Riding the Tornado

Riding the Tornado

| 57 min

This documentary focuses on boom-and-bust economic cycles, most notably that of Alberta oil during the '70s and early '80s. When the bust hit after a drop in world oil prices, those business people who knew how to "ride a tornado" cut their losses and moved on, while others were left devastated. When Newfoundland was faced with a possible oil boom of its own in the mid-'80s, it took the lessons of Alberta to heart. Part 3 of the series, Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada.

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Riding the Tornado, Bob Lower, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

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Credits
  • director
    Bob Lower
  • script
    Bob Lower
  • producer
    Kent Martin
  • executive producer
    John Taylor
  • camera
    James Jeffrey
    Nigel Markham
    Mike Mahoney
    Richard A. Stringer
  • sound
    Leon Johnson
    Jim Rillie
    David Springbett
  • editing
    Bob Lower
    Manfred Becker
  • sound editing
    Manfred Becker
  • re-recording
    Hans Peter Strobl
    Shelley Craig
  • music
    Roger Lemoyne
    Bruce Granofsky
    Eric Lemoyne
  • host
    James Laxer
 See also
Western Canada
Oil and Gas Industries
Atlantic Region
Resource Development
All subjects
Canada-U.S. Relations
Featured Films
All channels
Add a new comment
  • alicjag

    hey bush bunny...have you forgotten about Canada's genocide of over 50,000 aboriginal childern and people??? The reserves arent anything to be proud of. The living conditions are terrible and most reserves are built on land which is affected by environmental degredation.....unclean water, land prone to drought, and far away from the rest of society. Those that chose to assimilate lost their Native status, and even with their new attitudes and status as Canadians, never saw an end to the discrimination....Also, Indiginous people in South America have it better than those in Canada, US and Australia.....

    alicjag, 22 Mar 2012
  • bush bunny

    I lived and worked through this period, believe me, it wasn't that bad, to finally have work where ever you turned, and year round was nice for a change, Ottawa always trying to keep the seasonal work in the west and the industry and year round work in the east, it took many years of strife , boom and bust, and now oil rules and runs the world, the political landscape in this country has changed, tired of listening about poor Quebec and the Maritimes, well if it wasn't for the oil boom and the thousands of people it employed from there, they would still be the welfare capital of canada, as far as the natives go, now, show me an indiginous people anywhere in the world who are better taken care of than in canada, in fact they are a lost culture, always looking back to what they lost, instead of assimilating and building for the future, I have lived around and with them all my life, and the worst thing we did was put them on reserves and take care of them, they not only have the highest natality rate but also the highest mortality rate, they are now canada"s royal family. Oil will continue to be the governing factor in our lives, long after we are gone.

    bush bunny, 15 Mar 2010

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