on the oil production enviromental impact being a myth is ludicrous. He was a farmer before going into politics. What happened to his judgment? He knows first hand the effects of polluted air and ground on farming communities. He needs to give his head a good shake. The oil money has blinded him.

This is the one of biggest sins against our environment.We are already seeing the effects. The Earth will take care of it's self and money is not going to save us.

The faces of the big oil delegates heading to Washington and Ed Stelmach clearly showed their love of money is bigger then their love for the environment. They must have other places they call home besides Alberta or Canada because no one in their right mind would allow this mess to take place in their own back yard. We are all going to pay the price for their greed.

As far as am concerned the people of Alberta have been blind folded before Ed Stelmach took over for Ralf Klien. The people in power have always banked on Alberta ignorants towards environmental issues.
It is a shame that the gluttony for money has taken over.

Given the state of the Environment, it would be prudent of Alberta to limit additional Tarsands expansion.

Hopefully, the exNewfoundlanders will find some meaningful work in their home province when it proceeds with off shore drilling in the future.

We really need to conserve so we don't have to rely on Middle East oil given that most of the Tarsands flow south of the border...

Hey Ontario, get over yourself. You're welcome in advance for the equalization payments that you'll soon be recieving rather than sending.

Sincerely,
Alberta's oil sands

Thank You so much for cutting through the blur that is occuring
in and around Canada's energy resources. We have been kept
in the clouds here in the west by the promise of the business side
of things. In Saskatchewan, we have elected a government bent on
making the province boom. But at what cost ? And will
the big companies just make off with the profits?

I can't disagree with the points in your documentary on the selling of our resources too cheap and not controlling the pace of the oilsands development. I can however express my deep disgust and disappointment in your (and the rest of the media) portrayal of the city of Fort McMurray yet again.

I have lived here for 1.5 years and you completely neglected to say anything remotely positive about the city and it's really too bad that no one can look past some of the problems and see the great people and generous community.

It has grown too fast and it's challenging to find a place to live and the streets are in rough shape but that doesn't mean that everyone here lives in their car or in a shelter or is a crack addict on the street waiting for their next shift or fix.

There are good people here who work long, hard hours to earn a good living in order to save and invest some money for their future. There are good families here who live in nice, friendly neighborhoods and go to a brand new gym facility on the college campus. There are many kind, generous people who opened up their homes to strangers when there was an apartment fire here last spring and donated over $3.5 million dollars to the local United Way foundation.

This city definitely has some problems but I would bet you can find the same problems in every city in this province on some scale. Fort McMurray may not be my permanent home but I'm certainly going to defend it while I'm here.

Thanks for an entertaining show. Too bad about the usual socialist bias. I used to live in Fort McMurray and work in the oil sands back when they were tar sands. I like the comparison with Norway having worked there recently. Canada and Norway produced about the same amount of oil in 2006, both at around $25/bbl cost. Canada's oil sand reserves will probably last 50 to 100 years, Norway's production peaked in 2001. Canada's oil (along with a few other resources) is supporting 33 million people. Norway's oil (along with not many other resources) is only supporting 4.5 million people. Guess whose saving more for the future?
Based on a recent speech by an industry CEO, the oil sand operations cover less of the arboreal forest than Toronto suburbs. The industry is and will put the arboreal forest back. What are the moaners in the east planning to do with the suburbs?

I just completed an election campaign as an Alberta Liberal candidate vying for a position in the legislature, and well aware of the urgency of many issues in Alberta including the lack of planning and control of the tar sands development.

Thank you for a visually explicit and informative piece. However, my most pressing question for CBC is why was this not aired before Albertans went to the polls three weeks ago?

As a result of watching this doc, I have come to the conclusion that we need to strike a citizens' committee, or a citizens' task force to assess our ownership and responsibility toward this part of Canada and the vast resource contained within. I think it appropriate if the origins of this task force come from Alberta, but it should be non-partisan and the membership should reach out across Canada as this issue (economically and environmentally) effects all of us.

Again, thanks to CBC and the makers of the film. Hope you re-run it in the near future.

Great documentary! Canada as an energy colony of the US is frightening.

Alberta is getting less royalties than when oil was a quarter of the current price and the Heritage fund (6 billion)not growing for more than a decade! Norway is not only securing its future with a Heritage fund of nearly half a trillion dollars but will implement carbon capture and storage in OUR tar sands. Good thing someone is leading the way when we are content to be passive colonial subjects without concern for our environment or our children's future.

I would have liked to know more about how the Chinese plan to develop our tar sands without the need for a dirty upgrading process. Ironic how innovation and environmental protection are coming not from our "blue eyed sheiks" but from Norway and China.

When will Alberta voters demand a prosperous and sustainable future for our energy production?

Are you planning a follow-up outlining the benefits? Mauybe you wont be satisified until Alberta is removed from the planet.

