Danny Williams said he expects an oil boom to eventually help everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador. (CBC)

A cascade of oil-based revenues will, sooner or later, fall in all corners of Newfoundland and Labrador, the premier promises.

"You can't do it all at once," Danny Williams told CBC News. "The demands are enormous, but we're getting there."

Last week, Williams's government unveiled a budget that not only projected a surplus of $544 million, but also predicted that the province will no longer need equalization payments at some point during 2009.

With oil trading at record prices, the off-equalization date will come sooner rather than later.

Williams admits that his province, which has three offshore oilfields in full production, has had a run of good luck lately.

"I've been always lucky," Williams said with a smile during a recent interview, "but by the same token, there's a lot of hard work's gone into this. The secret now is to take in these revenues and make sure we take care of them properly, we manage them properly and we prepare for the future."

The government finished its most recent fiscal year with a whopping surplus of $1.4 billion, allowing the province to retire debt, beef up infrastructure spending and upgrade Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

In the coming year, the province is equipped with record-high budgets for health and education. The government will also introduce a new income tax cut on July 1, giving residents the fourth lowest average rate of taxation in the country.

'Very, very sensitive' to hardship

Even so, Williams recognizes that many people in the province feel like the oil-fuelled boom is passing them by.

In recent days, news reports have detailed how various people — seniors needing home care, others requiring medical services, such as portable oxygen tanks — have been turned down for public aid, and found no help in the blockbuster budget.

"I know there's instances of hardship, and I'm very, very sensitive to them," Williams said.

Allan LeGrow, a supervisor at the Harvey offshore supply base in St. John's, says ' the sky is the limit' for younger workers. (CBC)

"We'll always find an example of some poor person who's hard done by, and it's not getting down to them. But we're trying to spread it out as much as we can at this stage, and hopefully the trickle-down effect will benefit everybody."

The oil industry has had an undeniable effect on the Newfoundland and Labrador economy, particularly so in St. John's.

From his perch on the St. John's waterfront, Allan LeGrow, a logistics supervisor with Harvey Marine Base, sees ships leaving regularly with supplies — everything from food to mechanical equipment — for the offshore oilfields.

He also sees a bright future.

"This is where everything happens, right here," LeGrow told CBC News. "[There are] certainly a great number of opportunities for young people coming into the industry. I think the sky is the limit."

Able to find work at home

The oil industry has also allowed young professionals and skilled labourers to make a living at home, running against a trend that has seen many leave for jobs in the rest of Canada or beyond.

"With the expanding projects here in Newfoundland, I mean, the opportunities are going to be here as much as they're going to be away," said Cook, 26.

Joey Roberts: 'I [have] no real reason to be up in Alberta when the work is here, and there's good money here.' (CBC)

"I can see myself staying here for pretty much the duration of my career."

Joey Roberts, a welder, moved home from working in the Albertan oilsands to take a job with St. John's-based Orphan Industries, a manufacturer whose parent company got its start servicing the local oil industry.

"It turned out for the better," Roberts said.

'I got a new child, I got a new house … I [have] no real reason to be up in Alberta when the work is here, and there's good money here."

The job market around St. John's has changed, though, beyond fields directly connected to the oil industry. Many employers have reported trouble finding workers, from corner stores to offices.

A keynote of the new budget is a youth recruitment program, aimed at keeping younger workers at home.

Williams said the challenge for his government will be to develop the economy so that it is not reliant on the swings in the oil industry, and can provide meaningful employment for rural communities still feeling the devastation from the collapse of the cod fishery in the early 1990s.

Williams is keen, though, to point to optimism that he thinks can transform the province's fortunes.

"We have arrived. People are feeling very, very good about themselves," said Williams, who said Newfoundland and Labrador will welcome an end to decades of being a so-called "have-not" province, but will still demand a fair share of the spoils.

"We want to be a net contributor, but we also want to be masters of our own domain," he said.