Edmonton Journal: They're here to make dreams real
EDMONTON - In the tiny New Brunswick fishing village where Mike and Matt Renton grew up, people wave when you pass them on the highway, whether they know you or not.
Fourteen months ago, the identical twin brothers waved goodbye and headed west in a '97 Cutlass Supreme searching for a piece of Alberta's prosperity.
Like thousands of others drawn by the promise of jobs and hefty paycheques, the twins and their friend Dave Kierstead headed for oil-rich northern Alberta.
Today, they pursue their dreams of success from a modest Inglewood bungalow that at its peak in April housed a total of eight young New Brunswickers. All are apprentices in welding or pipe-fitting.
"It's definitely not like home. Far from it," Matt Renton said.
"People are different. Scenery is different. Everything is different. But do I regret it? Not in a million years. I've got pay stubs and things to show that I made the big money that nobody down home in their lifetime would ever make."
This house full of New Brunswickers splitting $900 in monthly rent so they can make their fortune is just a glimpse into the phenomenal changes in Edmonton as Alberta's latest boom rolls on.
The evidence is everywhere.
You can see it in the plywood shells of new homes popping up faster than dandelions in Edmonton's suburbs. You can hear it in the accents of newcomers shopping at the grocery store.
And you can feel it in the frustrated vibes radiating off cranky customers, waiting and waiting in a sweltering greenhouse to pay for bedding plants because there are too few staff to work the cash registers.
Whereas governments sparked Alberta's first boom 100 years ago by advertising free land to lure pioneers, today's Alberta needs little advertising (unless you're one of countless businesses desperately searching for employees). For those with dreams of a comfortable lifestyle and cash to spare, the lure of an economy fuelled by $70-a-barrel oil is reason enough to come.
At $20.95, Alberta boasted the highest average hourly wage of any Canadian province in May. The national average was $19.60 an hour.
As Alberta's economy gains momentum, so does its population. The province posted the country's highest growth rate between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005 -- nearly twice the national rate.
Alberta's population grew by more than 52,000 during that 12 months. That's nearly as many people as live in St. Albert.
The population explosion comes at the expense of other provinces.
"Inevitably, when one region exerts such a powerful draw, the demography of other regions is affected," Statistics Canada reported in an analysis of population changes in the last quarter of 2005. Seven of Canada's 13 provinces and territories experienced a decrease in population. Only twice since 1971 have so many regions recorded a drop in the same quarter.
This boom also has consequences for Alberta.
In the Inglewood bungalow, the transplanted New Brunswickers are doing as much as they can to make Edmonton feel like home.
They planted flowers. They fire up the barbecue once in a while. They cheered for the Oilers (especially once the Canadiens and Flames were eliminated from the playoffs).
They've heard the stories of people who come to Alberta, make a mint, but leave with nothing to show after blowing it on booze, drugs and expensive toys. They vow they will not to fall into that trap.
"This isn't no game to us," Mike Renton said. "A lot of people think we're clowning around a lot of times when we say we save our money."
They didn't leave the place they love to be frivolous.
"I'm going to make money and I'm going to save as much money as I can to buy a house, or just that I can live a nice, comfortable life without worry and I could work 40 hours a week back home if I wanted to," Mike said. "That's my goal out here."
This is the land of opportunity, said former roommate Brent Moreton, who moved to Edmonton from Rothsay, N.B., in January with his girlfriend.
"We came out here all welders. But who's to say in five years that we're not going to be into real estate and we can forget about welding?
"Out here, if you want to do something, you can do it."
sodonnell@thejournal.canwest.com
- - -
You can tell from the sidewalk that the Renton-Kierstead-Woods-Bigger household is a home with divided loyalties.
Flags for the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers hang like curtains in the living room window. The New Brunswick flag, with its stylized lion and ship, is also prominent beside a Union Jack and Canadian flag.
There is no Alberta flag yet. "I don't think anybody's thought about that," says Dave Kierstead when asked about the omission. "But we've got Alberta hockey teams."
