Governments and industry are putting up $1.5 million for a mobile business-incubator project designed to help fledgling firms get into the oilsands industry. All along Highway 881 — called the SAGD Alley, after the steam-assisted gravity drainage system of oilsands production — which runs from Fort McMurray south to Lac La Biche, aboriginal communities are in the midst of Alberta’s booming underground oilsands region.

An executive from a big-name construction company drew laughs at a recent business conference when he urged everyone in the room to go home and make babies — so dire is the need for workers in Alberta. It’s no joke for employers;

Environment Canada has been criticized for excluding statistics indicating a substantial rise in overall pollution from the oilsands sector from 2008 to 2009 in its inventory report, while including numbers suggesting the industry was making progress

When the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) released its sixth-annual oilsands update in May, it highlighted the bright investment future of the industry.