It has always surprised me that Canada or even Alberta did not have a national/provincial oil company that controlled the oil resources within our own country/province. As we leave the development and research to outside interests, we lose control as is happening with the oil sands. It struck me as ironic, as the media in Alberta attacked the current premier for the policies 'Untouchable King' Ralph had put in place. Hear me say 'royalties'...
The one thing that really scares me, is that we are in danger of becoming the next Peru, Iraq or other oil rich nations that the US wants to have domain over. Is this why the North American union is in play? The US is notorious for unfair trading tactics with Canada. They only play when the process is in their favour. Canada be damned, rules and agreements be damned. We are in very dangerous waters here. What happens when there is a disagreement and the US feels that their oil flow is threatened? And we know that it does not have to actually be threatened, the pundits just have to spin it that way. What happens? Do they then invade Canada and 'manage' our oil for us? Liberate us from ourselves? This documentary was extremely disturbing to me. Canada's and Alberta's future is bleak, should be continue to be so entwined with the this insatiable oil thirsty beast. No amount of money is worth the losses that will occur should this trend continue.

Several days ago CBC news aired a story that described an environmentally friendly, experimental extraction process that did not require extensive water and energy resources. It was so novel that the inventor had difficulty obtaining funds for a proof of concept extraction plant. That small plant is now in operation so I hope the CBC will keep us informed on this encouraging development that might mitigate the damage caused by the conventional extraction techniques.

Eye-opening documentary! I'm a commerce student at the University of Alberta and a professor encouraged us to watch the program last night.

I lived in Fort McMurray for 18 years (it's still my permanent address) and it amazes me how complacent everyone is about this social and environmental disaster. In my opinion, this apathy (refer to the shameful voter turnout in Fort McMurray) is carefully constructed and encouraged by our politicians and the corporate elite.

The front page of the Fort McMurray today often highlights the latest investments and prosperity of the region - neglecting health concerns, drug problems, and environmental degradation. Our provincial government and the CEOs of Syncrude/Suncor/etc. ensure these issues never get heard. They send $400 prosperity cheques our way and buy our complacency for a little longer (or fuel our gambling or drug addiction for a few more days) - did we just sell our province, its resources and our future for $400??

I agree with previous posts that Fort McMurray is often portrayed in a negative view. There are beautiful trails, parks, friendly people, great schools, and much more. However, the exploitation of the tar sands has the ability to ruin all of this.

I urge everyone to see the bigger picture - question your employer, think about your purchases, make a difference by voting, educate yourselves and others. Like the documentary said, WE own the oilsands, WE can change all of this. It's unfeasible and unlikely that production of tar sands will just stop, therefore, we should learn from others around us (Norway) and commit to a more democratic, participatory, and environmentally-sound way of production.

I was born and raised in Fort McMurray and have chosen to raise my own family here. When I was a kid, no one knew where Fort McMurray was, so it's strange to see it featured so often in national and international media.

One side of the story that this documentary and the media fails to recognize is the perspective of long-term residents. There is a huge population of lifelong residents who have no plans to leave after a 5-year or 10-year plan.

How do you think we feel to see the city we love bursting at the seams and migrant workers and media disregarding it a dirty oil town? The boom has brought many new facilities and opportunities for residents, but at the same time some of us would like to see oilsands development slow down -- for the sole reason that we want our town back!

According to CBC, there's never anything right about anything. What policies could the Province of Alberta, Saskatchewan, or any other oil producing state or province possibly implement that would ever meet Cbc's approval.

I open the CBC in the morning, they're upset about Prime Minister Harper. At noon, they're going after Brian Mulrony. At night on the national, it's some MP in Calgary, BC, etc.

One thing I know for sure. Contrary to popular belief, The oil that is here in Saskatchewan and Alberta is ours!! It doesn't belong to the CBC and their Liberal cohorts, nor does it belong to the province of Ontario and Quebec. You easterners buy your oil from the middle east, then you bash what we do in the west. Why don't you travel to Saudi Arabia and/or the Arab Emirates and see how long they'd let you film negative garbage like you've been filming about us for the last 50 years!

Money is money.

Premier Stelmach needs to grow a set and take on big business like the Premier of NFLD & Labrador. The government needs to learn that the big oil companies might run away when the royalties get raised but they will always come crawling back because they need oil and that is the last great SECURE source of oil. We should be more like the Norwegians, they are the smart ones and hopefully with their innovations we can reduce emissions and increase our efficiency in the way we do things.

For someone who didn't know much about the tar sands it was something that was enjoyed because all the information coming from it. The tarsands is a very important subject since the oil in the world was depleting highly and since the americans can't do much without oil they want in and that is same with china because they are energy straved and they also want in. This doc was every educational to me and now this is going to affect many people and countries around the world.

Is it any wonder that Alberta would rather sell oil to the States, rather then Eastern Canada.

From some of the comments here and the documentary one would assume that Albertans are simple ignorant folk that have caused;

1) The eastern manufacturing economy to collaspe (A failure to diverisfy and the US economic slow down had nothing to with it.)

2) The collapse of the eastern family, with no mention of the western families that live apart. Also no mention of why the eastern provinces are failing to provide jobs so that they didn't have to move there in the first place.

3) Increased green house emissions, that are feeding the fires of global warming. Let's see, the gas produced from the oil/tar sands is in part used by cars, trucks and etc. all of which release as green house emissions. Which economy produces cars, trucks and etc. The same manufactoring economy hurt by the petrodollar. Are all the SUV'S, minivans and other gas guzzlers up to European standards? Shame on you, eastern manufactoring economy, for trading the environment away for manufactoring dollars.

4) The only economic good that has come from oil/tar sands is a thriving cocaine market. No mention of the thousands upon thousands of jobs that have been created and drive a significant portion of Alberta economy and lesser extent the rest of Canada.

