[Thanos]

Pretty sure Encana made the final decision after the federal election losses, just like Husky did with their layoffs last week. That decision would have been confirmed by the reality of whatever benefits they'd gain within Alberta from the UCP budget are sure to be wiped out altogether by the overall industry-shuttering strategy the Liberals/NDP/Greens/BQ are about to unleash.

They're only Alberta jobs, Beave. No one here is asking you, or even expecting you, to care in the slightest. Your part of the country got everything you asked for and that's all that matters in the end. You guys won, your enemies lost. It's OK for you to be happy about how things are turning out for you.

[peck420]

PluggyRug PluggyRug:

Improve your knowledge base and look up bill C69.

If I was living in BC....I would be far, far, far more concerned with where the IP's, I need to run my new toys, just went.

Whoops.

They better make sure they don't out compete and American firms now.

[bootlegga]

Thanos Thanos:

Pretty sure Encana made the final decision after the federal election losses, just like Husky did with their layoffs last week. That decision would have been confirmed by the reality of whatever benefits they'd gain within Alberta from the UCP budget are sure to be wiped out altogether by the overall industry-shuttering strategy the Liberals/NDP/Greens/BQ are about to unleash.

They're only Alberta jobs, Beave. No one here is asking you, or even expecting you, to care in the slightest. Your part of the country got everything you asked for and that's all that matters in the end. You guys won, your enemies lost. It's OK for you to be happy about how things are turning out for you.

God, this narrative is so tiring.

Believe it or not, central Canada isn't out to screw Alberta. Sure, Alberta's needs and central Canada's don't necessarily match, but this vindictiveness you allude to doesn't exist.

With all the drilling experience in this province, we have the capability to lead the world in geothermal energy, but all some people can think of it digging up dead dinosaurs and dumping them in their vehicle's gas tank. Like it or not, but oil is a sunset industry like typewriters or horse-drawn buggies.

We also have a burgeoning tech sector that is a world leader in a number of fields, and Kenney axing tax credits to grow the field doesn't do any of us ay favours.

Frankly, Scheer deserved to lose with his shitty re-treaded Harper-lite platform. The reason the CPC got less votes in Quebec and the Maritimes combined is solely because the platform was geared to pleasing prairie conservatives, not moderate conservatives across the country. You can like it or not, but almost 80% of voters wanted some sort of climate change plan, and Scheer's was garbage. Most of the country wasn't interested in the huge cuts he was proposing either.

[Thanos]

^100% wrong

1) imagine the economic diversity we could have built in this province over the last forty years if $15 to 20 billion per year weren't being taken from us and given to those who despise us

2) another major drilling rig company is sending all their units to the US this year, in another confirmation that there's no business sense in working here anymore

All of this is real, Boots. It's not some figment of a radical right-wing conspiracy mindset. Whether by deliberate design or by mere indifference to the collateral damage of their policies they're going to destroy us. And the wheels have been in motion for a very long time. None of this would be happening at all if the bulk of the O&G sector was situated in Ontario or Quebec.

[BeaverFever]

Thanos Thanos:

^100% wrong

1) imagine the economic diversity we could have built in this province over the last forty years if $15 to 20 billion per year weren't being taken from us and given to those who despise us

What exactly are you talking about here? Don’t say “equalization” because as has been explained to you a hundred times that’s paid out of federal tax revenue. You don’t pay anything extra towards it nor would you pay anything less if it were canceled. Also we don’t despise you, we simply disagree with you. Although you despise us. Having a heart full of hate for [insert group name here] is a fundamental element of the conservative mindset.

$1:

None of this would be happening at all if the bulk of the O&G sector was situated in Ontario or Quebec.

If it were all in Ontario or Quebec you wouldn’t be so pro o&g. A raving environmentalist perhaps?

[BeaverFever]

Oh and by the way I hope it’s not lost on anyone that Encana used to be a publicly owned Alberta Energy Company until Ralph Klein privatized it and he and his cronies and cabinet ministers bought up shares in the new private business even while they were still in office.

Now it’s leaving Alberta to maximize profits for its shareholders.

Conservatism is as conservatism does.

[fifeboy]

Thanos Thanos:

^100% wrong

1) imagine the economic diversity we could have built in this province over the last forty years if $15 to 20 billion per year weren't being taken from us and given to those who despise us

2) another major drilling rig company is sending all their units to the US this year, in another confirmation that there's no business sense in working here anymore

All of this is real, Boots. It's not some figment of a radical right-wing conspiracy mindset. Whether by deliberate design or by mere indifference to the collateral damage of their policies they're going to destroy us. And the wheels have been in motion for a very long time. None of this would be happening at all if the bulk of the O&G sector was situated in Ontario or Quebec.

1). Most likely that 15-20 billion would have been wasted on tax cuts to oil and gas.
--- and remember, it was Stevo , Big Jason and the rest of the Conservative Caucus that set the formula for equalization payments. Eastern Alberta haters to a man

2) Jason, the Canada hater is now in charge. Why is there no business sense to drill? All that oil could be shipped out to Texas on the numerous pipelines Stevo had built in his time as PM.

Alberta is 4 or so million people, not oil and gas. Perhaps those four million need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and look for other ways of making a living besides pump and pipeline. Tar sands oil won't make any difference unless there is a drastic increase in the price of a barrel. Take some of the Heritage Fund and build a refinery(oh wait... it went to tax cuts for the companies who just cut and ran.)

Quit looking for an external focus of blame and examine (on the part of Alberta) for a more internal focus.

[FieryVulpine]

Thanos Thanos:

Whether by deliberate design or by mere indifference to the collateral damage of their policies they're going to destroy us.

