Alberta recently reached the highest oil production in history.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2175213/albertas-oilsands-to-hit-record-production-high-in-2025

Why are Albertan oil communities so angry? If oil production boomed under Justin Trudeau, why do they claim he hurt Alberta?

This Reuters article explains what’s really going on. It’s not for workers. It’s for rich investors. Yet there is plenty of interesting content.

Basically, Alberta oil executives brag they engaged in massive labor cost-cutting (firing people) and they replaced unionized workers by robots and automation

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/how-canadas-oil-sands-transformed-into-one-north-americas-lowest-cost-plays-2025-07-16/

This explains the amount of anger coming out from Alberta.

The Alberta oil economy is thriving. It’s the people who aren’t.

Many Alberta oil communities lost their well paying jobs. But they (wrongly) believe it’s because environmental laws / Justin Trudeau reduced Alberta oil production.

Danielle Smith and the separatists perfectly understand this.

  • SamuelRJankis@sh.itjust.works
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    8 days ago

    A lot of Albertans complain about the equalization payments and also been gloating about multi billion provincial surplus.

    They can’t seem to put things to together enough to realize even with all that oil money it still doesn’t make their life better.

    It’s just this modern day Conservative thing of them being miserable cunts and everyone needs to be miserable with them.

    • leastaction@lemmy.ca
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      7 days ago

      It’s not “a lot of Albertans”. It’s conservative political messaging, pushing the idea that Alberta pays into equalization transfers. Alberta doesn’t pay a dime into equalization.

    • grte@lemmy.ca
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      7 days ago

      Here is an additional report on the foreign ownership of Alberta’s oil production. It’s the prime example of how Canada is treated as a resource colony by the USA.