In all irony it seems people are willing to look the other way, as long as they get cheaper greenhouse emmission causing gas. Albertans aren't ignorant because they won't sell gas to people who show nothing but disstain for them.

One barrel of oil to produce two barrels of oil is a good way to produce a sick future for Albera. The real tragedy of the tarsands will be the distruction of the water. For example: How many barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil? This will be the biggest concern for Albertans in the near future.

Gees Matt, Where have you been?? Ever heard of the Grand Banks?? Yup we have the oil in the East but the Feds don't want us to be able to keep and market it. As far as resourses in BC and Alberta go.. that is funny. The oil in Alberta is mostly U.S. owned as is the Forest industry of BC.

Wow... I m now embarrassed to be an Albertan. Seriously.... especially when I saw the footage of the landscape. Compared to how Norway has dealt with their Energy reserves, Alberta looks pathetic.

There is no excuse for this and we will look back one day and realize what a huge mistake we made. How has the Oilsands affected the average Joe in Alberta? It hasn't.... It provides jobs to Foreigners, makes money for Foreign Oil companies and destroys our land, Air and water.....
Oil Sand processing has 3 times the carbon output of conventional oil, what a great solution.
All of this for the Lowest Royalty rates in the world.... way to go Ralph and Ed.
I WILL NEVER EVER VOTE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE AGAIN.... GREENS ALL THE WAY.
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I am a resident of Fort McMurray, and moved here in August 2005 from Saskatchewan. I studied Economics in University, and studied marketing through a technical college. I have had an interest in Oil Sands for quite sometime. I originally moved to Fort McMurray with a 4 month plan, to get in, work as much as possible, and get out - using the earned money to fund the rest of my education. Because like most other people in the country, I had an image of Fort McMurray being a dirty town that would not be a place to live and raise a family.

Truth is, I have grown into Fort McMurray, and I do enjoy living here. For a young person, or any business minded person, opportunity is apparent in every industry and every corner of the municipality. Fort McMurray does have it's faults - much like any city.

I am tired of these documentaries portraying Fort McMurray in a negative context. The section on the welder working in Fort McMurray for 10 years is portrayed as a 'bad family life', or by some reason he is implying he is required to work that shift/job. They mention he earns a six figure income, which most people do working in this area, but they fail to mention at what level that income actually is. With a contracted welder, their 'six figure' income is much much higher than $100,000/yr. While he may be sacrificing 3 weeks straight for work, it is typically very safe and manageable. Also the premium wages he will earn can support an entire family, live a premium life, and with proper budgeting, award very early retirement. Also for skilled tradespeople, jobs are readily had at numerous areas in the province that maintain a regular schedule - but what most do not say - They know those opportunities are available, but the reason they stay is the money... Where $100,000/yr is not enough, and $200,000 or more is needed, nobody is forced into this lifestyle, they choose it.

I however am not a tradesperson, I am professionally employed for a major oilsands company in supply management. I work a 4 day workweek and am home before 6pm every day, with fridays off. My employer offers premium vacation time, travel days additional, multiple bonus structures, paid education, housing allowances, and savings plans and benefits that almost no other can rival. At the age of 27, I find myself working in a city surrounded by people of similar age and interests, mostly University educated or skilled tradespeople trying to gain experience and grow their careers and start new families. The city has improved in the last 2 years, and new infrastructure plans are coming - they may be slow, but they are coming. Construction will slow down, and skilled tradespeople will be put to the test to begin growing the community at a faster rate compared to the oilsands.

Without fail, TV shows and documentaries seem to show "Diggers Night Club", the 7-11, and the other 4 blocks of central downtown Fort McMurray that I avoid on a daily basis. Every single large city in this world has areas that people just do not go. But when mentioning a city such as Calgary, or Edmonton, those parts are never shown - but instead, it is the upscale areas that are. "Remember people, do not move to Calgary, it has a bad part of town". Never once have I seen the new development of Eagle Ridge, Wood Buffalo, Longboat Landing or even Saprae Creek (an acreage development backing onto the Clearwater River) to show the more positive side of the city. A large new common area is being constructed in Timberlea bringing new retail and commercial to the city. We have 2 large sports complexes in the city, one completed, and one nearing completion. We have 3 golf courses, 2 of which are potentially of the nicest and most challenging in the province. Summer activities for mountain biking, quading, hiking, kayaking, and fishing are numerous.

Life is what you make out of it, and there is no other place I can continue my education, earn a premium salary and have this level of job security while working in a globally recognized industry. My original 4 month plan is now in its 3rd year and I have progressed from an equipment operator through management in that short period, and I see many more years and growth opportunities to come in the future.

While I support some of the criticisms about the rate of development, and things could have been handled better, we need to look ahead and begin positively promoting the region. Sure, lets make the government accountable for the growth and inflation, lets focus on the environment and controls, but lets stop this constant disrespect and poor image of Fort McMurray and actually begin to focus on its stregnths so permanent residents like myself can begin new families and be proud of where we live, and use that energy to bring us all together to grow the community.

Otherwise, lets do a documentary on the poor and bad areas of each major city in Canada and we will see how everybody stacks up.

This was not a documentary, neither was it journalism. It was a combination of manipulation (ominous music when showing a refinery, for example) and lies of omission.

