In case you didn’t catch Danielle Smith’s bizzarro Address to the Province last week, the one where she signalled what we could expect in the 2024 Budget, here’s a brief synopsis. (Smith’s comments are edited for tone and appear in bold).
We need to get off the oil and gas revenue rollercoaster.
Agreed!
But according to economist Trevor Tombe, the 2024 budget is even MORE reliant on the price of oil than the last one. Last year the government needed an oil price of $68/barrel to balance the budget; this year it’s up to $73/barrel. So the question is: when?
Not right now, today, obviously, but we need to implement a long term strategic financial plan with “predictable and stable revenues” to fund core social programs.
Great idea! Like the kind that comes from higher taxes and a provincial sales tax?
Are you kidding? We won’t follow that “failed model.”
What failed model? You mean Norway?
This is not where I talk about Norway (which has a general income tax rate of 22% and a general VAT of 25%). I am proposing an “alternative solution.” It’s the Heritage Trust Fund (okay, now we can talk about Norway) Norway’s fund is so large it no longer relies on resource revenue.
So we’re supposed to cherry pick facts about Norway, it’s a great model for the HTF but a bad model for predictable and stable revenues to fund core programs.
Yes, moving on, I am going to deliver a plan to grow the HTF to $250B to $400B by 2050.
Good luck with that. Lougheed established the Fund in 1976. Conservatives have raided it ever since. If they’d left Lougheed’s initial investment in the Fund alone there would be $250B in the Fund right now.
Oh, let’s not “bemoan” how we got here. Instead, I’m telling you this is our last chance to get this right. We will be making an annual investment in the HTF. By 2050 we will have anywhere from $250B to $400B in the Fund earning an annual income of $12B to $20B. Won’t that be grand!
Nice use of the word “bemoan” but I’d like to point out the word “annual” means occurring once every year. You’ve budgeted a $2B investment this year, but ZERO for the next two years. You just broke your promise.
And while we’re on the topic of broken promises, didn’t you promise a tax cut for people earning under $60,000 (now postponed) and didn’t you promise no new taxes without a referendum but you’re implementing new taxes ($200/year EV tax, increased taxes on cigarettes, vaping, and registry services) without a referendum?
It’s taken you less than a year to make and break these promises, how can we trust you and your successors not to break your promise to make annual investments every year for the next 25 years and, more importantly, not touch the Fund until 2050?
Never mind that, the global energy transition will take several decades, our province is on the cusp of a prolonged and unprecedented resource boom that will provide investment and jobs in the production of fossil fuels and in designing and building the most advanced emissions reduction technologies on earth.
I see. The future is rosy. But how will deferring investment in infrastructure and public services for 25 years will help those in need of healthcare, education, and other public services today.
Oh wait, your “alternative solution” is not meant to help ALL Albertans today, just the wealthy ones and the fossil fuel companies that will benefit from the “prolonged and unprecedented resource boom.”
Gotcha!
Susan on the Soapbox 
Susan: WordPress is flawed, because I can’t post my comments, and have had trouble logging in to comment.
Dwayne, I agree with your comment about WordPress and I’m glad to see you found a way to post your comments. WP acts up periodically, I think it’s a plot to drive me and my commentators mad!
Susan: Good to hear from you again. I know you said you were busy, and that’s understandable. Thanks for another great blog. I did see the premier’s address from Danielle Smith and it is definitely full of contradictions, errors and misinformation.There is also false hope. There is no possible way that Danielle Smith can make the Heritage Savings Trust Fund go up to $250 billion, and then to $400 billion. That isn’t a possibility, because of different factors. One is that thanks to Ralph Klein (whom Peter Lougheed rightfully loathed), the oil royalty rates of Peter Lougheed were cut down to a very abysmal rate of 1%. What Peter Lougheed collected for oil royalty rates, even came close to the 40% range. In addition to this, when Peter Lougheed stopped being premier of Alberta, the Alberta PCs did one very costly debacle after another, so that the Heritage Savings Trust Fund couldn’t be properly topped up. Ralph Klein made it so that the Heritage Savings Trust Fund could be raided, and he did it himself, and that’s how the Alpac fiasco was paid for. Furthermore, at the rate oil prices are going, because it’s a volatile commodity, it makes it harder to save. Alberta’s oilsands oil is being undercut by cheaper oil. This has been going on since 2008, or sooner than that. Also, the UCP are doing many very costly debacles, which prohibits the Heritage Savings Trust Fund from being properly topped up. How did Norway get a massive Sovereign Wealth Fund? Their government followed in the wise path of Peter Lougheed. What do we have in Alberta? Peanuts in our Heritage Savings Trust Fund. I’ll play some more fitting music. This is The Spencer Davis Group covering the Jim Cox composition, Nobody Knows When You’re Down & Out. It was recorded and released in late 1966. Here, this features Steve Winwood, at just age 18, on lead vocals, piano, organ, and lead guitar. Muff (Mervyn) Winwood, Steve’s older brother, is on bass guitar, age 23. Spencer Davis is on rhythm guitar, age 27. Pete York is on drums, age 24. Steve Winwood was only 15, when he joined and co-founded The Spencer Davis Group, in 1963. He was a professional musician since he was 8 years old, because he was playing with his older brother in their dad’s dance band, in the 1950s. I have this in my music collection. I saw Steve Winwood twice live, as the opening act for Tom Petty.
Dwayne, thanks, it’s great to be back. You mentioned how the Heritage Trust Fund could have been worth something had the conservative governments that succeeded Lougheed followed his lead by imposing reasonable royalties and reasonable taxes. Instead they frittered away the funds whenever the spirit moved them.
This is why Smith’s “alternative” won’t work. She can’t stop her government or future governments from dipping into the Fund. Even if she passes a law to this effect, the next government can pass a law undoing that law.
Conservatives believe they’re disciplined financial managers, but their abuse of the HTF demonstrates that this is nonsense.
Thanks for the music. I always learn something interesting with your choices, like what a prodigy Steve Winwood was from a very young age. Enlightening.
