[Newsbot]

Title: Seeking a political scapegoat for plunging oil: Don Pittis
Category: Political
Posted By: andyt
Date: 2016-01-13 07:31:22
Canadian

[andyt]

$1:

Now that Rachel Notley's NDP has taken power in Alberta, things have gone off the rails. And Trudeau! Surely everyone knows his dad's National Energy Program was the reason for the last oil crash.

Absurd as those statements may appear to those who understand the workings of global markets, there are already signs that right-leaning supporters of the oil and gas industry are busy seeking political scapegoats.

Conservatives in the oil industry are watching for any opportunity to point fingers at policy by Notley or Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the reason for the dire troubles the sector is currently suffering. If nothing else, their scrutiny diverts attention from their own failure to foresee the crash in oil prices, now so obvious to everyone.

The idea, misremembered to this day, is that the NEP killed the Alberta economy. Just like today, the real damage was done by the world price of oil that in 1980 had hit a peak of $35 US a barrel (over $100 in today's money) but then began a long fairly steady decline to about $10 by 1986. That sounds familiar.

In retrospect, some of the provisions of the NEP might have helped us in our current mess. One, to build a national oil company like Norway's Statoil, could have left us with a multibillion-dollar dollar nestegg.

And if Canada had paid slightly lower prices for oil during the boom of the last 10 years, and slightly higher prices now, there is a possibility Canada's non-resource exports would not have been so badly damaged by Dutch disease.

Perhaps even Alberta would be better off now if its Conservative government had raised taxes and royalties, sharing the wealth and becoming less of a one-industry province.

Trusting the free market to build a capitalist paradise where Canada is an energy superpower doesn't seem like such a great idea when the world price of oil dips below $30 US.

As is often the case in Canadian politics, governments are pitched out not when things are going great but when something has gone sour. Both in Alberta and in Canada, new governments must deal with a series of economic crises that can quite fairly be attributed to the policy of their Conservative predecessors.

Of course all this will go right over some Albertans heads. It's got to be everybody's fault but their own.

[martin14]

How sweet, another fluffy piece from the CBC.

Notley and Trudeau didn't create the problem.

But,

Notley will be blamed for sacking everyone in Alberta with carbon taxes, and not slowing down her socialist spending program at all, increasing the deficits she will run, compounded by all the government calculations on the wrong price of oil.
No one in Alberta counts on $20 oil, and yet they have it now.

And dumping a whole whack of new taxes on an industry that is in real trouble.

Killing what few jobs were left, and making sure nothing new gets created, except
more government shit.

Straight outta the Ontario playbook.


Lil' Justine will get blamed for not doing anything during the dollar drop except
going on holiday.

And not fighting to get interest rates up.

And spending billions on 'refugees' who have to be bribed to come to Canada,
while people in Canada are now paying 8 bucks for cauliflower.

And dumping carbon taxes on the whole country, keeping the price of gas high.

And running the deficit to American levels.



The real scapegoat is, in case anyone didn't know, was our good friend Obongo
and his Saudi buddies.

[TheHopFather]

Phrases like "Lil' Justine" and "Obongo" make you sound smart and help to convince people your arguments are correct. Well done.

[BartSimpson]

martin14 martin14:

Straight outta the Ontario playbook.

I think you dropped this...

[BartSimpson]

TheHopFather TheHopFather:

Phrases like "Lil' Justine" and "Obongo" make you sound smart and help to convince people your arguments are correct. Well done.

The last time I punched someone in the face it wasn't to sway them to my point of view it was simply to punch them in the face.

Knowing the difference between a debate and a bitch slap is a useful form of wisdom on this forum.

[2Cdo]

andyt andyt:

Of course all this will go right over some Albertans heads. It's got to be everybody's fault but their own.

Right now she is making it worse by not releasing the Royalty Review, everybody is sitting and waiting to see what it contains. She tells everyone that there is no increase but she is a politician.

Thousands of workers are sitting right now because she won't do the one thing that could put some of them back to work.

But you just want to blame the Conservatives and those evil oil workers.

[andyt]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

andyt andyt:

Of course all this will go right over some Albertans heads. It's got to be everybody's fault but their own.

Right now she is making it worse by not releasing the Royalty Review, everybody is sitting and waiting to see what it contains. She tells everyone that there is no increase but she is a politician.

Thousands of workers are sitting right now because she won't do the one thing that could put some of them back to work.

But you just want to blame the Conservatives and those evil oil workers.

Blame the conservatives - that's me and the author of the op. Blame the oil workers? Why? Unless of course they kept voting conservative, then maybe they made their own bed a bit.

[2Cdo]

andyt andyt:

2Cdo 2Cdo:

andyt andyt:

Of course all this will go right over some Albertans heads. It's got to be everybody's fault but their own.

Right now she is making it worse by not releasing the Royalty Review, everybody is sitting and waiting to see what it contains. She tells everyone that there is no increase but she is a politician.

Thousands of workers are sitting right now because she won't do the one thing that could put some of them back to work.

But you just want to blame the Conservatives and those evil oil workers.

Blame the conservatives - that's me and the author of the op. Blame the oil workers? Why? Unless of course they kept voting conservative, then maybe they made their own bed a bit.

Just what I knew you would say.

[herbie]

TheHopFather TheHopFather:

Phrases like "Lil' Justine" and "Obongo" make you sound smart and help to convince people your arguments are correct. Well done.

Martin can't help it. Don't bother to point out his uncontrollable sexist/racist shit, he'll just whine your playing the 'race card' and convince himself he's the victim.
Just like $8 cauliflower. Maybe someone's buying it, no one here is. And its due to a surging US dollar (but NO... Obama couldn't have anything to do with that) and a tanking Canadian buck (yeah it was Trudeau Jr who put all our eggs in one basket, just happened in the last few weeks!)

[DrCaleb]

martin14 martin14:

Notley will be blamed for sacking everyone in Alberta with carbon taxes, and not slowing down her socialist spending program at all, increasing the deficits she will run, compounded by all the government calculations on the wrong price of oil.

Yet Prentice and Redford's lack of vision on the environment cost Alberta Business routes to ship that oil when the price does rebound. And Notley's deficits won't be any less than either Prentices' or Redfords', they will just be upfront instead of a paper publised 18 months after the fact that no one reads.

The same people who were saying 'give Harper a chance!' back in 2008 and who wasted their votes on the Wild Rose will still ignore that little tidbit instead chanting for a 'kudatah'.

(That still makes me giggle a bit.)

The Premier of Alberta and the Prime Minister of Canada don't control the world price of oil, and have no say about pipelines once they cross borders. But O'Leary would have you believe it's all their fault, while sinking his money into US energy companies.