Vue Covers My CBC Campaign

Got an email from a reporter from Vue Weekly last week and did a phone interview with him about my Hey CBC Ezra Does Not Speak For Me campaign. Let a thousand flowers bloom as they say.

And in this week's edition they published this;

CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED AGAINST CBC RIGHT-WING 'FLACK'

MURRAY SINCLAIR / murray@vueweekly.com

Recall campaigns, in use in some US states, British Columbia and once in Alberta, are usually aimed at removing politicians from office between elections.
But one local activist has started a similar type of campaign online to get rid of a conservative pundit from a CBC Newsworld show.

Eugene Plawiuk told Vue it’s “extremely disrespectful” that Ezra Levant is used as Alberta’s representative by veteran broadcaster Don Newman for a cross-Canada regional panel on his afternoon Politics show.

“There’s a constant use of Ezra, as if he knows anything,” charged Plawiuk, a self-described “unabashed left-winger.”
“He doesn’t deserve to be on as a pundit from Alberta. It makes us look like right-wing nut bars.”

Levant, who has been a lawyer, columnist and an activist in conservative groups and parties, made the news recently when he stopped publishing his Western Standard magazine in favour of an online format.

Plawiuk said that Levant, who didn’t return repeated interview requests for this story, wrongfully believes that Albertans are “genetically” disposed against Liberals and for the Conservatives.

“Levant also deliberately refuses to make any reference to the NDP in this province, which happens to have four sitting MLAs, and has been a force in provincial and federal politics since the founding of the CCF in Calgary,” Plawiuk’s website charges.

In a past entry, he charged that the “Conservative Broadcasting Corporation,” when “reporting on news from Alberta for political comments ... is sucking up to the right wing rump of the right wing with Levant.

He “is not a journalist, but a public-relations flack for the right,” Plawiuk added.

In September, Plawiuk wrote to CBC ombudsman Vince Carlin that he’s “tired of the right-wing bias shown by Ezra Levant,” who he says does not reflect the reality of politics in Alberta.

“Get someone else to comment on Alberta politics, or at least balance him out with someone who is not part of the extreme right.”

Carlin replied that he forwarded Plawiuk’s concerns to the producer of Politics, but the activist answered back that nobody on the show was listening to him, as Levant kept on appearing as a talking head.

CBC spokesman Jeff Keay didn’t respond directly to Plawiuk’s campaign, but said generally “Don [Newman] has a broad range of people on the show.”

Jim Thompson of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting said his group hasn’t done any content analysis to determine whether the CBC is providing a diversity of voices. He said Alberta MPs, who are all Conservative, would likely say the CBC is left-wing, but he wouldn’t comment on whether the CBC was using Levant to battle this perspective.

Plawiuk said he “wouldn’t be as ticked” if Levant was appearing on a non-public network that wasn’t supported by tax dollars, an arrangement he noted the conservative pundit dislikes despite appearing regularly on the CBC.

The activist started his anti-Levant campaign in late October by sending out emails on the listservs of the NDP and other progressive groups, while his blog is linked to several other leftist and non-ideological websites.

He doesn’t know how many in cyberspace have heeded his request to email the CBC and ask for Levant’s removal as Newman’s only Alberta voice, but a number of people have told him they’ve done so, including one who created an online logo stating “Hey CBC, Ezra Levant does not speak for me!” for use in the campaign.

The activist denied that he’s advocating censorship, and said his campaign speaks to a bigger issue that goes beyond cyberspace.

Alberta is changing politically, said Plawiuk, citing the thousands of newcomers coming into the province, the decline of the Reform movement and the departure of conservative standard-bearer Ralph Klein from the premier’s chair.
“Nobody talks about the Ralph revolution anymore,” he said. “They talk about the Ralph failure.”

Plawiuk suggested in one email to the CBC that “there are other more ‘expert’ folks you could use, or at least to give balance and have on along with Ezra,” citing as examples local blogger Ken Chapman and the Parkland Institute’s Ricardo Acuña.

