Three quick, Alberta based comments I’d like to make:
1. Although I awoke in a bad mood this morning after my crushing lottery defeat last night, I got a big kick out of this, in my morning Herald:
Robert Remington
Calgary Herald
Thursday, October 27, 2005Twenty-five years after the National Energy Program brought Calgary to its knees, Liberal revisionists are urging Albertans to “get over it” and claiming that the stories of lost houses and failed businesses are overblown.
Here’s what one Internet blogger, CalgaryGrit, had to say about it in a posting on Aug. 5:
“I have been door knocking and had people who were in pre-school when the NEP was brought in tell me that it’s the reason they won’t vote Liberal. Over time it has grown to mythic standard even though no one in Alberta really knows what it was or what it did,” says CalgaryGrit.
“The bottom line is the NEP was a legitimate policy that fell victim to poor timing. It’s been an easy scapegoat all these years, even though no one understands its intent or consequences. There are a lot of good reasons for Albertans to be p—ed off with Ottawa and the Liberal Party — I just wish they’d focus on some of them instead of living in the past and an ill-fated, good-intentioned policy.”
I’m actually more surprised that the Herald bleeped out “pissed” than I am that they quoted me as a “Liberal revisionist”. Regardless, the article follows with quotes from several very smart people and Rod Love, explaining how terrible things got in Alberta in the 80s. For the record, I don’t disagree with that at all. I just think that the collapse of the world price of oil had more to do with the bust than the NEP. Especially when the federal government re-negotiated the deal multiple times as the price of oil fell. The oil economy tanked everywhere around the world, not just Alberta.
2. For those who say that transfer payments never come to Alberta, take a look at this.
3. I saw this on Daveberta yesterday and it made the Globe this morning. Trust me, if my cheque looked like that, I’d gladly flip-flop in support of the rebate idea.