All five roommates moved from New Brunswick for the work. Kierstead arrived with Mike and Matt Renton in April 2005. Matt Bigger arrived last December, and Lyndsey Woods followed in January. Here's a bit more about their Alberta experience:
MIKE RENTON
Growing up in the small communities of Dipper Harbour and Nerepis, the 23-year-old prefers small towns to big cities. He is now a second-year apprentice welder with Abraxus, a fabrication shop.
- Why he came to Alberta: For the money. "I love down home. It all boiled down to life wasn't fun when you're struggling."
- How he has spent his paycheques: Saved, paid down student loans, sent some money to his family, bought a used truck for $2,200.
- Biggest frustration: Traffic and lineups. "There's so many people here, you pretty much have to get accustomed to having to wait a little longer."
- Goals: To be debt-free and own a company. "I just want to come out here, make money and be smart with it. I want Freedom 35."
- What he misses most: Family, friends, the ocean and the Saint John River.
- Hourly wage at his last New Brunswick job: $11.82 as a labourer at a refinery.
- Hourly wage at his current Alberta job: $19.69.
MATT RENTON
Younger than his twin brother by a minute, the 23-year-old first-year apprentice welder works at Lockerbie & Hole.
- How he's spent his paycheques: Saved and invested; paid down a student loan; bought a truck for $7,500; sent money home to help family; flew former girlfriend and youngest brother to Alberta for a trip to the Calgary Stampede.
- Biggest frustration: The Alberta apprenticeship system. His year-long pre-employment welding course in New Brunswick was not recognized here, forcing him to start from scratch.
- Goal: To save money "so I can enjoy my life, and if I have a wife and kids, so I can enjoy time with them."
- What he misses most: "Friends and family -- for sure."
- Hourly wage at his last New Brunswick job: $10 in construction.
- Hourly wage in Alberta: $16.36.
DAVE KIERSTEAD
The 22-year-old apprentice welder from Public Landing, N.B., grew up with a view of the Saint John River. He most recently worked at Shell's Scotford refinery.
- Why he came to Alberta: Sick of working long hours at minimum-wage jobs.
- How he has spent his paycheques: Saved them.
- Definition of success in Alberta: "I think I'm already successful. I've got no debt and a bunch of money in my pocket."
- Biggest frustration: Trying to get registered in a first-year welding class. "On May 15, we had to camp out just to register at NAIT."
- Goals: To be debt-free and save enough money to buy a house.
- Hourly wage at his last New Brunswick job: $8.25 doing foundation work.
- Hourly wage in Alberta: $16.37 plus night shift differential.
LYNDSEY WOODS
This 19-year-old from Miramichi, N.B., met Kierstead and the twins when she was working at a Saint John Tim Hortons. Now she is a first-year apprentice pipefitter working at the Shell Scotford upgrader.
- Why she came to Alberta: "I was sick of working at Tim Hortons or Subway."
- How she has spent her paycheques: Bought a car and saved the rest.
- Edmonton's best feature: "A non-stop steady stream of work."
- Biggest frustration: "No trees and no beaches."
- Goals: To make enough money to go home and go to culinary school.
- What she misses most: Her parents and older sister.
- Hourly wage at her last New Brunswick job: $6.25.
- Hourly wage at her current Alberta job: $16.87, plus night shift differential.
MATT BIGGER
This 21-year-old from Saint John went to high school with the Rentons and Kierstead, but he didn't know they had moved to Alberta until he bumped into them at a nightclub. He is a first-year apprentice pipefitter working at Shell's Scotford refinery.
- How he has spent his paycheques: Getting out of debt and fixing up his car.
- Definition of success in Alberta: "Getting my journeyman ticket, getting my house built back home and paid for. Then I'll be set for life."
- Biggest frustration: Being away from home, his parents and older brother.
- Most surprising thing about Edmonton: Crime. "I was at a friend's house and people tried to break into the house and jump us."
- Goals: "To find an Albertan girlfriend, make lots of money."
- What he misses most: His car, a Mustang GT.
- Hourly wage at his last New Brunswick job: $9, driving a gravel truck.
- Hourly wage at his current Alberta job: $16.37, plus night shift differential.