Susan: Imagine being a child in the 1960s, and the child’s mother wants them to take piano lessons. The child refuses. Their mother is dismayed, and says she paid good money for the piano lessons. She asks her child why they won’t want to take the piano lessons? The child gets something from their record collection, and asks their mother to listen to it. It’s a teenaged Steve Winwood playing piano on some music with The Spencer Davis Group, but the mother doesn’t know that.The child’s mother then reacts, and asks her child who is this? Is it Ray Charles? The child says it’s Steve Winwood, and he’s only a teenager. The mother then replies to her child. Did you do the dishes, and complete your homework? Her child says yes. The mother then says to her child that they can go play with their friends and the piano lessons are canceled. Lol.
Dwayne: that was a cute story. There are people like Steve Winwood and then there are the rest of us. 🙂
Susan: At age 18, Steve Winwood left The Spencer Davis Group and formed Traffic, with Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason, and Chris Wood. When Steve Winwood was 21, he co-founded the supergroup Blind Faith, with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Rick Grech. Traffic got back together in 1970.
Susan: Here is my next song pick. This is from Bob Dylan’s debut album, in 1962. This is a Jesse Fuller composition, You’re No Good. On this album, it is mostly covers, and Bob Dylan would change that on his next album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, released in 1963.
Dwayne, enjoyed “freewheelin’ Dylan” on this one. That harmonica was unbelievable!
Susan: Bob Dylan was only 20 years old, and almost 21, when he recorded his debut album, from where this track came from. Seeing him live in 1990 was amazing. I have his music in my music collection, and what he does is spectacular. Folk, blues, country, gospel, rock, and even jazz standards, are what he does so well.
As you said Dwayne: a very gifted musician.
Arlo Guthrie quote:
Songs are like fish. You just gotta have your line in the water. And it’s a bad idea to fish downstream from Bob Dylan.
I heard Arlo at the Calgary Folk Fest talking about Dylan reaching in the river and getting a song every time. He chuckled and said: “I told him, Bob, why don’t you throw the little ones back in sometimes?”
Val: what a great story! Arlo at the Calgary Folk Fest…that would have been amazing!
Susan: Here is my final song pick. I thought I’d share some more live music. This is Procol Harum doing their smash hit, A Whiter Shade Of Pale. It was originally released in 1967. Here, they are performing it live, in May of 1992, with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and the Greenwood Singers, at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. I was at this concert, and it was amazing. This song was composed by Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher, and Keith Reid. Sadly, we lost Gary Brooker and Keith Reid, in 2022, and in 2023. The band members in this lineup of the group are Gary Brooker, on piano and vocals. Geoff Whitehorn is on guitar, Don Snow is on Hammond organ, Dave Bronze is on bass, and Mark Brzezicki is on drums. This is from Procol Harum’s Reunion concert, on May 29 and 30, 1992. I was there for both nights. In November of 1971, Procol Harum recorded their live album with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and it gave us the hit song, Conquistador. Different band members who were in Procol Harum, have their birthdays this month. Matthew Fisher, Robin Trower, B.J Wilson, Dave Ball, and Matt Pegg. Procol Harum is also in my music collection.
Dwayne, so how cool was that? Being at the Jube watching Procol Harum with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. I liked the way the camera caught the band, the orchestra (those ghostly white hands of the violinists) and then the audience at the end giving the band a standing ovation. It must have been electric!
Susan: This was electric, for sure. Good memories of fantastic live music. In times like these, it’s good to have something like this.
Dwayne: you’re 100% right!
Exactly!
Keb: thanks!
The $200 a year tax on EVs is the cherry on top. Marlaina is desperately trying to destroy the clean energy sector in Alberta. And let’s not kid ourselves. The Heritage Trust Fund is being built up to bail out the dying fossil fuel industry. No money for hospitals but hundreds of millions for NHL owners. No money for nurses but billions for obscenely profitable big oil to clean up after themselves. No money for public schools but plenty for private schools that only the wealthy can attend. The next election can’t come soon enough.
Public Servant: interesting idea there, that the HTF will become a slush fund for oil and gas bailouts. Could very well be, but 23 years is a long time to wait for a handout.
Could this be a sign of problems with Smith’s attempt to hijack our CPP? A long-term bailout plan might be needed if Smith and the Free Alberta Fantasists have realized that raiding the Canada Pension Plan is a no-go.
I think it’s more likely a clumsy ploy to rationalize Smith’s austerity-by-stealth budget. “Sorry Albertans, we can’t afford public services ‘cause we’re saving for a rainy day. (Ignore the alternating droughts and floods.)”
The austerity ploy seems likely.
I hadn’t thought about the CPP angle, but I wouldn’t put anything past Marlaina and company.
Public Servant and Mike: interesting conversation. I must admit I saw Smith’s plan to revitalize the Fund as a way for her to look like she’s doing something when in fact she’s doing nothing at all (a year in politics is a long time, 26 years is an eternity). However, the idea that it could be a CPP alternative scheme or a slush fund to bail out the oil companies is also feasible.
I guess what we’re all saying is we don’t take what she says at face value…and with good reason given her track record.
Susan: This should explain a lot.
https://www.theenergymix.com/alberta-mismanages-heritage-fund-misses-out-on-575b-in-revenue-over-44-years/#:~:text=Successive%20Alberta%20governments%20over%20the,a%20University%20of%20Calgary%20economics
Dwayne: this article’s an eye-opener, all right. People forget (or maybe the Old Tories failed to explain) that the government only put money into the HTF during boom times. Even if they didn’t raid the fund during the inevitable bust cycles, there was no attempt to “grow” the fund.
Dear Marlaina is hoping—desperately, I suspect—that nobody will remember that. Especially now, when a $1 change in oil prices creates a $630 million change in provincial government revenue. Pre-Covid, it was $200 million. The revenue roller-coaster is now steeper than it’s ever been.
Mike J Danysh: I remember Ed Stelmach talking about the Ukrainan way of being frugal, and saving money, and he said something like putting money in a sock, and putting it under the mattress. He has grandparents who were from Ukraine. I am aware of that philosophy from even some of my own relatives. They have that same frugal belief.Too bad, the Conservatives in Alberta did a lousy job of saving money, for all these years. Yesterday, there was a minor glitch, where oil prices were at $80.00. They went below that. I’ve even heard that oil prices will even hit the $40.00 range, this year. If that happens, how will Danielle Smith handle the provincial budget? What are your thoughts on this?
Hi Dwayne. Have a look below for my thoughts on this topic.
Dwayne: what struck me as I read the article at the link was that previous conservative governments dipped into the Fund to shore up the delivery of public services. And yet public services, despite all this expenditure, are worse now than they’ve ever been. Where did all that money go?