The activist told Vue that Edmonton Journal legislature reporter Graham Thompson or someone from the Calgary Herald or that city’s CBC would be acceptable in place of Levant, who he charged “blusters on with half-facts and innuendo.”

He said even Edmonton Sun columnist Neil Waugh would be a more insightful voice on the right, as would Link Byfield of the defunct Alberta Report magazine, given his long experience with the conservative cause..

Associating Levant with a “small voice from Calgary,” Plawiuk said there was a regional dimension to his campaign, charging that Newman’s show was turning down Edmonton voices in favour of what he called Canada’s most Americanized city.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesman Thompson said CBC cutbacks have gutted regional programming, which has “certainly affected the diversity of perspective that the CBC has been able to offer its audience” in his mind. V

Interesting that Friends of Canadian Broadcasting doesn't do content analysis. That's not what they say on their web site. And their actions say otherwise. However I guess what they don't do is look at specific programs. Though Don's show has slipped in some American spin which should concern them.

FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting is an independent, Canada-wide, non-partisan voluntary organization whose mission is to defend and enhance the quality and quantity of Canadian programming in the Canadian audio-visual system. FRIENDS is not affiliated with any broadcaster or political party.

FRIENDS relies upon individuals for donations to finance its watchdog role, public policy initiatives, public opinion leadership and research activities directed at our priorities.

Looks like CBC's top-ranked managers, specifically president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch and CBC-TV executive vice-president Richard Stursberg, have been stung by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

A fundraising letter sent recently to Friends' members – who number 66,000 dues-paying households – attacks the duo for their "incompetence, neglect and recklessness" and "appallingly deficient vision."

The spokesperson for CBC says Don has a broad representation from Alberta which of course is a lie. His regular, as in frequent, guest commentator on things Albertan is Ezra.

Keep sending those cards, letters, and emails to CBC. And please cc me at
eugene-at-union-dot-org-dot-za

See:

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CBC, Don Newman, media bias, Ezra Levant, CBC politics, politics, Alberta, Canada, Vue Weekly

Rent A Crowd

The right wing press pundits and those opposed to Albertans getting their fair share will make a big deal out of the Oil Bosses Venezuelan Style Protest at the Leg today. Until you realize that the workers there were bussed in by the bosses and paid to be there, complete with signs provided by their bosses.

Also most of them have not read the Royalty Report nor know what its recommendations are. And thanks to your's truly helping get the message out about this right wing demo a counter protest occurred.

The workers, many carrying signs printed by Ensign Energy, the drilling giant based out out of Calgary, and wearing hard hats brought by the company for the occasion, said they fear losing their livelihoods if the report's recommendations are accepted.

Whether the crowd had considered the accuracy of the report was another matter; while several said they felt it was flawed, they either admitted they hadn't read it, or, in several cases, that they didn't really understand the complexities of the royalty structure. Many also confirmed their employers had given them a paid day off to attend the rally.

And about two dozen pro-report demonstrators also showed up. Alan Boyle said he worked in the oilpatch for nearly 40 years. "I don't blame these people for being apprehensive because the message they're getting is fear and they're following that. They're scared for their jobs. I notice some older fellas who in the 80s were perhaps hurt when the NEP came in."

But Boyle also said based on the price of oil, the only reason for companies to fear monger about slowing down is because they want to make more money, instead of paying the public its fair share -- something that repeated reports from multiple economists suggests hasn't happened in years.

"It's generally fear and these people are bought and paid for. I don't think the royalty review is way out of line. I think it's quite fair. I don't really see where, based on the price of oil per barrel right now, that any company is really hurting. There are traditionally seasonal sectors feeling the pinch right now but that's got nothing to do with oil royalties."