SOUNDING BOARD
Some who come here for work say they will never feel like Albertans. Others feel at home right away. When do you think newcomers should consider themselves Albertans? E-mail your thoughts to city@thejournal.canwest.com. Subject line: The Promised Land
© The Edmonton Journal 2006
Fourteen months ago, the identical twin brothers waved goodbye and headed west in a '97 Cutlass Supreme searching for a piece of Alberta's prosperity.
Like thousands of others drawn by the promise of jobs and hefty paycheques, the twins and their friend Dave Kierstead headed for oil-rich northern Alberta.
Today, they pursue their dreams of success from a modest Inglewood bungalow that at its peak in April housed a total of eight young New Brunswickers. All are apprentices in welding or pipe-fitting.
"It's definitely not like home. Far from it," Matt Renton said.
"People are different. Scenery is different. Everything is different. But do I regret it? Not in a million years. I've got pay stubs and things to show that I made the big money that nobody down home in their lifetime would ever make."
This house full of New Brunswickers splitting $900 in monthly rent so they can make their fortune is just a glimpse into the phenomenal changes in Edmonton as Alberta's latest boom rolls on.
The evidence is everywhere.
You can see it in the plywood shells of new homes popping up faster than dandelions in Edmonton's suburbs. You can hear it in the accents of newcomers shopping at the grocery store.
And you can feel it in the frustrated vibes radiating off cranky customers, waiting and waiting in a sweltering greenhouse to pay for bedding plants because there are too few staff to work the cash registers.
Whereas governments sparked Alberta's first boom 100 years ago by advertising free land to lure pioneers, today's Alberta needs little advertising (unless you're one of countless businesses desperately searching for employees). For those with dreams of a comfortable lifestyle and cash to spare, the lure of an economy fuelled by $70-a-barrel oil is reason enough to come.
At $20.95, Alberta boasted the highest average hourly wage of any Canadian province in May. The national average was $19.60 an hour.
As Alberta's economy gains momentum, so does its population. The province posted the country's highest growth rate between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005 -- nearly twice the national rate.
Alberta's population grew by more than 52,000 during that 12 months. That's nearly as many people as live in St. Albert.
The population explosion comes at the expense of other provinces.
"Inevitably, when one region exerts such a powerful draw, the demography of other regions is affected," Statistics Canada reported in an analysis of population changes in the last quarter of 2005. Seven of Canada's 13 provinces and territories experienced a decrease in population. Only twice since 1971 have so many regions recorded a drop in the same quarter.
This boom also has consequences for Alberta.
In the Inglewood bungalow, the transplanted New Brunswickers are doing as much as they can to make Edmonton feel like home.
They planted flowers. They fire up the barbecue once in a while. They cheered for the Oilers (especially once the Canadiens and Flames were eliminated from the playoffs).
They've heard the stories of people who come to Alberta, make a mint, but leave with nothing to show after blowing it on booze, drugs and expensive toys. They vow they will not to fall into that trap.
"This isn't no game to us," Mike Renton said. "A lot of people think we're clowning around a lot of times when we say we save our money."
They didn't leave the place they love to be frivolous.
"I'm going to make money and I'm going to save as much money as I can to buy a house, or just that I can live a nice, comfortable life without worry and I could work 40 hours a week back home if I wanted to," Mike said. "That's my goal out here."
This is the land of opportunity, said former roommate Brent Moreton, who moved to Edmonton from Rothsay, N.B., in January with his girlfriend.
"We came out here all welders. But who's to say in five years that we're not going to be into real estate and we can forget about welding?
"Out here, if you want to do something, you can do it."
sodonnell@thejournal.canwest.com
- - -
You can tell from the sidewalk that the Renton-Kierstead-Woods-Bigger household is a home with divided loyalties.
Flags for the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers hang like curtains in the living room window. The New Brunswick flag, with its stylized lion and ship, is also prominent beside a Union Jack and Canadian flag.
There is no Alberta flag yet. "I don't think anybody's thought about that," says Dave Kierstead when asked about the omission. "But we've got Alberta hockey teams."
All five roommates moved from New Brunswick for the work. Kierstead arrived with Mike and Matt Renton in April 2005. Matt Bigger arrived last December, and Lyndsey Woods followed in January. Here's a bit more about their Alberta experience:
MIKE RENTON
Growing up in the small communities of Dipper Harbour and Nerepis, the 23-year-old prefers small towns to big cities. He is now a second-year apprentice welder with Abraxus, a fabrication shop.