I believe that it is probably the latter because--as Beave demonstrates--their understanding of the world begins at Sarnia and ends at Quebec City. It's pointless to hate them. They're more deserving of my pity because they are merely patsies for American interests as those jobs are moving south, thus benefitting the U.S. economy and--by extension--the incumbent president whom they hate with every fiber of their being. Honestly, it's the most hilarious thing I have ever seen and they're too dumb to get the joke.

[FieryVulpine]

fifeboy fifeboy:

Quit looking for an external focus of blame and examine (on the part of Alberta) for a more internal focus.

Nah, we don't need to take advice from ignorant hicks (Ontario) or stung-out drug addicts (British Columbia.)

[fifeboy]

FieryVulpine FieryVulpine:

fifeboy fifeboy:

Quit looking for an external focus of blame and examine (on the part of Alberta) for a more internal focus.

Nah, we don't need to take advice from ignorant hicks (Ontario) or stung-out drug addicts (British Columbia.)

What about retired people in Saskatoon? Fool!

[FieryVulpine]

fifeboy fifeboy:

What about retired people in Saskatoon? Fool!

It's impossible for me to give any less of a damn. Central Canada can go on believing in the delusion that they have built their little utopia and sneer at the Americans when they're nothing but clueless stooges with a failing state. If someone in Saskatoon wants to believe in that fairy tale, it is no concern of mine.

[fifeboy]

FieryVulpine FieryVulpine:

fifeboy fifeboy:

What about retired people in Saskatoon? Fool!

It's impossible for me to give any less of a damn. Central Canada can go on believing in the delusion that they have built their little utopia and sneer at the Americans when they're nothing but clueless stooges with a failing state. If someone in Saskatoon wants to believe in that fairy tale, it is no concern of mine.

Who is speaking of Americans? Anyone here sneering??? All I'm saying is that Alberta needs to find another way that doesn't involve allowing the Saudi, big oil and the boogie man dictate their lives. The fairy tale is that 'everyone' is out to get you..... because...because Trudeau. What did the previous administration do?

If EVERYONE in Alberta is against the current equalization formula they shouldn't have supported Stevo for so long. But... but...TRUDEAU! All that cash would have gone to Encana and helped them pay for their move south. (NOTE...THIS IS THE ONLY 'AMERICAN' REFERENCE IN THIS POST... no sneering)

[FieryVulpine]

fifeboy fifeboy:

Who is speaking of Americans? Anyone here sneering??? All I'm saying is that Alberta needs to find another way that doesn't involve allowing the Saudi, big oil and the boogie man dictate their lives. The fairy tale is that 'everyone' is out to get you..... because...because Trudeau. What did the previous administration do?

If EVERYONE in Alberta is against the current equalization formula they shouldn't have supported Stevo for so long. But... but...TRUDEAU! All that cash would have gone to Encana and helped them pay for their move south. (NOTE...THIS IS THE ONLY 'AMERICAN' REFERENCE IN THIS POST... no sneering)

Look, I am sorry that people such yourself and Beave subscribe to the paranoid views of the dominance of the oil companies and the "specter" of Stephen to the point of delusion. It is equally unfortunate that this hollow shell of a nation is ultimately held back by a largely insular Central Canada and a backwater West Coast. Little wonder that the Americans benefit from the endless stupidity of these two regions.

[BeaverFever]

FieryVulpine FieryVulpine:

merely patsies for American interests

A comical observation from the province that prides itself on being “Texas North”, holds the most American values found in Canada and s home to the worst American bootlicks Canada has to offer [/quote].
The entire national interest doesn’t have to be subordinated to the oil companies that control the minds of a single province whose population is smaller than the Toronto metropolitan area

An Albertan calling a Torontonian a “hick”, that’s new. I guess I should call you a cosmopolitan urban elitist since it’s opposite day apparently.

[bootlegga]

Thanos Thanos:

^100% wrong

1) imagine the economic diversity we could have built in this province over the last forty years if $15 to 20 billion per year weren't being taken from us and given to those who despise us

2) another major drilling rig company is sending all their units to the US this year, in another confirmation that there's no business sense in working here anymore

All of this is real, Boots. It's not some figment of a radical right-wing conspiracy mindset. Whether by deliberate design or by mere indifference to the collateral damage of their policies they're going to destroy us. And the wheels have been in motion for a very long time. None of this would be happening at all if the bulk of the O&G sector was situated in Ontario or Quebec.

1) Imagine how much our trade would have been restricted because of duties and tariffs we would have had to pay because we weren't part of NAFTA. Or worse, imagine the tolls we would have had to pay to use roads, rail and pipelines to export our oil.

2) The problem isn't pumping the oil out of the ground, it's getting it to market, and for that we have a succession of governments to blame that on, including a decade under Harper where he couldn't get Keystone XL built, couldn't get NG built, etc.

Nobody is trying to destroy Alberta - most of the oil we produce is too expensive for the world market and right now, all of our oilsands production is getting dumped in the US Midwest, amidst a glut of cheap, fracked light oil. Big surprise we're getting next ot nothing for it. If we had gotten off our asses 20 years ago and built TMX when we ramped up oilsands production, we'd be shipping hundreds of thousands of barrels a day to Japan, South Korea, India, and/or China.

Instead, we got complacent and decades of PC governments just assumed we'd always have between six and ten billion dollars a year in oil royalties, so they spent it as fast is it came in, and kept taxes low, so Albertans became this entitled bunch who really believe you can have your cake and eat it too (low taxes and lots of services). Everyone wants a school down the street, a hospital nearby, a nice paved, divided highway to comute into the city on and pay next to no income taxes, no sales taxes, or anything else for all of that. Prentice may have been a bit arrogant, but I've come to realize he was bang on the money when he told Albertans to look in the mirror.