The CBC's agenda lives on. I can only imagine that their fear is that if enough people prosper in life, then the CBC will become trivial. A vestige of earlier times.

CBC needs to grow up. And for those of you who watched that Drama and believe it, take some time and do some fact checking. Don't swallow everything that the CBC -with their liberal and ndp agenda- shovels at you.

The documentry last night angered me in so many ways, first off this land where industry is making its money and becoming rich belongs to First Nations in this region, and not one word was mentioned about us, the first inhabitants of this land!

You talked of Norway, the Middle East and Newfoundland and they people working here,
What about us FIRST NATIONS, my grandma died January 12, 2008 and since her death there have been 6 people in my community die, so you look at it one person per week in a community of 1200 dying and at what cost, so they can produce x amount of barrels of oil a day, what about my community and the people dying from cancer, our family our friends, what about them,

Do you even care to know what your polluting our waters with, your stripping us of our livelihood, our traditional ways of life, our heritage. Our fish is not safe to eat anymore, so who is going to compensate the commercial fisherman that used this to provide for their families in the summer, no one is going to buy our fish anymore, so who gains? I know that we loose.

Our water we could dip a cup in the lake long ago and have a drink, now you can't cause you'll be POISONED! it is true what if the water flowed the other way how would you feel if you had to drink it and feed it to your children, your family! I bet you'd be buying alot of bottled water, but Fort Chip can't were isolated, lower income,harder to get supplies in the community at a reasonable cost, there is no one gaining from oil sands grow in Fort Chip, were loosing our people, your killing us; a slow genocide is what it was referred to as.

So what was the purpose of the documentry to show the world that Alberta has Oil! to show them what they already knew! How about making a documentry about Fort Chipewyan, Alberta's oldest established settlement, where history holds a big importance to how Alberta was made from the fur trade and hudson's Bay, why not focus on the toxins that are polluting our Community and start to focus on what is going on down stream from the Oil Sand or the Tar Sands!

Was this journalism? I think not. Unbiased was definitely not part of this "documentary". It was more like a tabloid show. It's sad that the CBC has to stoop to the same levels of Right Wing individuals and create such scare tactic dribble. I won't even go into how biased the show was but in an age where News is increasingly becoming either ridiculously Right Winged (thank you FOX NEWS) CBC has decided to off set this with equally sensationalized media.

We have tons of networks producing this sensationalized trash, please fire these entertainers and hire some reporters.

Wow after reading many of the comments here its amazing how many people missed the point of this program.

Criticizing the CBC is not the point, the documentary was made by a filmmaker from Edmonton. The CBC is not an eastern conspiracy out to slam Alberta. As an Albertan I say to other Albertans - please get the chip off your shoulders, it only creates problems for ourselves.

One point of the documentary is Alberta is giving away this resource and in the long run we will not be better off for its development, unlike, for example, Norway which developed its resource in a responsible and sustainable manner. Why can't Alberta be more like Norway is an important question that no one is willing to answer.

Another point, Why did Alberta (Ralph Klein) not only give the United States the promise of a safe and stable supply of energy (which would have been enough for them) but then why did Klein give it to them for next to nothing? Alberta loves the United States to the same degree that it hates the rest of Canada, that's a serious problem.

Another point is the idea that even with the largest untapped oil resource in the world, Canada as a nation has no energy security.

The United States has more secure access to the Tar Sands than our fellow Canadians. As an Albertan and a Canadian, that is darn well wrong and Albertans should face up to that.

Finally, the resource is being developed to fast which is creating problems for Alberta and Albertans in terms of quality of life issues.

100 billion? Where did they even get that figure?
appx 256 BILLION barrels are thought to be recoverable utilizing todays technology while an estimated 1.7 trillion barrels in total are in the ground.

256 billion barrels * 110 USD = 28.16 trillion dollars USD or 55 cents CAD.

Even if one averages the price of oil over the last 24 months, adjusts for inflation, uses a radically conservative estimate of recoverable barrels, and hires the Finance Department to compute the numbers it's still well in the trillions.

What gives CBC?

Where to begin. The program itself brought up a lot of concern for me not because of the issues it brings up (and some are quite valid) but rather due to the tone and style of presentation. It uses a very misleading, idealogically biased and inflamatory approach and misprepresents a lot of facts.

One example would be the claim that Alberta is selling its oil to the US at the detriment of Eastern Canada. First, the Province of Alberta has no say where the oil is sold since that will be at the discretion of the companies that extract it (after they pay their royalties to the province). There is no political lever to use to direct the oil into a specific market unless we strive to become a communist dictatorship. Secondly, there are no oil pipelines between Western and Eastern Canada that do not first cross through the US so it is not an easy proposition to accomplish this anyway.

Even more concerning are some of the viewer reactions. I think most of them fail to admit that a truly unbiased documentary piece is very rare and that they all start with a certain preconceived notion and a goal of what they want to portray (is Michael Moore really after the 'truth' or does he try to express his view of society?).

This was certainly true of the CBC editorial since a balanced approach would have at least mentioned the positive economic and government revenue impact that oilsand royalties have (among a slew of other benefits that go along with the bad items). It is also quite interesting how hypocritical some of the points are. We all want less GHG emissions but complain that we pay too much for gas. We want free health care and education and a big nest egg for the future but are not willing to accept the downside of the economic development required to pay for it.

