ओहो, के के हुँदो छ भनेर यस हिमवतखन्डे रक्कीज पर्वते (कैलाश पर्वते भने जस्तै के) गौपुरी अर्थात केलगढी (calgary, 'cowtown' in colloquialism - कुरै कुराँ भउतेका बास थिम भने hogtown भन्छन है, हे हे बरा भउतेकाजि...) को सबिस्तार गराईपाउँ भनि दीपमुनि पनि माथि माथि हेर्दै मनसुबा राख्दा हुँदा भएकाले यो सिरे सन्यासीलाई पनि अन्तर्ध्यान भयो । तत्पश्चात दीपमुनि का आज्ञाले यहाँ सविस्तार गर्दछु । the matter of the fact is that the petroleum consumed in the north american continent used to be traditionally acquired from arabian sources. however, the highly volatile and delicate geopolitics of that ill-fated region urged the companies and governments to look for alternate sources. Alberta, a prairie province of canada, has the highest deposits of oilsand in the world. Oilsand, also called tarsand, is a type of sand mixed with bituminous compounds (अलकत्रामा मुछेको वालुवा जस्तो) and extraction means digging the sand (yes, right from the surface, no mining or drilling required) and distilling it. Besides, alberta also has ltos and lots of underground petroleum reservoirs. overall, the hydrocarbon deposits of alberta alone parallel to those of saudi arabia, or even more as a lot is yet to be explored. furthermore, other regions of canada such as offshore the east and west coasts as well as saskatchewan are also believed to have huge deposits of oil. so, in overall, canada is believed to possess the largest deposits of oil in the planet. Another source recently identified is methane dissolved in arctic waters (read ice) which, provided can be economically extracted, can alone meet the demands of the world for the nexxt 5 or 6 decades. However, owing mainly to the north american (understand as humanitarian) labor laws and the expenses of the labor itself, extraction is economically feasible only if the oil prices are maintained above or at the current levels. Due to the risks and uncertainties associated with the arabian sources, plus the increasing influence of the Euro in oil-trading in non-american oil sources, the US government is now convinced that they should detach themselves from the arabian part (also refer state of union address- this week) , sooner the better, for which it has been understood that they have given commitments to the oil companies (this one confuses me though- are US govt and oil companies really different ;-) ) that now onwards the prices are gonna be maintained at current levels or even hiked if required. that already puts canada in a position that the largest foreign source of oil in the US is canda (with 16% from canada, then mexico and then only saudi arabia). earlier, the economy of the alberta used to be based on farming (beef and grass) and it did not have the human resources that could meet these new demands. in fact, the population itself was quite sparse. as statistics tell, the current rate of unemployment in alberta is 3%, that of calgary in particular is 2.4 or 2.5 % (i forgot the exact decimal digit). mind you, the effective 'zero unemployment' is 5 to 6%- that means, according to the economists, that if the unemployment drops below 5%, the economy is gonna hurt in the sense that employers have to face uneconomic pressure (read blackmail) from the employees and the stability of employment is highly jeopardized. alberta is the only province that has eliminated provincial tax which means that the tax in alberta is less by 7% than rest of canada but the manpower is still in short. the following page from wikipedia also illustrates the current state-of-affairs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_Bonus so, life looks good in alberta; and lets say in western canada in general. other than that, the famous movie 'brokeback mountain' was shot in alberta. social life testai testai ho re ke ;-) [ the main thing is that people respect each-other's personal choice] other aspects of canadian life are - political mainstream is liberal left (or centre-left characterized by high taxes, same sex marriage allowed, free and universal healthcare, child benefits - means your kids get 'bhatta' but of course depending on your income level tho, unemployment insurance- you get 'bhatta' if you are fired from the job, and decriminalization of recreational pot too - yo chahi dhannai chhuteko bhanna lai). above all, what i find as the 'beauty' of canadian lifestyle is multicultarism. racism is virtually non-existent as compared to rest of the world. तेसो भएर नयाँ आउने मान्छेलाई मैले येतै मेरै गामतिरै नै ( alberta) आम्न सल्लाह दिन्छु है । mistakes in expression/language माफि पाउँ है, आज एकदमै कामको माचो छ, २ दिन पछि फेरि भेटम्ला, मलाई ईमेल गर्नु भए नि हुन्छ interested साथिहरुले Keep rolling...