mcfly1313

Guys,

Has anyone here spent any time in Ft McMurray AB?..... i was checking through the jobs pages and there's openings with the RCMP ( both my wife and I are prison officers in the uk), this would be a great chance for us given that we've got our PR cards and no where to work.

looking at the location of the town it's in the back of beyond and the house prices are well........... unbelievable (never heard of a static caravan fetching 300k!!!).

I'm open to thoughts and stories...
thanks
marty

Aviator

It is in the back of beyond, some of the most inhospitable country and the RCMP have their work cut out there. Have you figured how you are going to get into the RCMP? You have to get CDN citizenship first.

Mistress Miggins

My OH like the dude above me here posting is a pilot and we were offered work there. When the guy from the very well known helicopter company spoke to me on the phone, he said there was no way he could send me knowing I had small kids and would be there on my own.............The job, was left unfilled for at least another 2 years, maybe it still is. That, is how bad Ft McMurray is in some people's view. I have never been, but I believe I ought to be grateful to him from what I hear!!!!!!!!

If that is wrong and I have offended anyone - then, apologies in advance

Mrs Mx

mandymoochops

Do a search theres lots of threads on the place.

General consensus is it stinks, too expensive, not a great place for family.

Butch Cassidy

However, (rumour has it) if you like drink, drugs and whores there are few places in Canada to match it.

printer

JET747

I am looking at work there as I am in the process industry. But the jobs that I want are fly in fly out. My wife wouldn't move there period. We had friends who lived there for 30 years, and although they are improving the image by pumping lots of money and facilities there - - it is in the middle of nowhere and for a family not good.

However, you may want to try it and move on after a period of time just to get your foot in the job market.

JET

Jingsamichty

I'm working in the oil sands, on site about 2hrs north of Fort McMurray. I haven't actually spent any time in the town, just the airport, and then the drive up north.

But, anyway, the town of Fort McMurray? Physically, it's just like any other Albertan town that grew fast by the side of a highway... but certainly more Airdrie than Canmore, if you know what I mean. I really want to say "Fort McMurray? It's just like Okotoks."

Of course, Fort Mac's reputation precedes it, and it surely doesn't sound like the sort of place I'd want to base my family... but let's try to be fair here. I'll bet 99% of people who voice a negative opinion on Fort Mac have never even been within 1,000km of the place. I'll also bet that most visiting journalists had already written their story on the plane ride over.

I'm sure that there are drug and prostitution problems in Fort Mac, but don't kid yourself and think that they don't exist in virtually every town in Canada. For most decent families though, in Fort Mac as in anywhere, drugs and prostitution are completely irrelevant. If you were in the cops, however, I'd guess you wouldn't die of boredom in Fort Mac, so maybe its 'lively' side is actually a good thing?!

I believe that for an ordinary decent family, the remoteness and the climate will be far bigger - and real - issues to deal with than what goes on the the seedier bars, or amongst the native population. Fort Mac is about 900km north of Calgary and 600km north of Edmonton, on a very dangerous road, with lots of heavy vehicles. The climate is a real factor to consider, there's no getting away from that. Winter is 6 months long, and in the summer, the mosquitoes can take your arm off.

But finally, Fort Mac suffers because it's a very easy target for snipers, and in many people's minds, it is synonymous with the politics of the Alberta oilsands development. Your views on the town are coloured by your views on the oilsands. To some, it's nothing short of a modern-day Sodom or Gomorrah; to others, it's a pioneer-spirit, can-do kind of place; and to more, it's just a pit-stop at the start and end of their work tours.

mcfly1313

thanks for all the replies guys......

like the tale goes... " if something is too good to be true there's usually a catch!".....

there was another job joining as a civvy but i think we'll miss that out as well, the place looks not too bad on their website bt i guess it's as close to the wild west as you're likely to get these days.....

cheers
marty

stuham33

I actually live in Fort McMurray, and a lot of the stuff that is said about the place, as other posters have said, is exaggerated. The town has its problems, but no more than other towns where I have lived in Canada or the UK. If you want to go looking for trouble chances are you will find it. I have been here a year now, and have not encountered any trouble, in fact I have met some of the friendliest people anywhere.
That being said it does get very cold in winter, but the summers are nice. We live outside of the town and it is nice where we live but housing is expensive.

snow valley

I haven't visited Fort Mac myself, but OH's colleague lived there for 7 years. His wife told me she found it very expensive living there. They took in a lodger to help with the mortgage.

She would fly to Edmonton a couple of times a year to kit out the family as clothing choice was limited and expensive in Fort Mac. She said her snow heaps at the side of her drive were twice the height of mine in Edmonton!

I think she is very happy to have sold up and moved back to Ontario.

Piff Poff

My manager at work moved down from Fort Mac recently - if you have any q's I could ask her and get back to you.

DaveLovesDee

Except Calgary during the Stampede, Vancouver during the Olympics, Regent's Park in Toronto anytime, to new the few.


I looked at a fly-in, fly-out job up there recently. The gross wage I was offered as a security guard was $2700 a week, but I am short one of the qualifications they wanted (H2S certificate).

Butch Cassidy

Suprisingly, I get offered less drugs during Stampede and the whores are replaced by Hos (or to put it another way NOBODY needs to pay for it)

Steve_P

Wow sign me up for one of those.

This in the world of aviation is a Ho.



A Piper Navajo