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Editor's Note: Canada has staked its future on the oil sands. In November, Report on Business magazine together with Thomson Reuters examine what that means both at home and abroad. Read more from the issue at tgam.ca/oil. Tens of thousands of workers live in the barracks-like work camps in the oil sands. Noralta Lodge Ltd. owns nine lodges, housing more than 5,000 workers at any given time. We asked residents at the company’s Bighorn Lodge, 26 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, to give us three words that sum up their life in Northern Alberta.

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Bowen Evans, rope access technician from Sydney, Australia: “Travel, career, opportunity.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Annica Menzies, electrician from Kelowna, B.C.: “Money, travel, tired.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Chad Peddle, electrician from Bishop’s Falls, Nfld.: “Away from home.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Jeff Walker, scaffolding and project co-ordinator from Quispamsis, N.B.: “Missing my family.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Vitor Ferreira, general foreman from Edmonton: “Work, greed and fun.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Roy Cabios, CCMS operator from Calgary: “Good-paying job.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Julie Durant, administration, from Mons, Belgium: “Adventure, money and opportunity.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Jim Schauer, carpenter from Cobden, Ont.: “Fun, money and people.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Bill Smadello, electrician from Chilliwack, B.C.” “Money, family and future.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Orlagh Baird, quantity surveyor from Belfast: “Different; anything goes,”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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Popinder Singh, hospitality, from Calgary: “Great job opportunity.”IAN WILLMS/The Globe and Mail

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