- Why he came to Alberta: For the money. "I love down home. It all boiled down to life wasn't fun when you're struggling."
- How he has spent his paycheques: Saved, paid down student loans, sent some money to his family, bought a used truck for $2,200.
- Biggest frustration: Traffic and lineups. "There's so many people here, you pretty much have to get accustomed to having to wait a little longer."
- Goals: To be debt-free and own a company. "I just want to come out here, make money and be smart with it. I want Freedom 35."
- What he misses most: Family, friends, the ocean and the Saint John River.
- Hourly wage at his last New Brunswick job: $11.82 as a labourer at a refinery.
- Hourly wage at his current Alberta job: $19.69.
MATT RENTON
Younger than his twin brother by a minute, the 23-year-old first-year apprentice welder works at Lockerbie & Hole.
- How he's spent his paycheques: Saved and invested; paid down a student loan; bought a truck for $7,500; sent money home to help family; flew former girlfriend and youngest brother to Alberta for a trip to the Calgary Stampede.
- Biggest frustration: The Alberta apprenticeship system. His year-long pre-employment welding course in New Brunswick was not recognized here, forcing him to start from scratch.
- Goal: To save money "so I can enjoy my life, and if I have a wife and kids, so I can enjoy time with them."
- What he misses most: "Friends and family -- for sure."
- Hourly wage at his last New Brunswick job: $10 in construction.
- Hourly wage in Alberta: $16.36.
DAVE KIERSTEAD
The 22-year-old apprentice welder from Public Landing, N.B., grew up with a view of the Saint John River. He most recently worked at Shell's Scotford refinery.
- Why he came to Alberta: Sick of working long hours at minimum-wage jobs.
- How he has spent his paycheques: Saved them.
- Definition of success in Alberta: "I think I'm already successful. I've got no debt and a bunch of money in my pocket."
- Biggest frustration: Trying to get registered in a first-year welding class. "On May 15, we had to camp out just to register at NAIT."
- Goals: To be debt-free and save enough money to buy a house.
- Hourly wage at his last New Brunswick job: $8.25 doing foundation work.
- Hourly wage in Alberta: $16.37 plus night shift differential.
LYNDSEY WOODS
This 19-year-old from Miramichi, N.B., met Kierstead and the twins when she was working at a Saint John Tim Hortons. Now she is a first-year apprentice pipefitter working at the Shell Scotford upgrader.
- Why she came to Alberta: "I was sick of working at Tim Hortons or Subway."
- How she has spent her paycheques: Bought a car and saved the rest.
- Edmonton's best feature: "A non-stop steady stream of work."
- Biggest frustration: "No trees and no beaches."
- Goals: To make enough money to go home and go to culinary school.
- What she misses most: Her parents and older sister.
- Hourly wage at her last New Brunswick job: $6.25.
- Hourly wage at her current Alberta job: $16.87, plus night shift differential.
MATT BIGGER
This 21-year-old from Saint John went to high school with the Rentons and Kierstead, but he didn't know they had moved to Alberta until he bumped into them at a nightclub. He is a first-year apprentice pipefitter working at Shell's Scotford refinery.
- How he has spent his paycheques: Getting out of debt and fixing up his car.
- Definition of success in Alberta: "Getting my journeyman ticket, getting my house built back home and paid for. Then I'll be set for life."
- Biggest frustration: Being away from home, his parents and older brother.
- Most surprising thing about Edmonton: Crime. "I was at a friend's house and people tried to break into the house and jump us."
- Goals: "To find an Albertan girlfriend, make lots of money."
- What he misses most: His car, a Mustang GT.
- Hourly wage at his last New Brunswick job: $9, driving a gravel truck.
- Hourly wage at his current Alberta job: $16.37, plus night shift differential.
SOUNDING BOARD
Some who come here for work say they will never feel like Albertans. Others feel at home right away. When do you think newcomers should consider themselves Albertans? E-mail your thoughts to city@thejournal.canwest.com. Subject line: The Promised Land
© The Edmonton Journal 2006
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