5 hrs. to kill on cold Sunday evening

[crazycanuck]

Nby, yes I was serious. My mom's working up there atm and heaps of others I know do as well.

You may not realize it but Alberta/Western Australia/Queensland have HEAPS in common thanks to the mining boom. The question is( and it's one that Rio/FMG/BHP/Woodside probably aren't thinking about whilst they pillage our resources) what happens when the boom's over?

If you're bored, here's a link to just some of the good info from AHURI http://www.ahuri.edu.au/publications/projects/p80370

It's just starting to go crazy again here.

Sorry about the drift.

[NbyNW]

You may not realize it but Alberta/Western Australia/Queensland have HEAPS in common thanks to the mining boom. The question is( and it's one that Rio/FMG/BHP/Woodside probably aren't thinking about whilst they pillage our resources) what happens when the boom's over?

I've been thinking about this question quite a bit. I glanced at the article you linked and I've transferred it to my Kindle and will have time to read it tomorrow. Interesting that they use the term "resource boom town," since in my head I've been thinking of it as an "extraction-based economy."

[crazycanuck]

NB, I found some of what I wrote & here are some links that might be of interest..you could be reading for a while...If you can't access the journals, I'm happy to download them for you.

Alberta Government Oil Sands Ministerial Strategy Committee, 2006. Investing in our Future: Responding to the Rapid Growth of Oil Sands Development — Final Report. http://alberta.ca/home/395.cfm

http://www.woodbuffalo.ab.ca -there's a wealth of info on the site!

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. 2010. Housing Market Information: Housing Now, Prairie Region. First Quarter 2010. Ottawa.

Canada West Foundation, 2010. Look before you leap: Oil, Gas, The Western Economy and National Prosperity. Calgary. (www.cwf.ca)

Forsyth, Jennifer S. 2006. Northern Exposure: Oil-Rich Calgary Finds Boomtimes Have a Downside; A Hot Real-Estate Market Suffers Big Labor Shortage; Office Vacancies Near Zero; A Homeless Spellfor Mr. Blair. Wall Street Journal, Aug 30.

Singleton, H., and F.H. McKenzie. 2008. The rebranding imperative for the Western Australian Pilbara region: Status quo to transformative cultural interpretations of local housing and settlement for a competitive geo-regional identity. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 4 (1): 8-28

http://ius.uwinnipeg.ca/index.html

Western Australia. Department of Planning and Infrastructure. 2008. Port Hedland: Regional Hotspots and Land Supply Update. Perth.

Western Australia. Western Australia Planning Commission. 1998. Karratha area development strategy. Perth

Western Australia PLanning Commission. 2003. Port Hedland Area Planning Study (www.planning.wa.gov.au)

WAPC-Port Hedland-Regional Hotspots Land Supply Update

http://www.roebourne.wa.gov.au/ (Info on karratha, one of the most affected towns by the boom)

http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/Search...earch=karratha