The AFL issued in a statement criticizing the Wednesday event planned for the Alberta legislature in Edmonton. Gil McGowan, president of the AFL, said:

"These are people who have bought into the scare tactics currently being used by Big Oil. Obviously, they have a right to speak for themselves. But let's be clear: they don't speak for anything close to a majority of Albertans working in the oil patch or related industries." "It's always scary when the people who sign your paycheques start talking about job loss," says McGowan. "But it's clear that a strong majority of workers in this province - regardless of what industries they happen to be in - want a much better deal on the resources that we all own collectively as citizens. And they're not about to back down just because a few cranky CEOs have been rattling their sabres." "Right now, Big Oil is behaving like a kid throwing a tantrum," concludes McGowan. "They're stamping their feet and making threats. But they're not about to leave the sandbox - because there's too much money to be made and, frankly, because there's nowhere else for them to go."

He described the legislature rally, organized by owners of small energy and oilfield service companies, as “essentially a bosses’ rally.”

While it’s being billed as a “grassroots oil workers rally,” McGowan wondered how it could be when most of the companies don’t work in the northern Alberta oil patch, including Fort McMurray. He added those involved are mostly natural gas employers. At a time when many industry players have already admitted the gas industry is slowing as basins mature and prices increase, McGowan said these companies are using those pre-existing market conditions as scare tactics.
“These employers have been trying to say their recent layoffs are a sign of things to come when in fact they have almost nothing to do with the current royalty regime or the one being proposed by the royalty panel,” he said. “Their problem has nothing to do with current royalty regime or the proposed one. They’re caused by the recent slump in the price for natural gas.”

As for the claims about the slow down in the conventional gas and oil patch, that is the nature of the business. Last spring was too warm for some patch operations. Guys I know working in the patch who start in December or January weren't getting started till late February early March. This fall appears to be another Indian Summer so again the patch will start up later than usual.

Dave Hamsing, who runs a drilling company south of Calgary, said companies are already scaling back operations, waiting to see how the government responds to the royalty review.

Hamsing has only two rigs booked this winter, after six were cancelled. He fears another bust in Alberta is a possibility.

"The ones who suffer from the fallout will be us, the service companies, entrepreneurs, employees, families. The rest of Alberta is going to suffer if they implement the royalty report in its state," said Derrick Jacobson, owner of a small oil service company in Red Deer.

"It's not threats anymore, I mean some companies have shifted operations to Saskatchewan already."

Jacobson called Wednesday's protest in Edmonton a "grassroots oil workers rally," but the involvement of a high-priced public relations firm is raising questions.

Don't believe me,well then lets ask Mr.Right Wing his-self, Neil Waugh;

Threat of job losses in the oilpatch due to royalty boost may just be a Big Oil invention

But it was a great day for the flat-earth believers in the Calgary oil towers and their compliant, soon-to-be communications directors.

Fortress Stelmach had been finally breached and the Stalmachistas are fleeing for the hills after the Cowtown oil aristocrats launched their third and final desperate assault - code-named the "Perfect Storm."

That is where tens of thousands of oilpatch workers would lose their jobs if the modest royalty tweaks go through - not to mention their double wides and dually diesels.

THE PROBLEM IS REAL

Of course, there is a problem. The winter drilling season is going to be a bust. And the summer one was nothing to brag about either.

Big Oil has already pulled back their big budgets. Rigs are racked and trucks haven't turned a wheel all summer, especially in Stelmach's rural heartland.

Big Oil invented the storm. Now they want to pin the blame on Stelmach, as rig moving king pin Murray Mullen tried to do last week when he announced the "temporary layoff" of 100 truck drivers and swampers.

Yep today's protest was the Oil Rig Bosses blaming the Royalty report for the fact that they had a poor spring and summer and are preparing for a slow start this winter. It has nothing to do with our getting our fair share and everything to do with the weather.

But heck you know they would look silly if they protested the weather.

Come to think of it I wonder if they have considered the impact of Global Warming on their jobs.

