YYT-YYC is 2695 mi, out of reach for AC's current narrow-body fleet until recently. YYZ-POS (Puerto Espana, Trinidad y Tobago, 2529 mi) was pretty much at the limit of what AC could reasonably do with the A319, and even then, offloads were fairly common.

The arrival of the 7M8 makes it something they could more plausibly consider.

Don't really think YYC is really a hotbed of offshore O&G expertise. You probably have more people coming in from Aberdeen and other places in Scotland/Norway for engineering purposes relating to Newfoundland's offshore O&G industry than you have from Western Canada. Or Texas/Louisiana through YYZ, of course. And YEG is probably a more interesting gateway for more NL-origin jackscrews than YYC.