In St. John’s, the federal election sparks anxieties about the future of Newfoundland’s energy sector

The Globe is visiting communities across the country to hear from Canadians about the issues affecting their lives, their futures and their votes in this federal election.As a pioneer in Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore oil sector, Rob Strong has enjoyed a view from the deck of the industry that transformed his once hard-luck province into a booming producer of black gold too rich to qualify for the federal equalization payments that were long its mainstay. When the 1979 discovery of the Hibernia oil field unleashed a Klondike of offshore drilling, “there were more cowboy boots and big belt buckles to be seen in Newfoundland than anyone ever saw before,” Mr. Strong, still sporting a tan from a recent Jamaican vacation, recalled over coffee in one of the spiffy hotels near St. John’s harbour that cater to oil-industry executives.