Nah, that's just another socialist plot like the Royalty Report.

Representatives from the fledgling Wild Rose Party and the Alberta Alliance, Alberta's two ultra-right wing parties, also addressed the crowd. Alliance leader Paul Hinman, the MLA for Cardston-Taber, called the recommendations a colossal mistake. "It's pure politics to talk about 'fair share' because that's how you make everybody upset, by saying 'you didn't get your fair share'," he said.

Don't Let Big Oil Set Our Royalty Rates make sure Ed hears from you

SEE:

Our Resources, Our Future, Our Decisions

Real Oil Workers Rally

I Am Malcontent

Who Will Decide About Royalties

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
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Bill Hunter, Alberta Royalty Review,
Alberta Cabinet, CAPP, Ed Stelmach,
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Fearless Prediction Confirmed

My prediction that Alberta CEO Prince Edward would sell Albertans out over the Royalty Review is confirmed from a couple of sources.

From the EnerPub Blog:

Alberta premier Ed Stelmach is expected to decide how much of the report’s recommendations to implement by the middle of October. There is considerable public pressure to increase royalties. However, Alberta’s oil lobby also has significant political influence because of the oil and gas sector’s large contribution to the economy. And the government will be loathe to jeopardize the future of an industry that accounts, directly and indirectly, for about half the province’s GDP.
The likely outcome, therefore, is a more modest increase than the panel recommends.

Edmonton Sun columnist and usually an Ed booster; Neil Waugh weighs in worrying that given his track record the man who would be king might well cop out.

There's one compelling and disturbing thing about the Alberta government's royalty review.

And that's where Premier Ed Stelmach exactly stands on clawing back the oil, gas and, in particular, oilsands royalties and restoring what Bill Hunter's royalty review panel calls "our fair share."

The premier talked tough a few days ago when he said, "I won't be intimidated" by the powerful Big Oil lobby.

However, he hasn't actually said in plain Ralph Klein English what large numbers of Albertans now expect him to say: Alberta's royalty rates must go up.

The premier's office cranked out a release saying that instead of finally revealing where Ed stands on royalties, the Tories now want to "open communication channels" with the oil industry. While government bureaucrats will conduct a "technical analysis" review of the Hunter panel's recommendations to boost the royalty take by at least $2 billion.

Fears that the PCs were now in full retreat went from bad to extreme when it was revealed who is conducting the "shared understanding" with the oilpatch fat cats.

Justice Minister Ron Stevens, next to Dave Hancock, is the softest target in Stelmach's cabinet.

And instead of the finance department running the numbers, the energy bureaucrats - the same guys who messed up in the first place - will be marking Bill Hunter's homework.

Don't Let Big Oil Set Our Royalty Rates make sure Ed hears from you.

SEE:

Morons

More Shills For Big Oil

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King Ralph Shills For Big Oil

Well that didn't take long. King Ralph went from Premier to Oil Lobbyist in a blink of an eye. Faster than Lougheed and even Getty, his old big oil nemesis.

Klein slams Alberta royalty recommendation

And luckily he did it in Alberta, where weak tea lobbyist legislation was only just passed this spring. So it doesn't affect him. And he is doing it as they say; pro bono. Yep the Big Guy is out defending the Oil lobby and his own political decisions when it comes to selling out Albertans to the Calgary Oil Lobby.

Remember Ken Kowalski's 1994 appointment to chair the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board? It stirred up so much oilpatch opposition that then premier Ralph Klein had to rescind the post he gave the former deputy premier who'd been freshly bounced from cabinet.

Governments in Alberta and elsewhere have traditionally rewarded loyal supporters with plum appointments, often over the hue and cry of opposition parties and the general public.

The Kowalski appointment enraged a sector with considerably more clout: Big Oil. When it said the position required somebody more qualified and less political, Klein was forced to respond.