In the end however, an editorial like this (just like any editorial with a left or right bias) provides the viewpoint of a specific group and should always be interpreted as such. It should stimulate thought and allow us to question various issues however, to be taken as 'truth' and be 'presented in all schools' would be a bit much

as a country,as citizens of our great country canada,we as a country do whats right for our people.in the past couple days,the tar sands were at the top of every news headline and its title,the selling of alberta.and as i watched and watched,the biased information the news reporters were giving me were brain washing me into thinking that the tar sands were good.as the subject interested me more and more i began searching it up and as i read and read,facts shock me and i began to think otherwise about the tar sands.normal barrels of oil cost 107$ a barrel,alberta's price 3$.that discustes me, and what discustes me even more is that it takes the energy produced by one barrel to make two.in my perspective,they canadian goverment must act and act quick because if they dont ,it just might be to late!alberta is being distroied by the second and we as a country got to stop it before it goes to far.as the americans are supporting it,we might just not have a chance!

I watched about 15 minutes of this typical CBC Liberal/NDP biased tripe last night. I had to get up and leave before I threw the remote through the TV.

Unbiased Documentry? What a joke! My girlfriend is an Environmental Engineer (water specialist) and she refered to that as a piece geared to those wannabe environmentalists with a 7th grade education. How many of you realise that that "polution" coming out of those stacks is heavaly monitored and as acutaly mostly steam or the moisture in the air being heated, and flaring is a safety feature and large flaring is not common?

To all those from Eastern Canada who are trying to shame us greedy Albertans, remember who is funding your pretty little inefficent social programs. Seem happy to take our money, even calling for nationlisation of the oil industy or another NEP. Who do you think you are, Chavez? Ahmadinejad?

Is Ontario willing to provide jobs and cash to the thousands of Albertans who will loose thier livelihoods? Doubt it, as a Federal Government who would acutaly do that (ie Liberal and NDP) don't care about Alberta votes, and therefore Albertans. What did Jack Layton ask for one time? Apply punitive carbon taxes on big industry, but make sure some of that would go to the Ontario autoworkers to help them deal with it. Didn't hear anything about the Alberta oilworker....

The lower royalty rates were an incentive to get the projects moving, when oil sold for $17/bbl and it costs $12/bbl to extract and upgrade compared to $1-2/bbl from those friendly middle-eastern countries. What company would have invested 5 Billion $ if they were forced to pay Venezualan style royalites? Sure they are making a killing now, but if the royalties were increased too much too fast, they would simply pull up the stakes and wait until they had to use this oil, one the middle-east runs out. When is that, 50 years, 100 years?

I have worked in Fort Mac and it is not that bad. Of course it has some shaddy areas, it is a large city. Not everyone who comes to these towns has the right skill sets, skills that could be of use in other cities. So rather than leave, they get desperate and fall to crime. Besides, not all cities can be as peaceful as Toronto. We do try though.

Not to say that it could be done better. There is always room for improvement. The water use is a concern. But the companies are required to reclaim that land and purify the water before it gets retunred to the rivers. So rather than stand up on your green tinged soapbox and rally against us, why not either give constructive advice or be quiet and enjoy the equalization payments.

Oh, BTW, that was a pretty small 60" line our welder friend was working on. That one was blatentley wrong, how many more "facts" did they get wrong?

Commercial Oil Sands mining development in Alberta has been going on since 1967 along with the decline of the commercial Oil industry. Much research & development has taken place all along the way with the approval of the provincial Goverment not including the NEP years.

So for all the Naysayers, Nikiforik , Schindler, Dr Suzuki along with Green Peace etc etc to become so excited & interested now after so much development is stictly political. Albertans have spoken in the latest election, Take your complaints & negativity elsewhere, We here in Alberta don't need your stupid BS anymore, either join the team or vacate back to where you came from. Canadians from all walks of life, professional, blue collar, trades people,etc from across this land are reaping the benifits of the Oil Sands. CBC could have presented the actual plain good truth of our Oil Sands.....

Danny, please come West save us. We need a government that knows what their job is and how to get it done.

And all those poor soles who live in Ft. Mac making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Good choice if you ask me -- and it is a choice.

Very interesting doc. I am currently in Fort McMurray with my family, with my hubby employed by an Oil Sands company. I, like many of the posters here from the western provinces, are not as negative about the amazing prosperity we are enjoying.

Too bad for you Ontario. There have been years of Ontario being the centre of the universe and not giving a care about the rest of Canada. Ha! Now all of a sudden you need us (well, you need our $).

I live in the centre of it all and have a life I'd never dreamed of. Together my spouse and I make over $200,000 a year and live in a house that we paid almost $700,000 for here. We own all of the 'toys' you want and can take vacations at will. The shift work life is actually not entirley bad either with 6 days on and a great 6 days off to be able to enjoy family time. Technically my spouse only has to work 1/2 a year to make what took him 4 years to make before moving here.

As for the environment... some of that is true, some exaggerated and some definitley just opinion. For all of you quick to believe this at face value - go and do some research.

Shame on you .

You should be more unbiased not having any partisan position ( Libs ) as far as you receive public funds .

