Canada election: how Stephen Harper’s fossil fuel gamble may have backfired

The Conservative prime minister pledged to make the country an 'energy superpower', but with the election ahead and many Alberta residents struggling to make ends meet, a promise has become a liability for Harper

It's 11.30am in the pumping heart of Canada's tar sands industry, on a day when local crude is trading at a rock-bottom $29 a barrel. For the down-and-out men and women heading down to the free lunch in the basement of a Fort McMurray church, it's hard to see a way back up.

"It's depressing not having work. I used to make $3,400 a week. Now look at me. I'm eating in a soup kitchen," said Brian Earl, a construction worker.