And how much more with public services be degraded given that the government is spending less than population growth and inflation on them.
This is a story that will not end well for Albertans.
Mike: excellent point. As we all know, the steeper the rollercoaster the faster the downward ride.
Great blog post. thanks Susan for the analysis and commentary.
You’re welcome Linda.
Basically, you can’t trust anything Smith or her ministers say about energy. They have their narrative that nothing is going to change for decades, so we don’t have to learn to adapt or change our behaviour. They will not admit it is wrong no matter how unrealistic it is, though they may be forced to back away from it eventually.
I think Smith used the word “transition” for the first time and remember the tantrums she threw when the feds talked about a “just transition” last year?
Danielle Smith misleading Albertans with wind and solar lies, soft moratorium – Thoughtful Journalism About Energy’s Future (energi.media)
valjobson920 excellent article.
Welcome back Susan. I hope your project went well.
Just last week Danielle Smith again again repeated the term transparency when letting us know that despite a 70% support for no party politics at municipal level, she is going to impose it anyway. I wonder if by now most Albertans understand what libertarian freedom means.
It is shocking how she lies at the same time as she talks about the right we have to transparency. We urgently need to get rid of these incompetent hypocrites.
It is not just energy, it is all of it. The attitude is we do what we want and we will control you whether you like it or not. One of these days she will fall with her head first. Here is one more
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/03/05/Dome-Secrecy-Protects-Smith-Alberta-Pension-Push/
Carlos, I’m with you on this one…it’s not just the energy file she’s screwing up, it’s all of them. And as a result of her actions she’s eroding our democratic institutions (you mentioned transparency, that’s a good place to start) and flushing our tax dollars down the drain.
The Tyee described the conservatives’ ideology as “ordered liberty” — “the equivalent of saying you are perfectly welcome to be free and to exercise your freedom as you so wish, provided you do it in a predetermined correct way consistent with conservative norms and values..”
The conservatives are afraid of change, they’re fighting to go backwards, but we’re fighting even harder to move ahead. In the end those who fight for progress (minority rights, women’s rights, LBGTQ rights, climate change, etc) .
Here’s the article https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/03/06/What-Heck-Is-Ordered-Liberty/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=060324
Hi Val. I had a look at Energi.media. My, but Mr. Hislop’s been busy. He also referenced an opinion piece by Nigel Bankes and Martin Olszynski of ABlawg.ca, on why the end of the “hard” moratorium is only the beginning of the “soft” moratorium.
https://ablawg.ca/2024/03/01/premier-smith-converts-a-legal-pause-on-renewable-energy-projects-into-a-de-facto-moratorium-of-uncertain-duration/
Ex-Twitter summary: Smith deliberately screwed it up. There are a thousand problems where only a few were essentially solved, before. No competent businessman will wait till the UCP get their s–t straight.
Result: Billions of investment dollars and hundreds of clean-energy jobs lost–because Danielle Smith and Rob Anderson are scared competition will hurt fossil gas.
The hypocrisy is infuriating; they are not even trying to make the oil industry fulfil its legal obligations such as payng municipal taxes and cleaning up old wells.
Utterly, completely, totally captured.
Val: I agree. In fact, I’d posit that you can’t trust what she oher ministers say about anything. At best it’s half the story, at worse it’s an out and out fabrication. I’m still waiting for an explanation of what the heck went wrong with the Dynalife deal. That thing fell about months after it was signed. It was supposed to save us $36 million. Instead it cost us $31.5 million to transfer it back. If this had happened in the private sector everyone from the CEO on down would have been fired.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10334267/auditor-general-review-dynalife-contract/
Good point re the word “transition.” Although this is a case where actions speak louder than words and it’s clear from her actions that she doesn’t believe its necessary. At least not until 2050 which is 30 years too late..
Let us never forget that the very timid NDP had up to 5 years to bring in a sales tax. The NDP could have raised royalty rates and did not. It bears repeating. The NDP had up to 5 years to bring in a sales tax and raise royalty rates and chose not to. They did exactly what the UCP are doing now so there is no sense flying into a spittle flecked rage at what Smith is presently doing. Just sit back and enjoy the show for the next 3 years.
Jaundiced Eye: When you change Peter Lougheed’s excellent oil royalty rates to such a miniscule amount of 1%, like Ralph Klein did, and you let foreign owned oil companies control of the oil industry in Alberta, it’s virtually impossible to change things. With the P.S.T for Alberta, that idea predates the NDP, by around 8 years. The Alberta PCs were looking into that, around 2007.
It is time to stop making excuses for the NDP. They own some of the mess that we are in now. They were far too timid when they were in Government. If as you say, it is virtually impossible for the NDP to change things, you can understand why people would vote for the UCP rather than vote for a “UCP Light” NDP. If it is virtually impossible for the NDP to change things, why would we vote NDP if it is a case of, “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”?
The NDP did look into Alberta’s worldwide laughingstock-of-the-industry royalty rates when they were in office. By amazing coincidence it was at the precise moment that the price of oil, and especially Western Cdn. Select, was on its way to being internationally priced below production costs, so the NDP backed off.
If Alberta had a gov’t that served Albertans rather than serving them up to the hydrocarbon extraction industry, now would be an excellent time to revisit those rates, and pump the Heritage Fund flush with that wealth.
Jaundiced Eye: The NDP can change different things, but the oil royalty rates are a very difficult thing to change. That’s what Ralph Klein did. Ed Stelmach also was looking into the matter, and he couldn’t do it either. Basically, Ralph Klein also gave away Alberta’s oil and most of the subsequent profits to foreign owned oil companies, and this didn’t leave us with much. Ralph Klein also failed to properly come come oil companies in Alberta to remediate their messes, leaving Albertans with a mammoth bill of $260 billion to deal with this. That’s another thing that won’t be easily fixed.
Jaundiced Eye: As I read your comment about what the NDP could have done (sales tax, raising royalty rates) I was thinking that the NDP is now looking for a new leader. This is our time to let the candidates know what we expect in the way of vision for the future of our province. When the time for filing candidacy papers expires I hope to have a more detailed discussion about each leadership candidate’s platform and what it would mean for Alberta.
Should be fun.
