UCP Lie #1: the Alberta economy is so bad we can’t afford the current level of necessary public services and the sole solution is to cut the costs by reducing and eliminating services.
There is no doubt that Alberta has been hit hard by the collapse of global oil prices in 2014-15. But it wasn’t the “fault” of the NDP government at the time, regardless of the political rhetoric Mr. Kenney likes to spout. Alberta is a world oil price taker, not a price maker. OPEC and the USA can have price influences but not little ol’ Alberta, regardless of who is running our government. We have to learn to adapt and not in the world of extremes fo Booms and Busts as has been our norm.
There is also lots of misleading UCP rhetoric that “billions of dollars of investment left Alberta” and the reason is the NDP government policy. This graph, using Statistics Canada data, shows that Alberta is still the largest attractor of Capital Investment per capita in the country.
We are not seeing growth in major oilsands project investments as in the past. CAPEX is lower because of many factors including we are tied totally to the US market, their refineries and overly dependent on their investment dollars. The really bad news is the USA is our only oil customer and our biggest competitor at the same time.
The ultimate blame for our lack of good Alberta energy policy is on us, Albertans, the owners of the natural resources. We have been blithely ignorant about what our elected MLAs have been doing to us, not for us, especially in optimizing the returns from oil sands development.
The last boom is over, and since hope is not a strategy, holding our breath for the next one is more fiscal mythology than useful economic planning methodology. All things considered, Alberta is still the strongest economy in Canada.
Don’t be suckered by Kenney’s political propaganda and gaslighting to the contrary. Start acting like a citizen owner and start seeing our government as our Trustee in providing responsible, sustainable and profitable resource development. Demand more accountability, transparency, honesty and integrity from the Kenney controlled UCP government. They work for all Albertans, not just their Tribal Base.
