Boomtime.

The oil industry is booming. Fourteen thousand new wells were drilled in Alberta in 2004: the total for 2005 is expected to exceed 22,000. The activity is so intense that motels are full, trucks and rigs are everywhere and it is almost impossible to hire an able-bodied man for other work. We expect to see a new drilling rig every time we go out and might find one in our back garden one of these days!

Not too strangely perhaps, prosperity has created its own special problems. Politicians, developers, conservationists and fiscal managers are forever debating how much money should be held back, how much put into alternative energy systems and how much into research, education and care for those who are not benefiting from the boom.

Farm families in particular are finding things tough--as a result of harsh weather conditions, unfriendly trade policies, and the powerful industrial forces operating around, under and often over them. And the oil rush raises a host of environmental issues such as limited fresh water , supplies, noise, air pollution and destruction of habitat.