It would appear that the leadership hopefuls have planted their banners. So far, our NDP leadership hopefuls have given us very right wing policies of lowering taxes and eliminating carbon pricing. It looks like we are trending towards a Neoliberal, very UCP like, NDP. If these are the policies coming out of the gate, we should not be holding our breaths for fair taxation rates, a provincial sales tax or royalties that are not a joke. If the NDP manage to catch lightning in a jar and get elected, it will be a case of meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
N.Nenshi would be a perfect fit for the Alberta NDP. I wish him the best in the leadership race; the other candidates too.
If Mr. Nenshi doesn’t win I hope whoever does asks him to stay on and run as a New Democrat anyway.
Every time Smith talks about having a mandate, we must remind ourselves that up is down in her topsy-turvy world.
She said she has a mandate to take Albertans out of the Canada Pension Plan. In other words, she said she would not campaign on the Alberta Pension, so she didn’t campaign on it. She just refused to talk about it until after the election, then set about doing it. See how this works?
Being elected is all the mandate she needs to do whatever she fancies. UCP budgets are absolutely meaningless. Like a kid in a candy shop, something will catch her eye and she’ll blow her allowance. And then some. Smith does what Smith wants. The turnips of Alberta voted for her. Don’t be surprised if she makes another rash decision like the Tylenot scandal. It’s not in the budget? Tough luck, rutabagas! Mandates!
The nostalgia trip Smith et al is selling is more PC/UCP-TBA soma. As usual, its a calculated “look at this you dopes” while the robbery is happening stage-right just off in the wings.
Municipal grants have been really chopped in recent years AND the percentage retained by the Province from the Municipalities has been really increasing. Double-tap!
Smith et al escape all political culpability for their grab and starve tactic – and she adds insult to injury when she piles on and blames all those local tax hikes on the “rabid socialist woke defund-the-police municipal politicians” we dumbo taxpayers have inadvertantly elected in our communities.
This is the reason why she’s bigfooting for political parties at the municipal level – to install local docile/compliant party apparatchiks who’ll sign off on this scam in perpetuity.
Its brilliant in a really sh*t-heel way. But you won’t get this story from any of the four Postmedia rags (Calgary Sun/Herald or the Edmonton Sun/Journal).
But give it up bigly for the Lethbridge paper – right on! – https://lethbridgeherald.com/news/lethbridge-news/2024/03/02/municipalities-concerned-over-infrastructure-funding-in-the-2024-provincial-budget/
My take away is this – if I am crabby about my property tax levy from my municipality, I only have to look at the grabby hands of the UCP!
Imnevilliefec: Thanks for your comments and the very helpful link. The article says provincial funding for community infrastructure has not kept pace with population growth. As it gets even smaller the province is going all out to encourage even more in-migration with a massive PR campaign that includes a $5000 relocation payment. It’s as if the right hand in government doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Either that or no one has a clue and they’re simply doing what their well-heeled donors want. This is not a sustainable way to run government.
Albertarian: you’ve raised a very important point. Many of us try to understand Smith, Poilievre, Trump, by judging their behavior within the context of the rule of law and political norms and standards. Hence we are completely unprepared when they pull stunts like saying “no one is touching anyone’s pension” and then the minute they’re elected turn around and shamelessly do just that.
I’m sure there’s a way to combat these jokers because writing to our MLAs, writing to the Opposition, writing letters to the editor, and holding our own townhalls to combat misinformation aren’t enough.
Albertan: Smith just announced her plan to set up an police-like organization to work alongside of the existing police. There’s no real definition of who the two “policing” organizations would work together, and there’s certainly no cost estimates. Duane Bratt points out that this item was not in the budget that was announced 2 weeks ago. However it was something Smith campaigned on when she ran for the leadership. Seems to me Smith’s mandate is not what she got when she ran in the election but what she was proposing when she ran to be the leader of the UCP. As you point out, when Smith talks about having a mandate, she’s got it backwards.
Gotcha, except the one’s who have been ‘got’ are the hapless electorate of Alberta. Especially anyone who for one moment actually believed Danielle & crew would actually do as promised. Saying health care is ‘fixed’ doesn’t equate to more staff, funding or shorter wait times. Doesn’t produce physicians sufficient to reduce the wait lists of those without family doctors. Saying there will be tax cuts for those whose income is ‘X’ doesn’t mean those cuts will occur. Saying the UCP has no intention to mess with public pensions doesn’t mean they won’t. Anyone notice a theme here?
Dwayne, the Heritage Savings Trust Fund isn’t peanuts. It is as per reported numbers for the end of 2023 up to – wait for it – $22 Billion. Woo-hoo! When I arrived in Alberta in 1981 the fund was $11 Billion. Over 40 years later & it has doubled.
Jaundiced Eye, the NDP is in no way responsible for the mess we are in. In the short tenure they had, they began to fix things but it is in no way fair or reasonable to expect one 4 year term to erase/fix the errors of the previous 40 years of PC rule. And since the UCP has resumed the role of governance – this IS their second term so they’ve had more time to fix things than the NDP did – why the NDP is still being blamed for ‘the mess’ Alberta is in seems to be apologist at best.
Linda: The Heritage Savings Trust Fund is peanuts. It should have far more in it than it does. The Alberta PCs, beginning when Peter Lougheed stopped being premier of Alberta, and the UCP, have done so many very costly debacles, that the Heritage Savings Trust Fund would have a negative balance in it. For example, thanks to Ralph Klein, we have a massive bill of $260 billion to remediate messes left behind by the oil companies in Alberta. The UCP are throwing $20 billion at this problem. In the bigger picture, $22 billion isn’t much. Oil prices are going back down again. How will the Heritage Savings Trust Fund get topped up? It can’t be, when the UCP has already done well over $80 billion in very costly debacles.
Dwayne, I actually agree about the pitiful state of the Heritage Trust fund. I was being rather sarcastic about how the Fund has grown – I mean, had they simply put the $ in the Fund in 1981 into a series of GIC’s the amount that Fund would be today would have been much more than $22 Billion – & while the UCP doesn’t want to hear about what Norway’s Fund has the fact remains that Norway, despite the notable setback of starting up their fund 15 years AFTER Alberta had created the Heritage Trust Fund now has north of $1 Trillion in their fund – which, as noted, throws off enough revenue that it supports Norway’s finances without concerns regarding how much fossil fuels fetch on the open market. Which as Susan points out doesn’t lend much credence to Danielle’s ‘promise’ to grow the HSTF to $250+ Billion by 2050. At the notable cost of having to keep the UCP in charge, naturally, because they would of course be able to say they ‘would have’ grown the HSTF but if they don’t get re-elected, well not their fault if the promise isn’t kept, now is it?
