Dow Canada in Fort Saskatchewan: Our Economic Contribution

Dow’s Fort Saskatchewan site is a positive contributor to the local economy. We transform Alberta’s abundant natural gas resources into value-added products that can be used within our domestic economy or sold internationally.

Dow employs 500 full-time employees and 300 contractors in Fort Saskatchewan. Chemical industry jobs are high-paying and involve advanced engineering and technology usage. The production of petrochemical products goes beyond the oil and gas extraction for which Alberta is known. Products you might use that originate at our site include food packaging, home insulation and automobile antifreeze.

Our presence in Fort Saskatchewan creates an economic multiplier effect through purchases of raw materials, products, services, labour and technologies. We try to strike a balance between purchasing locally and purchasing in bulk at a global level in order to save costs. It’s important for us to remain cost competitive and have a supportive government economic framework, since Dow makes decisions on new plant construction based largely on economic, market and public policy factors.

Each year, we pay millions of dollars in taxes to all levels of government. These amounts are in addition to our community investment contributions, which support local economic, social and environmental sustainability initiatives.