Actually what can we ( Albertans ) expect from you when you were the authors of Krista Erickson affair . A good example of a public TV station .

You just like a PETRO-CANADA socialist style . That is not going to happened soon .

Shame .

P.S.- Maybe China is a great example of doing businesses for you .

For those of us who are NOT represented or benefiting, loosing the things important to us such as clean water, abundant lush forests, plants, clean air, natural resources, wildlife, a healthy, respectful non fear based relationship with nature - is those of us who understand how important our relationship is with nature, GOD - light and sun and Mother nature this planet EARTH. This is our home.

We question the long term affects of the Tar sands. We live honestly on a journey within. To ask and see the TRUTH. We do not benefit from the oil prodution, we choose to invest our money into non toxic, renewable, sustainable resources. Yes there is such thing as sustainablility.

As an almost native Albertan for 33 years. Nafta, Chapter 11, needs to be changed. This province easily taken over and controlled by powerful foreign companies. Invest in solar research, new energy research, it's out there.
The affects of the Tar sands is too disturbing for me.

Stelmach said on national television that the environmental damage is a myth. There are those of us who study the environment and scientists who have already proven that it is environmentally damaging. The ponds are toxic waste dumps, hunters want to kill the wolves because their habitat has been taken from them. Conservative rich Alberta. SERVING SLAVES of the Tar pits. You are destroying our land. Now it's my true north servants and slaves.
see ZEITGEIST on you tube.
I saw earthlings.com

I would like to watch this online?
Does CBC have the technology?

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Yes, we do have the technology, but unfortunately in the case of this film, we don't not have the necessary rights in order to offer it online.

Corporate greed and Shock Doctrine economics demand a rape of the land and wholesale sell-off of this resource to the highest bidder. It is the same as the rape of the richest fishing grounds in the world: the Grand Banks. It is the nature of human conquest to use either guns, germs, or steel to get we want. This is now replaced by money. We are not to question our corporate masters and their capitalist mantra. The investment community (meaning you and I) are all complicit in this greedy race towards destruction of the planet.

Since when did we become as uppity as to think we had a democratic voice on matters of our economic or our resources. Are we not increasely more becoming the United States bitch?

First of all, this documentary was a Johnny-come-lately hatchet job on what has become the new cause celebre, move over seal hunt - skewering the oilsands.

Other major daily newspapers, with the notable exception of the Edmonton Journal have already dumped all over our town and industry over the last few years, usually from the corner of Main and Franklin, right across the street from Digger's nightclub, the correspondents not being able, or wanting to shift their butts and see what else is in town.

Surprize, surprize there are drugs in Fort Mac. Wow, what a revelation! Gee, and I didn't think drug issues existed anywhere else.

There are lots of Newfoundlanders in Fort Mac! No kidding, only for about the last 30 plus years! What about interviewing some of the 1600 Venezuelans who have made their way here. What a story they could tell.

What about the sizable British and Dutch population that trekked over here in 1978 and stayed? Nothing said.

Fort McMurray is one of the most culturally diverse cities for its size anywhere in our great land. And I can say this as I come from Toronto (no explanation of diverse ethnicity required there), and being the son of post-WWII Russian immigrants, I applaud those who left their homes to make their stake up here. It's an amazing story. But sadly, no one wants to tell it.

Next time, let a reporter drop in our thriving cultural/theatre scene centered around Keyano Theatre. Westwood High School has produced a couple of national championships at the Canadian Improv Games. Sports? Take in an Oil Barons hockey game-Royal Bank Cup winners in 2000. We've produced world champions in swimming and watersports. Provincial championships in rugby, martial arts, and others.

Alas, not a whisper of this is mentioned.

I await the next great journalistic tour-de-force on Fort Mac. Rick Mercer please come back but get away from downtown.

Oh, by the way. The map of the oil pipelines that flashed up on the screen for all of about 5 seconds, didn't show the rest of the eastbound pipeline. Yes, the Interprovincial Pipeline (IPL) does deliver oil to U.S. plants down as far as Chicago.

But what wasn't shown, deliberately I assume for greater impact, was that the same pipeline turns back northeast to Port Huron, Michigan and then over the river to Sarnia, Ontario supplying the refineries there and in southwest Ontario with-wait for it-western Canadian crude, including the produce of the oilsands!

This is the same conduit that used to run as far as Port Credit, where I once worked, and then when the "oil crisis" of 1975 hit, it was extended to Montreal. We never ran on foreign crude, only Quebec and the east coast did. That was national policy back then. The sloppy researchers must have missed that one. Psst! It was the Ottawa Valley policy. Look it up.

Shame on the CBC for airing that tripe without doing due diligence.

CBC should definitely do an update. Chinese already has a piece of tar sands lease; so as Korean, Japanese,..... A multiculature tar sands community.

CBC should also go down to Venezuela and show the Canadian audience what is hard bargaining over there. We will also learn that Statoil, Exxon Mobil, Total, ConocoPhillips, and Chervon came to Alberta after Venezuela started the hard bargain, increaing royalty to 85% is one of them.

Besides politics, the 'friendly' Chinese (at least to the Venezueleans) has to provide $1.26 billion woth of low cost housing to Venezuela as part of the $5 billion extra heavy oil project. Perhaps the Chinese could allevaite some of the low cost housing problem in Alberta.