Here’s another “gotcha!” in the making. Smith’s government (showing rare good sense for once—in their terms, anyway) refuses to honour requests for information under the “Freedom,” so-called, of Information & Protection of Privacy Act.
Wanna guess the topic of non-discussion? The Alberta Pension Plan Scam. Here’s Charles Rusnell’s latest from the Tyee. It’s entertaining reading, if you enjoy getting angry.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/03/05/Dome-Secrecy-Protects-Smith-Alberta-Pension-Push/
Rusnell’s report follows two others, from the Narwhal and the Globe & Mail, describing stonewalling by the UCP government. They simply won’t release information that shows how Albertans REALLY feel about losing their CPP plan for a made-in-Alberta pension instead. (Victims of AIMCo incompetence can tell you why that’s a very bad idea—and that’s not even counting the risk of Smith handing out our money to her pals in the oilpatch.)
In particular, friends, read the final section of Mr. Rusnell’s report. He quotes Sean Holman of the University of Victoria (journalism professor and former investigative journalist): “The public should have a right to know. Otherwise, they can’t make good decisions in a democracy. And right now, it is in the best interest of the UCP to ensure the public doesn’t have information so they can’t make the best possible decisions. Because the best possible decisions might result in them being ousted from power.”
Mike for the life of me I don’t know what WordPress accepts some of your comments but not the others, anyway, it’s not you, it’s WP! Thanks.
Thanks Susan. WP is the clumsiest “word processor” I’ve ever tried to use. I just tried to leave a reply for Val Jobson, re energi.media. NOTE TO ALL: do not, repeat, NOT compose replies directly in WordPress! Use some other program, like MS Word, and copy/paste into WordPress when you’re finished!!!
I forgot to tell it to email me new comments earlier; I don’t know if it affects replies.
Mike thanks for the link to Rusnell’s report. The comment by Sean Holman at the end sums it up nicely. There’s a reason why the UCP is denying the public the right to the information they need to make the best decision possible, And that’s the fact that this decision is not an analytic one, but an ideological one. This was clear from the Free Alberta Strategy document which pushed hard for the APP because it would be essential for the UCP to take the next step and pull out of Confederation. Smith based her leadership campaign on it. She covered it up in the 2023 election and now that she’s in power with a majority she’s got the pedal to the metal. It’s Free Alberta Strategy all the way. The sooner we realize this the better.
Hi Dwayne. You wondered why the Old Tories didn’t save more in the Heritage Trust Fund, and what Danielle Smith would do if oil prices cratered. You mentioned Ed Stelmach, and a story he told of his grandparents saving money in a sock under the mattress.
I suspect the frugality Stelmach described was as much a result of the Great Depression, as anything or anywhere else. Lots of people learned not to trust banks in those days; hence the sock under the mattress. And yet, Alberta’s boom-and-bust economy seems to have the opposite effect on people, swinging wildly between “Party on!” and “Please, God, let there be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away.”
Drunkard’s morning-after resolution! Peter Lougheed, and maybe his like-minded successor, Rachel Notley, were the only Premiers who even came close to “saving for a rainy day.” Every other premier—especially Conservatives—failed to save during boom times, but boy did they raid the piggy bank whenever it turned cloudy. The spending was all for social needs, and the greatest need was for the party in power to get re-elected.
Notley was the only one (so far as I know) who came close to practicing Keynesian economics. Getting elected just after global oil prices—and provincial revenue—crashed meant there was NO WAY Notley could invest for the future. But (this is the Keynesian part) she refused to make the recession worse by laying off large numbers of government workers. That meant they didn’t have to go on the pogey—and THAT meant they still had money to spend, which helped keep the economy going.
Re oil markets, I haven’t seen any MSM projections of $40 per barrel. There’d have to be either a massive global glut, or utter collapse of demand, for that to happen–at least, near-term. Most predictions I’ve seen are for high-$60 to mid-$70 range; so, softening at worst. But even “softening” to a level in the low-$70 range would be disastrous for the UCP budget. Smith will be “forced to” slash government services, lay off staff, and “rescue” the oilpatch, insurance companies, agri-industry (family farms that get rescued, if any, will be either picked from a hat, or be personally known to Smith); any recognizable business lobby will get a bailout. Taxpayers like us will get the “payment due” notices, and vulnerable people (think homeless people and anyone on AISH) will get the shaft.
Albertans have never really been in favour of “small government.” We all like our free hospitals, free schools (especially when they teach what we want ‘em to), free roads, free libraries, free police services; name it. We tend to expect the guv’mint to bail us out when times get tough (especially if we own a business). In my opinion, the oilpatch is the worst offender, because 1) they damn well know prices WILL go down, and they ought to prepare, 2) they grab every possible dollar for themselves, and the future is somebody else’s problem, and worst 3) they demand the guv’mint pay their bills when profits are down a little. This is called “business as usual.”
Danielle Smith will not let a mere budget deficit deflect her from her mission to “free” Alberta from the shackles of Justin Trudeau. She’ll just blame Trudeau, as usual, then go on spewing word salad (or the biological end product) as she charges off in a direction she believes is “forward.” Brace yourselves, friends, this will get a lot worse before it gets better.
Mike J Danysh: Here is one thing I saw, not that long ago. What are your thoughts on this?
https://ampvideo.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/it-s-probably-not-profound-to-see-oil-near-40-a-barrel-by-2024-mcglone~2825722
Sadly, I couldn’t open the video. I’ll try again tomorrow.
OK, finally saw the video you referenced. Mr. McGlone seems to me on the pessimistic end of the prediction scale. He talks about a coming US recession, as the result of high oil prices and maybe overreaction by the Fed with interest rates. Could very well be; the latest word from Canada is we’ve avoided a recession (but I hear the words “so far”).
My feeling is the Saudis et al will try to avoid sub-$60 oil by curtailing production. There’d have to be a world-wide glut to force prices down to $40ish. Of course, that’s what McGlone says is happening right now. He could be right; we’ll just have to wait and see. Glass-half-full time: if oil prices do crater, maybe that will force Suncor to drop their plan to dig up half of that muskeg swamp up north. Fingers crossed….
