NORTHERN RICHES

Imagine you're scanning a map of Canada. Where would you find the country's biggest income earners?

Maybe Toronto (think bankers and brokers), Vancouver (lumber barons and Asian investors), Waterloo, Ont. (Jim Balsillie and Co.) or even Ottawa (land of the six-figure bureaucrats)? Wrong.

Look up, way up - to Fort St. John, B.C., Fort McMurray, Alta., or Fort Smith, NWT. Canada's nouveau riche are in some of the most unlikely places, according to a fresh look at 2006 census data on median income by the Conference Board of Canada's Centre for the North. The 2006 census is the most recent. The top three highest income-earning census divisions are all north of the 55th parallel. No. 1 is Northern Alberta at $42,806, No. 2 is Fort Smith, NWT, at $37,325 and Northern B.C. is third at $35,521.

"We expected to see the highest median incomes in the South," acknowledged Gilles Rhéaume, vice-president of public policy at the Conference Board. "It was surprising to see."

Nos. 4 and 5 are more predictable: Halton, which includes the wealthy Toronto suburb of Oakville, followed by Ottawa.

Surprising, yes. But consider what's happened to the economy in parts of Northern Canada over the past decade bears out the results. The development of three key resources - oil sands, natural gas and diamonds - has transformed a vast area that straddles the Alberta, B.C. and Northwest Territories borders.

The resources boom has attracted skilled trades, government jobs and all the service workers that feed on those big incomes.

And Mr. Rhéaume suggested one more thing to consider: the high cost of living in the North. He estimated food, fuel and anything that must shipped north may cost as much as two to three times more than elsewhere in Canada. That takes a bite out of disposable. And it means employers must pay seemingly inflated salaries to attract and retain employees. The Econolodge in Fort St. John, for example, is hiring housekeepers at $12 an hour. Alpha Safety Ltd. is looking for a $24-an-hour bookkeeper. And the Regional Municipality Of Woodbuffalo, Alta., which encompasses Fort McMurray, is hiring a director of human resources at up to $179,816 a year plus a $12,480 per year cost of living adjustment.

These generous paycheques don't mean the entire North is an economic Mecca. The five poorest census divisions are also in the North - in Manitoba, Northern Saskatchewan and the central coast of B.C., according to the Conference Board.

Some of the highest rates of unemployment are also found in the northern parts of most provinces.

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Where the money is

Top five regions by median income

Rank..........Region (Census division)............................................Median income

1.................Northern Alberta (Division no. 16).............................$42,806

2.................Northwest Territories (Fort Smith).............................$37,325

3.................Northern British Columbia (Northern Rockies).........$35,521

4.................Southern Ontario (Halton)...........................................$35,433

5.................Southern Ontario (Ottawa)..........................................$32,908

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

SOURCES: 2006 CENSUS, CONFERENCE BOARD OF CANADA