matt_t

What field of work are you in, if you don't mind me asking? Do you know what the current work situation is e.g busy, slow, steady?, i'm expecting my PR to come through before xmas.

ukcanuck

I'm an EMT-P/ACP. Medic for most guys out in the sands.

Have met guys from almost every trade working the oilsands and seen loads of differing rotations. All depends on company working for trade doing and distance from work. Also seen the guys who work every day possible and have a ten year plan to be retired mortgage free and debt free so almost anything is possible.

Also don't forget that northern BC and Sask are opening up for jobs and also the lumber industry is slowly getting back with selling to China.

There is good money to be made doing camp work pretty much all over Canada and traveling across Canada for work is not uncommon.

My present site in Northern BC there are guys from all over BC, Alberta and a couple from Ontario who rotate in and out. I even met one guy who worked Fort Mac and lived in Mexico. When you think that the guys living in Nova Scotia take longer to get home then he does in Mexico and his dollar goes further down there it is not as daft as first thought.

It is a great place to make money esp just after the move over.

Have a good one, good luck.

headingwest

Quick question. if you live on the Van island do you fund your own transport back and forth for the 3-week rotations to N. BC or Ft Mcmurray?
Curious, as I have just signed up for an EMT course in Calgary then want to go on further from there. I see the rates up north for paramedics is something like $50/hr? and $30 ish for EMT's.

sounds like a good gig, is there reallty that much of a job shortage for medics and I see lots of job postings or are multiple agencies trying to fill the same position?

ukcanuck

Flights and transportation all depends on who you are working for .

Some pay more per day and you pay for flights some pay the flights and pay a little less some pay flights and pay well - all depends.

Most companies will pay for flights from Calgary/Edmonton some extend to BC. Don't know any who will go any further.

I do know medics who pay for their own flights from Halifax to Calgary then the company picks up the last leg to Fort Mac.

They figure that the salary is worth more in real terms in Nova Scotia than in Alberta or BC so keep doing that. Also they keep their options open with working the eastern oil and gas fields.

As for work - at the moment there are a number of jobs for emr/emt/emt-p levels and SAIT have predicted a shortage of 400-500 medics but who knows. Like anything with oil/gas/minerals it all depends on the price of the commodity and the global financial situation and the supply and demand of what you are helping to produce.

If you don't mind what type of site you are working, where you are working, who you work for and basically will do your job anywhere for anyone then there is year round work.

Good luck with the EMT course. You picked the right prov to do your training in as with Alberta ticket you can swap it for other provinces much easier.

Jingsamichty

My project has flights to/from airports all over Canada, from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland. You pay to get to the nearest hub, and pick up the project flight from there.

These flights don't go into Fort Mac, it's the oil company airstrip.

headingwest

[QUOTE=ukcanuck;9512295]
As for work - at the moment there are a number of jobs for emr/emt/emt-p levels and SAIT have predicted a shortage of 400-500 medics but who knows. Like anything with oil/gas/minerals it all depends on the price of the commodity and the global financial situation and the supply and demand of what you are helping to produce.QUOTE]

Thank you for the info, very helpful. By 400-500 short I assume you mean emr-EMT-P combined not just EMT-P as I can't imagine there are that many EMT-P's in total?
Good to know the work prospect looks rosey (potentially)

ukcanuck

They are saying most severe for paramedics if you google alberta paramedic shortage loads of articles

http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjourn...8-4ddd85d8a464

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/a..._may2011.shtml Have a look page 4.

As the above response, the company I work for provides travel to all sites unless specified. They pay a bit less then some of the ones that don't pay but I learnt to hate the hassle of missed flights due to weather then having to re arrange etc - now my employer takes care of that and I just float along

I have done contracts in NWT/Nunavut/AB/BC and they have paid for all travel. My main contract at the moment specifies free flights from BC and AB. Most of the work is in those two provinces anyways so I am forced to live on the Island for the free travel of course

headingwest

thank you very much

that is extrmely helpful

ukcanuck

No worries

As you go through EMT feel free to PM me any questions you might have or anything you want a second/third/fourth opinion on , it will help me stay up to speed.

Anything I don't know the answer we can work it out between both of us.

Have a good one

headingwest

Thank you, that is very kind of you. That sounds very appealing being able to live on vancouver island and commute up north for work. Looking forward to a career change and the course.

comet555

We live near Ottawa and my husband works in Fort McMurray. He's a mining engineer and is on a 2 week on 2 week off schedule. While there he works 12 hours days for the whole 2 weeks, so he actually works pretty much the same amount of hours as if he did regular 40 hour weeks.

He's on salary and he receives a living allowance and travel allowance, both of which more than pay for the return flights every month and half the rent of an apartment (which is shared with another guy). So the fact that he works there costs us nothing and his salary is better than finding local work, which for him is impossible as his profession is actually mining.

The more specialized and in demand you are the more likely the companies will pick up the tabs to allow you to work remotely. There's even a guy in his office that commutes from Florida once a month like him. As an mining engineer this arrangement is a bit easier to come by (from the contractors anyway) although I wouldn't expect it if you were working as a janitor up there! So if you have a trade it really depends on how in demand you are.

We did live in Fort McMurray before we moved to Australia for a few years. When we returned to Canada we knew we wouldn't move back there, so it worked out that he could get this sort of arrangement. It's not that bad of a town but it is 4-5 hours from civilization (Edmonton) and the housing is way overpriced and traffic could be a huge pain. It's not all bad though it just wasn't for us.

Atlantic Xpat

All you need to know about Fort Mac:

'I work at site'



More here... http://iworkatsite.com/

Almost Canadian

This is so true, workers at Fort Mac are great for business. What is astonishing is the number of them that do it again and again

JET747

I am aiming at a Camp job which is in Operations a week in and week out. At moment I am on a BP plant in Fort Saskatchewan but vacation time goes to seniority - so all kids holiday time used up. At least I will have every other week off and get paid a base salary of $110 - 120k plus allowances.

The camp life you get accomodation and all your meals. There are opportunities to work 3 in and 1 out - the middle week being OT - this is where you can really raise the salary. Flights are also provided from Edmonton, Calgary and Lloydminster - although Cenovus actually fly from a lot of other places also.

Within the next 5 years there will be a lot of positions available and the oilsands companies will be competeing with each other to get people - therefore driving salaries up.

JET

dbd33

That's as dodgy an assumption as I've heard today. What if more oil than expected is found elsewhere in world? What if environmental concerns make oilsand oil unsaleable? A hundred things could happen to make that untrue.