Mike J Danysh: Waterways from Alberta flow into the Northwest Territory. It carries the toxins from the tailings pond leaks, and the oilsands development with it. The survival of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit, relies on foods they can fish, hunt, trap, and pick, from the water and the land. Toxic food is not good for anyone to be eating. I don’t think this will make Danielle Smith and the UCP look so good. Any wonder why Sonya Savage chose not to run again?
Hi Dwayne. Re optics, there’s only thing that could make Danielle Smith look good. That’s a complete recantation of all of her policies, starting with destroying AHS and knee-capping our renewables industry; followed by her immediate resignation from the UCP Party and retirement from politics. I’d cheer for that…(and by the way, I’d like a couple of ponies for Christmas, and a ranch to keep them on. That’s not gonna happen, either.)
The Athabasca River has been polluted with tarsand-processing effluent since the start of the bitumen extraction industry. Remember the fuss over alarmingly high numbers of cancer cases in Fort Chip? Remember the photos of that mutated fish, with three jaws and huge cancerous tumors all over its body? People in Fort McKay were quoted, back then, saying fish from the river “smelled like gasoline” when they were cooked. (Dr. John O’Connor had to leave Alberta because of the backlash from the Old Tory government and the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He’s had some degree of vindication, since.)
Since the warnings by Dr. O’Connor and Dr. David Schindler et al, nothing much has changed—except that the UCP are even more contemptuous of anyone who doesn’t own and oil company.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-whistleblower-fort-chipewyan-john-o-connor-1.5943389
Mike J Danysh: What are your thoughts on this? The UCP were making a strong claim that their corporate tax cuts would create jobs. All we got from that hollow, and unfounded promise, was a loss of billions of dollars, around the $10 billion range.
https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/oil-gas/tc-energy-cuts-jobs
History repeating itself, again…and again…and again….
Since Ronald Reagan became the first corporatist, neoliberal, Libertarian President, Americans have heard that “tax cuts create jobs.” The truth is somewhat different.
Economists (some economists) have pointed out that jobs are mostly created by new, small companies that manage to survive long enough to grow. Large corporations tend to shed jobs, not add them. I’d guess things like automation, production-line modernization and offshoring jobs (i.e. creating jobs where labour is cheap; good for those low-wage countries, not so good for the local yokels who get pink slips). I can’t cite chapter and verse for those observations; if anyone has further information, feel free to share.
For a view of Canada’s situation early in the Covid crisis, see this article by Jim Stanford. He addresses the lack of “capital investment” by Canadian companies; it’s a proxy for workforce growth.
https://centreforfuturework.ca/2020/08/26/the-broken-promises-of-corporate-tax-cuts/
Stanford writes:
“Indeed, as my research into corporate taxes and investment in Canada during the 1960-2010 period shows, the federal government would have elicited more new private business investment if it had taken the forgone revenue from corporate tax cuts and spent it on public infrastructure projects instead.”
Food for thought?
I think Stanford is worth reading, if for no other reason than his debunking of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (i.e., corporate executives’ lobby group) and the occasional swipe at Jack Mintz, the favourite economist of fiscal conservatives.
Mike: thanks for the link to Stanford. I’ve got his book (the title escapes me right now) and it is one of the clearest most straightforward treatises on economics I’ve ever read.
Hi Susan. If you mean “Economics for Everyone” by Jim Stanford, I’d agree with your assessment (though I freely admit it’s the ONLY treatise on economics I’ve ever read).
Mike J Danysh: This is also very interesting, but not surprising in the least. What do you think the outcome of this will be? How will Danielle Smith and the UCP handle this?
https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/oil-gas/alberta-first-nation-sues-province-energy-regulator-kearl-mine
My reaction to the headline was, “About damn time!”
You might like to compare the CBC coverage to FinPost’s article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/first-nation-sues-alberta-energy-regulator-over-tailings-leaks-from-oilsands-mine-1.7135069
I wonder when the government of the Northwest Territories will join the lawsuit. They learned about the spill from news coverage. The inevitable outcome is a long, bitterly fought lawsuit where the UCP (like every government, everywhere) fights like hell to avoid responsibility.
The UCP response, as enunciated by Danielle Smith, might include (choose any or all):
Ignore as long as possible
Deny there was a spill
Deny the spill was a problem
Deny the First Nations were affected
Deny the First Nations had a right to know
Blame the First Nations (for being downstream of the spill?)
Attack the First Nations for being downstream of the spill (low-probability option?)
Blame the NDP (probability 100.00%)
When all else fails, demonstrate “wounded honour and distraught innocence” (with crocodile tears)
Lowest probability response: accept responsibility and make AER do better (probability negligible)
Alberta conservatives have a savings problem, like some people have a drinking problem. They promise to do better and even sound earnest at times, but the conviction seldom lasts. Of course they do not want to examine or dwell on why we are where we are now, but this is a case where learning from past mistakes would be useful or even necessary.
It is actually very simple, Alberta unlike Norway, does not tax at a level to cover the cost of services. The beneficiaries are mostly high income individuals and corporations. Alberta’s 10% personal tax rate is actually not that great for low income earners, compared to other provinces, and it sounds doubtful it will go down to 8%. But corporate tax rates were reduced by the UCP to 8% years ago, despite economic challenges at the time. So, we end up using most if not all of the resource revenue windfall to pay for normal government services with little left over for saving, except in the very best years.
Even worse, is government service levels in Alberta have been declining. The era of Alberta having the best schools, the best hospitals and of many other things is long over. Now, we are at best middle of the pack compared to other provinces and sometimes worse.
So, what does this leave us with? Mediocre government services, little savings and probably no tax cuts for those who really need it, despite healthy resource revenues. Despite the UCP’s current earnest words, this is likely this is how things will remain.
Dave, you nailed it. I think our biggest challenge is to get Albertans to understand that (1) oil and gas is not the golden goose, it won’t be here forever (to say nothing about its devastating impact on climate change) and (2) you can’t have the public services you want unless you’re willing to pay for them with appropriate levels of taxation. Or maybe to put it more simply: everything comes at a cost; there’s no such thing as a free lunch,
Susan and Dave, I wonder sometimes how people can ignore the fact that taxes pay for government services—you know, hospitals (and laboratory services), schools, water-purification plants (and sewage-treatment plants), libraries, public schools, roads, fire halls, police, etc….
