The Watch CHARGE ’ER UP: ELECTRIC VEHICLE NETWORK IS COMING TO SOUTHERN ALBERTA
LATITUDE
By the end of the year, southern Alberta will have 20 fast-charging stations for electric cars, thanks to the new Peaks to Prairie Network. The $2-million project is a collaboration between the Government of Alberta (which invested $1.2 million through the Climate Action Plan), the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and other partners, in support of Albertans switching to electric cars and SUVs. Running entirely on renewable energy, the charging stations will be produced by AddEnergie and installed and operated by ATCO Electric. Both are Canadian companies. This just in: Suncor’s retail brand, Petro-Canada, plans to install a cross-Canada network of 50 fast-charging stations for electric vehicles.
TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES Charging options for drivers of electric cars are starting to pop up, helping make more and more gas tanks blasts from the past. -photo copyright 2019 Services FLO Inc.
TO SPUR PERMANENT HOUSING, REGIONAL MUNI LOOKS AT SAYING NO TO NEW WORK CAMPS IN FORT MCMURRAY AREA Twelve years ago, workers struggled to find housing in Fort McMurray, thanks to the frenzied pace of oilsands development. But in the aftermath of the devastating 2016 fire and several economic downturns, the city’s population has dropped by 11 per cent. That’s hindered the city’s efforts to rebuild and pay down debt. To help tackle the problem, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has voted to draft a bylaw that would place a moratorium on work camps in the area. This would force much of the area’s shadow population— tens of thousands of workers staying at work camps and other types of temporary accommodation—to move into town and support the local economy. If the bylaw passes, the municipality will stop all oil sands camp renewals within a 75-kilometre radius of the community by June. Right now, the area is home to as
many as 61 camps, housing upwards of 27,000 people. Exceptions will be made for maintenance camps, shutdowns, and sites inaccessible by road. Still, many in the oil sands industry think the ban could threaten its revival. NEW AGAIN Community leaders want to attract permanent residents to neigh- bourhoods like this one in Fort McMurray, which is still recovering from the 2016 wildfire. A proposed bylaw limiting camp construction is one possible way to help. -photo by Paul Jen, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
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