We can cry and scream. Unless we set our priority and fight for it, we get nothing.

The longer I live in Alberta, the more evident is the caricaturization of the average Albertan as the Texas oilman from the TV series, the Simpsons. Some of the opinions expressed here, confirm this.

The bickering of those who have accused the CBC of one-sided left-leaning bias and misrepresentation of facts or truth, and blaming people in eastern provinces for the opposition to the unregulated development orgy occuring in Alberta, is so familiar to me as history repeating itself. It was this type of bickering and resultant public polarization between Lougheed and Trudeau over NEP that allowed the opportunity for NAFTA to cast it's long shadow over Canada before Canadians knew what happened.

The documentary we are discussing portrayed Alberta's provincial government representatives travelling to Washington DC to convince the US feds that the Oil Sands energy is not dirty energy. "Please come take our resources. We have a sale on royalty payments right now," is how this segment was portrayed, contrasted by Newfoundland's recent success in their hard nosed resource access negotiation.

The irony is that under NAFTA, Albertans and Newfoundlanders and all Canadians can not stop the US from access to our oil, water, lumber, uranium, coal, etc. even if we wanted to stop them. The insatiable thirst of US society for liquid hyrocarbons, combined with the fact that they have already drained their continental pools of easily accessed oil means they will be coming for ours sooner than later. This is just as predictable as US troops in South America by 2015 to secure access to those pools.

There is no need for tar sands firesale prices, unless another reality is exposed: the corporate influence and their responsibility to show growth every quarter. In Alberta, what big oil wants, big oil gets. And right now, under the micro-economic (micro as in peabrained short-sightedness) justification of healthy market competition we are witnessing another Klondike-ish reckless orgy of unregulated development. Macro-economic students should recognize this type of occurance for the anomoly it is. If we all recognize the catalyst being a non-renewable resource, why do we keep using terminology such as sustainable expansion of development? The Norwegian representative was very clear in explaining his goal of maintaining current levels of resource access and use as success, not growth.

An unmentioned issue the documentary ommitted is the direct human and environmental effects of the oil sands development. One more Simpsons metaphor comes to mind in the three eyed fish. It is supposed to be funny in the TV program. It is not funny to the humans and wildlife downstream of the oil sands who are experiencing health problems associated with the exponential industrial growth.

And the issue of water use... sheesh, I'll stop now.

I must compliment the CBC on the "Tarsands documentary". It has opened peoples' eyes to the folly of unbridled tarsands development. The environmental costs of tarsands developments and the royalty pittances make the recently elected conservative provincial government look like a bunch of idiots.

I prefer to remember Fort McMurray the way it was approximately 20-25 years ago, it had its own dynamism back then. Now Alberta and Fort McMurray are merely pawns to be exploited for the benefit of foreign oil interests. Where are the foreign oil interests when it comes to the problems of the homeless and aboriginals?

This story reminds me of an old western movie on the CBC. The majority of the plot revolves around the cowboy at the saloon (Diggers), the town drunks, the town gun slingers (Oil Sand companies) and the dancing girls hanging around the prospector who just road into town with a saddle full of gold. I'm surprised the CBC didn't get a chance to take in a gun fight at high noon or the afternoon hanging.

I could write pages on everything that disappointed me about the documentary but I won't waste more time with the CBC, I'm already wasting enough money by paying a big chunk of federal taxes that support you.

I just have one comment regarding the two welders you profiled from Vegreville and St John's. Do you think their lives would be any different if Fort McMurray did not exist? I don't think so. They would be in the same situation in some other Town. The reality is they go where the work is because that's what many of us have to do to make ends meet. We weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouths or a CBC mike in our hand. I choose to bring my family to Fort McMurray and we have managed to find many positives here, just as we did in the last two places we lived.

CBC, if you really want to play shock jock and go for ratings, write a story highlighting the positive side of Fort McMurray. I dare you!

Brad
Fort McMurray

I was disappointed in the documentary. Again a negative image of Fort McMurray and the region was portrayed.

Our family has lived in Fort McMurray for over 20 years. Yes there are drugs here just like there is in any city that is almost 80,000 people. I would like to know however where they came up with the statistic that cocaine abuse is 4x the provincial average?

What CBC did not say in the documentary is that Fort McMurray also one of the most giving (charitable donations per capita) places in Canada.

Fort McMurray's population is growing at an alarming rate (approximately 8-12% per year) more than any other city in Alberta or Canada. The community is dealing with huge growth due to the oil sands and the provincial government should be giving the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo more monies to help with our infrastructure issues.

Bush isn't as dumb as he appears. He calls it dirty oil so we will beg him to take it from us. Who's the idiot?

Everyone of you who think this documentary should be a call to action to shut down the oilsands (not tarsands, as the CBC suggests) should plan to spend a few days in Fort McMurray and see for yourself what goes on up there.

Surely the educated viewers of the CBC would want to fully understand both sides of a story before drawing conclusions.

The economic and environmental impacts of the oil-sands projects affects all of Canada not just the western provinces. We need to slow-down the speed of development and try to find the best economical way to extract the oil at the least possible environmental cost.

What I understood is that at the moment we are using natural gas + water + 1 barrel of oil to get 2 barrels of oil out of the ground to sell to the US at a lousy price - in my view that is not worth it. It is our right and duty as a soverign nation to responsibly control our natural resources, we need to be strong, act together and stop the infighting.