We can debate whether a particular government or service is efficient and cost-effective. But “Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.” (Source unknown.)
Or, to put it another way: remember Kevin O’Leary? CBC did a point/counterpoint show with O’Leary and Amanda Lang for a while. On one episode, O’Leary barked something like, “Don’t you wanna pay less tax?!” Lang snapped back, “I like to drive on paved roads, so…NO.”
Governments, at their best, are supposed to work for all citizens. Ideally, they should (at least try to!) prevent powerful interests from exploiting those of us who can’t lobby the government 24/7.
That doesn’t happen in Alberta—because Alberta is a failed petrostate. Even under Rachel Notley, the Alberta government was completely captured by Big Oil. At least Notley had the sense to shift the balance slightly back toward the left. Not so Jason Kenney and the UCP, or Danielle Smith and the TBA/FAS/UCP.
Danielle Smith must have found her calling when she took that job as a lobbyist (read “paid shill”) for the oilpatch. She liked it so much, she’s doing lobbying work for free—from the Premier’s office. The next election can’t come soon enough. Oh, how I hope the next NDP leader can trounce Smith at the glibness game!
Gotcha! could very well be Smith’s campaign slogan next election.
Norm: we can only hope that after 3 more years of Gotcha we’ll be able to figure that out for ourselves!!! 🙂
It appears to me that environmentalists never vote in Alberta elections. Could someone look into that for me?
Virginua Smith: We do vote in Alberta elections. Anyone who breathes air, eats food, and uses water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning, is an environmentalist by default.
I was being sarcastic. I’m sure there are some environmentalists in Alberta, and I’m sure they vote. Unfortunately, there never seems to be enough of them. How else do people like Kenney, Smith et al continue to win elections? I had hoped that of all those people who have moved to Alberta in recent years, many of them would be working in the green energy industries.
Virginia – Yes they would be working in the renewable energy if this idiotic government would allow the industry to move forward. Apparently thousands of abandoned wells and tailing ponds does not bother UCPs but God forbid the solar panels and wind turbines.
You know there is not much one can do when a cult of fools is destroying the province.
Instead of forcing the oil companies to clean up they want the renewable energy to give them the money for future decommissioning. We know exactly where that money is going to be used.
There is no other word but ‘Complete Disaster’
Nenshi to the rescue, perhaps?
Hard to fight dishonesty, propaganda and fact less behaviour.
This was a comment to Virginia last post but somehow it ended up at the root level.
I guess I don’t know how this comment forum works. I read your reply, Carlos, and couldn’t agree more. My comments about Nenshi was in response to the ponews on Global today. If he wins the NDP nomination, I’m convinced that DS will be sorry she ever decided to get back into the political arena.
Virginia I agree and thank you for the discussion.
I have one serious concern about Nenshi.
Rachel Notley already took the party to a Neo-Liberal light ideology which in my opinion will not resolve the major crisis we have today. If something it will make it worse.
Most so called social democratic parties , moved to the right just to get in power and once in there they were not able to battle the monstrous corporate power.
Nenshi , at best is a liberal and very much behind the current neo-liberal ideology. So the question is what happens then?
Well the only reason I like him there is because it is better a Neo-liberal than an evangelical extreme right wing.
On the other end the NDP is running the risk of becoming what I think they already are – a Light Conservative party.
Virginia I apologize but I did not comment on your last sentence which surprised me but very likely because you know Nenshi better than I do.
I doubt DS is in any way concerned about Nenshi. She will lie and change her mind as many times as necessary to fight her way out of anything. Her rednecks love it. Doing whatever is needed to win is their reality. Collateral damage is just part of doing business.
We just witnessed a seven month moratorium on renewable energy which could have cost us billions in investment. Do you think she cared? Not a millimeter, because the objective is not us or the province, It is their interests and that means corporate power.
Carlos and Virginia: I really enjoyed reading your discussion and apologize for WordPress which insists on messing with where the comments appear (it does that to me too and I’m the blog administrator!). Anyway I just wanted to chime in on Carlos’s comment that DS isn’t concerned about Nenshi. I think the fact that Jason Nixon popped out of the woodwork to compare Nenshi to Stalin indicates DS and crew are indeed worried about him entering the race.
If nothing else, having Nenshi in the race will bring higher profile to all of the leadership candidates and their platforms.
It’s going to be an exciting spring.
Susan I agree with you and saying that DS is not worried is a bit silly because I am sure she does, but I think I meant in a different context that I did not explain.
Nenshi can take DS anytime and he can be openly agressive without being rude which I think it is not easy to do and I cannot wait to see it because it is probably one of the few ways I think one can be effective when people do not understand respect.
Jason Nixon, as always, cannot discuss anything intellegently and so he dismisses everything by making the comparisons rednecks use as slogans to irritate others that do actually think.
He actually behaves exactly like the cassette communists that I had the pleasure to meet in my lifetime. Empty brain. Completely stupid comparisons that people learned from MacArthy in the sixties and are still using 70 years later because they are stuck there. I think we have already said all that there is to say about Jason Nixon a bully of the highest level. Dave Parker trains them well.
These are the same people that call envirenmental activists, terrorists.
Breaking news: CBC reports that the Alberta Utilities Commission “poses little threat to [Alberta’s] agriculture or the environment.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/renewables-pose-little-threat-to-agriculture-environment-alberta-commission-report-1.7143335
(Quotes from the article:)
Assuming all renewable development locates on [some of Alberta’s best] land, the percentage of [such] agricultural land loss is estimated to be less than one per cent by 2041,” says the Alberta Utilities Commission report, released Wednesday.
“Compared to some other forms of industrial development, renewable power plant projects have well-understood and relatively contained reclamation risks,” it says. “The risks associated with groundwater and off-site contamination are generally low.”
The commission concludes that current rules are adequate to ensure reclamation, although there could be more clarity around the point at which developers need to pony up reclamation surety.
Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf was not immediately available for comment.
(End quotes.)
Conclusion: VINDICATED!!! Even the AUC wouldn’t knuckle under to Danielle Smith and Rob Anderson. That won’t stop them from doubling and tripling down, but they have no excuse anymore for their anti-renewables prejudice.
Next up: a report from the Alberta Electric Systems Operator. Anyone want to bet their report will undercut Smith’s evidence-free claim that we need a one-to-one mix of renewables and fossil-gas power plants? Does the word “storage” sound familiar?
