sorry to bring this dead thread back up but just want to respond to the oil royalty issue. I realize if we up royalties oil companies will invest elsewhere. Really though people the oil is still in the ground and all these companies and people are still here to drill oil. Theres no reason we cant be doing this ourselves and reaping the full benefits. 1
Argue all you want but every dollar that goes into oil company owners pockets is money being taken out of canada never to return. 2
Theres a reason the oil companies had a fit and heavily invested elsewhere, they wanted the gravy train to keep on rolling and by sending a strong message to albertans they made it happen. I would call that fear tactics and we should all be offended. We have the oil not them and it is not shells god given right to access our resources at whatever cost they feel is ok.
Let the government control these resources and lets do it in a way where we can all have the opportunity to work hard and be compensated nicely. You think theres big paycheques up north right now just wait until all the profits go to the workers/contractors 3
There is enough oil resources in this province to warrant the needed investment to drill without the big oil giants. 4
As for the other parties destroying 4x4 rights, well thats what happens when all 4x4ers support only one party. Seems simple to me but i guess some don't get the picture. You need to show support to receive it. Most on this website seem to show concern for the environment so why so pro rightwing? Theres no reason even the green party couldn't support offroading rights if members made it a concern. 5
I guess the number one problem in this province isn't the government or a particular party, Its the individual albertan who just expects the parties to know what they want and how they want it without ever getting involved in the process.
If your sole role in the election process is voting then maybe you shouldn't be complaining.6
I'm not saying shut down the oilsands. I'm saying lets stabilize the oilsands so none of us have to lose money/business when the oil companies throw their weight around or decide its cheaper to invest elsewhere.
Please someone out there see this for what it is
We should all be fumed at shell/bp/ect not stelmach, he was the only one with albertans wellbeing in mind.7
A couple of thoughts cuz I am bored.
1. There is no reason......there are a few actually. First off is Capital......Alberta (as a Province) does not have the investment capital to fund a State Run Oil Exploration and Development company (nor quite frankly do any of the people in government have the business acumen to successfully run a for profit entity on behalf of Albertan's. The next is resource, and by that I mean human resource needed to work in these companies. In the next 3 years alone Alberta is expected to have a shortfall of 170,000 people needed to fill roles in the workplace. Then there is the issue of cutting off foreign investment in the Oil Sands.....does anyone think this would not have far reaching implications outside of the energy industry - all you need to do is look to the current political climate between China and Japan and the rhetoric that is surrounding a couple of rocks in the South Pacific to understand the depths that China (the worlds largest and growing economy) will go to when angered. You also forget that we have many agreements in place with these foreign companies and their respective governments and if we all of a sudden decide we are going to give them a one way ticket across the border and hope for no repercussions??? Then of course there is the rest of Canada to worry about...........for those of us with shorter memories there was this little thing called the National Energy Program and it had profound impacts on they economy of Alberta both as a result of the original NEP as well as the boot strap politics in place in Alberta at the time that tried to "moderate" the impact.
Don't get me wrong I am all for more local/regional investment and say in what and how the oilsands (and the rest of Alberta's resources) are managed/developed but I think there is a little more to it than "doing this ourselves"
2. 3.7 billion in royalties from the Oil Sands (not including the rest of Alberta's resource royalties which total ~11 billion), $700 million in municipal and provincial secondary tax revenues directly related to the oil sands, 1 in 12 jobs in Alberta are directly employed by the resource industry, average of 11.5 billion per year invested into the Oil Sands.
3. hmmmm sounds remarkably like Socialism or Marxism to me and there is plenty of world history on how well that works out.
4. Having the resources and the demand for those resources doesn't mean we have the economic capacity (money, labour, expertise, etc) to exploit it. Who is going to run this venture.......elected officials?
?
5. Bit of a left turn here and in reality not sure of the point, but to assume that individuals on this site are all driven by the same socio-political motives is narrow minded and near sited. I love my 4x4 and continued access to Alberta's resources to do that is important to me. However, there are many more things that influence both my votes and my political positioning....family, social values, education, healthcare, all rank up above my 4x4.
6. If you think that the number 1 problem of Alberta is its populace then perhaps you should move, of course Albertans (like any other democratic region/state/province/city/country) expect the parties that they elected to know what they want..........they voted for them based on their platform and expect them to act upon what they promised (even though time and time again we are lied to).
7. Sooooo let me get this one straight a provinicial leader that could not even garner the support of his own elective riding who polarized Albertan's like no other election in recent history and who's financially moronic government spent this province back to deficit with no true reform or benefit to any of the things you discussed above not to mention education, health care, social reform etc is not the fault of the leader and his government but the fault of Shell and BP???
Hmmm............
Topic: Election time (Read 10314 times)