What an odd debate it is that is breaking out in Alberta over the report that is stating decades of Conservative governments have been giving away their oil. Alberta’s government owns the resource and gets to charge a royalty for it’s exploitation. While the new Premier has to make the decision, former Premier Klein is showing where his loyalties are to be found:
Speaking yesterday to an industry group in Calgary, Mr. Klein criticized the report, insisting that the province’s previous fiscal regime had provided the necessary stability for companies to invest in Alberta. “These are the things that separate us from places like Venezuela and Iraq, where governments hold foreign companies hostage by arbitrarily hiking royalties,” he said. “We don’t do business like that in this province. We have a fair, clear and comprehensive royalty regime, where the rules are the same for everyone and they don’t change on a whim.”
This is on top of another former Premier, Peter Loughheed causing controversy by suggesting that concern should be had for the state of the Albertan environment in light of the expansion of the oil patch and suggesting increased claims for extra-provincial wealth sharing were coming.
The other day, bouncing around ideas someone came up with beerocracy but it turns out that was an idea once before, one blogger ranking tops on Google for noting in 2003 that the “term was coined by Lady Nancy Astor to describe the Scottish brewing families that entered politics and were influential in Parliament in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and they somehow never brought about a boozy paradise for all.” The influence continued longer than that. Point? I don’t know. But it is interesting to note the unique difficulties and disadvantages that come with windfall booms and monoconomies.