Or, in short: ”Gotcha back!”
Every point you make about that report came to the suprise of absolutely no one, because “That’s how it goes when everybody knows.’ – L.Cohen.
From the AUC:
“It is very difficult to define pristine viewscape in a manner that satisfies all stakeholders, and that doing so may not be desirable because the value of a viewscape is subject…” to the sneering tastes, whims, and wiles of DSmith’s gibbon from Gibbons, apparently.
Speaking of TeamBackslidersAlberta (or whatever they are calling their blasphemous selves these days) I wonder if DaveyP has managed to have Elections Alberta replaced with his best-friends-forever yet, as he claimed he would, so he won’t have to divulge the donor list he is currently required and legally obligated to provide for Albertans’ authority having jurisdiction,
https://pressprogress.ca/elections-alberta-is-looking-into-take-back-albertas-finances-and-donations-tbas-former-cfo-says/
His resistance doesn’t make sense if he really is as honest and pious a person as he constantly implies with his nonstop judgements of others, so why doesn’t David Parker, his Take Back Alberta donors, and all his supporters WANT to have their donor list looked at by Elections Alberta? I mean, if the donations are all above board and from Albertans, and not foreign and/or illegal, what’s the fuss from Dave all about, really?
To quote the UCP’s favourite pundit, “I’m just asking questions.”
I see in the latest from CBC that putting ¾ of the province in “not wanted here” exclusion zones was too much, even for Danielle Smith and Rob Anderson:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-viewscapes-buffer-zones-renewables-map-1.7145368
I’m pretty much convinced this whole anti-renewables fixation is a result of two things. First, Danielle Smith is a shameless cheerleader for Big Oil, who finally found her calling as a paid shill at some lobbying company. Now, she’s doing volunteer lobbying for the oilpatch from inside the Premier’s Office.
Second, Rob Anderson is said to hate wind turbines. That, plus his influence over Smith (they reinforce each other’s bad decisions, according to persistent rumours) is enough to explain what’s going down now. Is Anderson afraid wind turbines will damage the value of his oil shares? Or is he afraid a wind turbine will fall on him—hence keeping them way beyond the horizon.
I really wonder why these people have so many problems with any “authority” higher than their own. The whole crowd seem at times to be stuck in two-year-old “NO!” mode. Danielle Smith, David Parker; Rob Anderson, Barry Cooper; the whole FreeDumb Truckers’ mob; did all of them have daddies who were mean to them, or what?
Parker’s spat—his latest spat—with Elections Alberta seems like either “The wicked flee where no man pursueth” or “You can’t tell me what to do!” That, or maybe “cornered rat” is closer. I dunno. I’m just sayin’.
My theory is they all resented being toilet trained because it made them practice self-control.
Ni Mike
They are just a bunch of spoiled egomaniacs
Val, interesting theory. That might explain the bouts of verbal diarrhea….
I always thought the world was going to be a better placce when women had more responsibilities as leaders. I still believe that but it is proven that they can be as horrible as man. What matters is money and greed not gender. It is embarrassing. This Astraulian Tycoon wants to prove to us that she has more power over our province than we do. She just has to give something to our corrupt leaders just like in any banana republic.
She has to be careful though, times have changed. One does not get away with murder so easily.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/03/15/Danielle-Smith-Sounds-Like-Australian-Billionaire/
It is embarrassing to be Albertan and these people want separation!!!!
Hi Carlos. Years ago, my sister worked in an office where the general manager was female. This woman was (as I recall her stories), arbitrary, rude, inconsistent and apparently insecure. For years, my sister would tell us “There’s nothing more scary than a woman in power.”
Luckily, such people, male or female, are less common than we fear. Looking back on my career, the vast majority of my coworkers have been competent, dedicated and cooperative. Even the top bosses were usually competent enough that we, the peons, didn’t do more than the usual amount of bitching.
The problem, it seems, comes when an overpromoted incompetent surrounds himself or herself with like-minded idiots. Such is the case in the Alberta Legislature today.
The most frightening thing is the number of Albertans who still think Danielle Smith is doing a good job. Just released this month: Smith’s approval rating is mid-pack at 47%.https://angusreid.org/premier-approval-march-2024/
You got that right Mike – 47% and it did not go down even though it is disaster after disaster. Actually one guy told me ‘We finally have a brilliant cheater and that is what we need right now’ Are we sick or what?
The latest bit of news was the Edmonton man who was taken from the Royal Alexandria & placed in a motel. He’d suffered a stroke, had been waiting for months for long term care & had been informed he was going to be moved to a LTC facility. He was stunned to be dumped in a Travelodge with inadequate room to access the bathroom, his bed & as for care, he received ‘several’ visits from a support worker, but from the sounds of it said visits didn’t include much help regarding personal hygiene, let alone an explanation as to when he might actually end up in a real LTC facility. Said man has now been returned to the Royal Alexandria – apparently now said story is ‘in the news’ someone decided that leaving him in the motel wasn’t the best optic! Go figure. I wonder if this is the belt tightening Albertans can expect to face from their ever caring leaders in the UCP? Stay healthy folks – getting sick these days may be more than ‘just’ a slight inconvenience given this example.
Yeah don’t get sick in Alberta folks, unless you have the UCP vital partners’ in private insurance and the cash for as many plane tickets as you’ll need for anything chronic or remotely complicated. This of course is assuming you are not consuming the Premier-recommended ‘moderate’ number of smokes/day she promoted in her 2003 article in the Calgary Herald.
https://pressprogress.ca/danielle-smith-claimed-smoking-cigarettes-had-positive-health-benefits/
And that’s the same person who has no problem blaming your cancer on you. Actually, I guess that tracks; for perspective here is Vitalhub Corp. is doing on the TSX, look at a six month chart and you will get the idea…
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/VHI.TO?.tsrc=fin-srch
For anyone who needs to read this (which I admit is unlikely here): the privatization of healthcare is not only shamefully transgressing the rights of Albertans outlined in the Canada Health Act, it is outright STEALING generations of labour from all Canadians who have paid into public healthcare system over the course of their lifetimes.
Using their litany of bad faith arguments (‘If <50% of folk are doing all the contributing then >50% are leeches’ and all their other bunky roadapple memes) Dannie and company are trying to deny the fact that public insurance is just as profitable as private insurance, except the profits public systems generate improve the public system for everyone.