Syncrude was fighting a war on two fronts this weekend, dealing with the aftermath of the death of about 500 ducks at its Fort McMurray plant and trying to attract new employees at Alberta’s largest career fair in Edmonton.
In an effort to attract new blood to an industry in need of over 90,000 workers over the next decade, the Mining in Society Trade Show and Career Fair was held over the weekend at the Shaw Conference Centre.
Foot traffic was steady at the event, and staff at the Syncrude booth said that they had been fielding a number of questions about the duck deaths, though not as many as had been anticipated.
Likewise, staff at the Shell’s Albian Sands booth also responded to environmental concerns from would-be employees.
“We’re very saddened by the incident and don’t want to see it happen to any of our oil sands projects,” said Albian Sands senior mining engineer Dylan Miles. “It affects not just the company in question, but everybody when something like that happens.”
The dead duck flap is a hot topic among several hundred people logged onto Facebook who are all vocally calling an end to oilsands projects in several group sites.
In one group site created to bring attention to how global warming is harming Canada’s polar bear population, a picture can be seen of someone in a polar bear suit holding a sign that reads “Alberta Tarsands Kill Ducks” while the person is standing in front of a duck pond.
Greenpeace, meanwhile, will be holding a press conference on the issue at the front steps of the Legislature today.