And can we please do something about the damn pot laws in this country? I can't understand why I can't smoke some herb from time to time, it's much less damaging then cigarettes or alcohol, you can't overdose, it's not addictive, and there is a long list of proven therapeutic benefits - do the research, you have all the knowledge at your fingertips.

Peace and long live CANADA!

Would CBC consider taking over all the other networks and broadcasting this 24/7? Maybe then, a politician might actually take notice, and act for positive change?
Spencer Rose, St. John's, NL

"Commissars and pin-stripe bosses
Roll the dice.
Any way they fall,
Guess who gets to pay the price.
Money green or proletarian gray,
Selling guns [oil] 'stead of food today.

So the kids they dance
And shake their bones,
And the politicians throwin' stones,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.

Heartless powers try to tell us
What to think.
If the spirit's sleeping,
Then the flesh is ink
History's page will thus be carved in stone.
And we are here, and we are on our own."
John Barlow

I think everyone that lives and works there if they are faced with layoffs and the end to the money train (of course) - defend what's going on in Alberta. However, for me watching this documentary was horrifying. It looks like modern day sodam and gommarah. They are ruining the environment, selling off our Country to the rest of the World, wrecking lives and families and trying to downplay it all based on money. It's so sad and pathetic that even so many people I know think that running to where the money is and not caring about the reprucussions is the way to go. Mother Nature is watching and hopefully the rest of Canada too now and this needs to be stopped or slowed to a serious halt.

I was 14 years old when Ralph Klein got elected and I knew then as much as I know now that it was a big mistake. While he might have gotten rid of the debt there has been nothing but decline in Alberta in health care, education, rising day care costs, families split apart, wealth that disproportiantely favours young men (not women), joblessness, inflation, and a refusal to develop good public infrastrastructure (i.e. subways). I am ashamed that Alberta has not seen the value in public systems that improve the quality of life for everyone involved - and that Alberta has seen fit to mismanage our resources to an extent where we may never reap the benefits.

unfortunately we are being blackmailed by the oil companies while we sit and see our oil stolen. The oil companies threaten to lay off workers. Fine, then maybe the Alberta government nationalize the oilsands and create a crown corporation, this will bring the jobs back, with all the money to the people of Alberta. We pay more for our gas than what the Americans do, what the h**l! we should pay pennies like saudi's do. I might be the first one to lose my job, but I refuse to be blackmailed, especially that the people of Alberta own the resource and its GOLD, its not something that we need to market in D.C, they should pay big $ to BUY it and come over here to bargain.

AFTER WATCHING THIS DOC I feel ... sickened ?

by the the lack of forward thinking ,

nationalistic political will, o Canada.

Hey maybe we can outsource that to Norway!!

Steele Thom Murdoch

An interesting documentary although a little apocalyptic and over the top. Alberta makes up about 28% of Canadian pollution, but Ontario's manufacturing and production industry makes up 24%. Where's the outrage and documentary on this? Where was this environmental outcry when Ontario was the head of the pack? Seems a little East centric to me.

There were very few facts in this documentary. More just opinions put to a biased narrative. On the environmental side no numbers or concrete reasons were even given, just saying its bad. One clear point that was given is that no pipelines go into eastern Canada they all go south. Well lets ignore the one on the map that stopped in Vancouver. And lets understand that these pipes carry bitumen not gasoline and must go to refineries. Suncor (arguably the biggest oil sand company now) has refineries Sarnia and then ship gasoline to all of Ontario and if need be further. So that statement is just plain wrong and showed the ignorance of this documentary.

As a white person I've had the privilege to attend a powwow. It began when four eagles arrived to soar in a circle above the ceremonial grounds. The eagle have been mentioned by CBC reporters, have been photographed and filmed many times. Since that moment I say to anyone who wants to qualify as sceptic of Native ways they must first answer the question "Why do the eagles come?"

We as white people came to this virgin continent barely two hundred years ago. In that short period we have stripped the land of trees, poisoned the land, air and water, fished and hundred many animals and birds to the edge of extinction.

It would be a smart move if we listened to the Native people, let them teach us about their relationship to the natural world, before it's too late.

Oh how can we ever get rid of this biased CBC monster that does so much to distort facts in support of their biased agenda.The motive was apparent in the title -Tar Sand instead of the more commonly term Oil Sands.The narrator consistently used Tar sands throughout (even though no one else used the tar sands term) in order to influence the viewers.

Why can't the CBC ever do a posítive article on how workers from less advantaged areas go to Fort McMurray to make money and then go home wherever it is to live a lifestyle they deserve. Where are the opportunities to do so if Fort McMurray didnt exist? And how about a story on what the revenues contribute to the Candian economy? I agrre like most things not all is positive but why always choose the negative story on everything the CBC does?
Why do we have a pay a billion dollars a year to support an organization that caters solely to left leaning anti corporate and anti development groups. Perhaps just once they can do stories that tend to balance the facts. CBC has lond ago lost their mission to inform Canadians in a factual way and has become a propoganda vehicle for special interest groups.

Witness how the CBCs negative reporting in Manitoba has distorted facts on hog production resulting in a polically motivated government to cater to a misinformed public and banning hog production despite pleas from producers,soil scientists and informed public spokesmen.