A NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY means different things to different people. To Stevie and the gang from Alberta, it means "give us what we want"; to others, it means optimum sustainability and concern for the environment.
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| Alison Redford: a Black Hat? |
Licia Corbella, at The Calgary Herald has a very interesting take on this, "Corbella: Redford so wrong about national energy strategy":
Way back in November when Alison Redford became leader of the Progressive Conservative party and therefore premier, I opined that her idea of bringing in a national energy strategy was wrong-headed. First, it would dilute Alberta’s dominant voice on the issue to becoming just one in a chorus of many. Second, that by seeking consensus on an energy strategy when the circumstances in each province are so divergent, national unity could be damaged.
This past week has proven that I was right and Redford was wrong. And yet, saying I told you so gives me no pleasure.
In November, Redford said the national energy strategy was “about ensuring we can talk about the use of energy in an integrated fashion.” I’m not even sure she knows what that means. It’s the kind of empty rhetoric that sounds great in the halls of the United Nations, but means nothing in the real world.
This past week has proven that I was right and Redford was wrong. And yet, saying I told you so gives me no pleasure.
In November, Redford said the national energy strategy was “about ensuring we can talk about the use of energy in an integrated fashion.” I’m not even sure she knows what that means. It’s the kind of empty rhetoric that sounds great in the halls of the United Nations, but means nothing in the real world.
6 comments:
It gives the impression all those premiers are doing something. giving themselves something to talk about to justify their little shin dig. They will go off & do nothing but they did get their photo ops.
It would have been nice if they had discussed child poverty, especially with christie chunch there, she living in the province of 8 yrs of having the highest child poverty rate in Canada.
It might have been nice to have them talk about removing some of those barriers to trade & agreeing on some national standards regarding education, etc.
There is one fucking certainty in all this.
The lives of neither you nor I will be made more prosperous or more comfortable as a result of any of this.
Something else most people don't seem to know and I was surprised to learn given how Alberta is constantly promoted as the richest province.
The royalty rate collected by Alberta on oil sands projects before "payout" is currently one per cent, which according to the chief architect of Alberta's iconic heritage fund, is so low it is "like a rounding error from zero." Allan Warrack, a former minister in the Alberta government who nearly 40 years ago helped craft the province's plan for saving and intelligently investing its oil wealth, says Alberta is being run like a banana republic and the citizens of Alberta who own the oilsands are being screwed.
"Alberta's Oil Wealth and the Big Question for Harper".
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/04/13/HarpersBigQuestion
Also: http://m.thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/04/18/Alberta-Syndrome/
This explains why Alberta is running a defict and why Albertans are shortchanged on social services, social housing, and public health care, like the rest of us.
You don't have to look much further than ground central here. I highly doubt the Chinese will be pumping any money into the province or supporting the community here in Fort Mac.
Harper is permitting Communist China, to buy up the tar sands. Harper is permitting China, to bring their own people, to work the tar sands. Harper is allowing Communist China, to bring swarms over to build the Enbridge pipeline. And no, Canadians don't get the refining jobs, Communist China does. Cheap labor means, all the more profit for comrade Harper and Premier Redford of Alberta.
Premier Redford can keep her precious money, and her lethal, chemical laced Bitumen all to herself. The BC citizens want none of the money, nor the Bitumen.
Premier Redford has the gall to force the dirty tar oil on BC. She has had more than a few pipe bursts in Alberta, that were total disasters. Enbridge just had another spill in Wisconsin on Friday.
Harper, Enbridge, Communist China and Premier Redford, can all go to hell. The BC people owe all of them, squat.
Harper and Gordon Campbell, did very dirty, dastardly deeds to BC and the people. Everything of value in BC has been thieved and sold.
I will be damned if we will assist Harper, in his sell out of the tar sands, to Communist China.
Well, be it Communist China or Hypercapitalist USA, we'd be a lot better off controlling our own oil, refining our own oil, and probably consuming our own oil rather than exporting crude in one direction and importing gasoline from another.
I'd argue it should be publicly owned. Not nationalized I guess 'cause it's a provincial thing; unfortunately I don't think "provincialized" is a word, but you get the idea. At a minimum, we'd have less of that Dutch Disease stuff if Alberta were charging some royalties instead of leaving all the money on the table.
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