For a decade Albertans have been ripped off of profits from our resources, shoring up the oil industry with subsidies directly and indirectly, the latter being our penny on the dollar royalty rate for developing the tarsands. The result was the famous neo-con Klein Revolution, for which he annually collected gold medals from the Fraser Institute, which then went on to hire him once he retired as premier.

Should we be surprised he defends his regimes sell out of Alberta, native and Canadian resources? Of course not. He was after all the Premier the Party of Calgary picked. The Party of Calgary has become the bugaboo of Edmonton Sun columnist Neil Waugh, who describes them as the oil aristocracy.

Which, in a sentence, is Big Oil's strategy as the Stelmach Tories attempt to claw back $2 billion a year in energy revenues - largely from Calgary's oilsands aristocrats,who have been awarding themselves multimillion-dollar annual salaries while the owners of the resource get a penny on the dollar payout until the massive capital costs are recovered.

While Rick Bell his counterpart at the Calgary Sun gleefully pulls Big Oils beard in his column. Reminding us from his window view of Petro Plaza,

The outrage from the highest offices in the tallest towers is so loud it is being heard all over the provincial government.

Tory MLAs are being reminded of who runs the show, or who think they run the show, or who did the show until now.

On Tuesday, mere minutes after a report called for the province to hike oil and gas royalties and get a fair share for the resource Albertans own, the oil industry sent the provincial powers a simple one word e-mail.

It read: "Disaster."

Interesting the oilpatch isn't commenting on the fact, on natural gas alone, Albertans are out about $6 billion. That's $6 billion that could have gone to affordable housing, schools, health facilities, other public building projects, a tax break, savings to the Heritage Fund and on and on.

The reality is that the Hunt Report outright says that Albertans have been shortchanged for a decade when it comes to oil royalties.

Royalty review calls for massive jump in oilsands payouts

A panel reviewing the fairness of Alberta's royalty take from oil and gas development said today Albertans are not collecting a fair share and recommended a massive jump in royalties paid by oilsands projects.

The six-member panel headed by Bill Hunter recommended that the government's overall take from oilsands projects be raised to 64%, from 49% today. The panel recommends leaving the 1% pre-payout royalty unchanged, but that the post-pay out royalty be increased to 33%, from 25%.

"Albertans do not receive their fair share from energy development and they have not, in fact, been receiving their fair share for quite some time," Mr. Hunter said in a letter to Alberta Finance Minister Lyle Oberg. "Royalty rates and formulas have not kept pace with changes in the resource base, world energy markets and conditions in other energy rich jurisdictions. Albertans own the resource."

Billions of dollars have been pocketed by the private interests while Ralph declared debt and deficit hysteria, cut jobs, delayed infrastructure, destroyed the health care system by laying off nurses and reducing graduates for their jobs and those of doctors, contracting out services, etc. He told us we were broke, and had to tighten our belts, the debt and deficit crisis was described by King Ralph as the need to not renovate our house, but to demolish and rebuild.

One of his would be heir apparent's is our current provincial treasurer Lyle Oberg, a true believer, who says dark days are upon us. Of course he too opposes asking for what belongs to the people, a just royalty for our resources.

In that wonderfully twisted world of social conservatism the politics of giving unto Caesar has become the economics of giving unto Big Oil. The logic goes like this, if it weren't for big oil the PC party would be nothing, so it does it all it can for Big Oil. Now like all One Party States this logic is then transformed into what is good for Big Oil is good for Alberta.

The irony is that this royalty scam was not even created by Klein. Rather it was created after the collapse of the global oil market in 1984 by then Petro Premier Don Getty. Don being the oil boys insider for the moment, Klein was able to scape goat him for all of Alberta's economic problems which were a result of the market melt down, the recession of the eighties. So when the momentary debt and deficit crunch came world wide, Klein was ready to step in. Rather than end the tax and royalty holiday for Big Oil, he continued it and turned on the people of Alberta to pay for the deficit.

Deficits are not permanent, they are a year by year accounting phenomena. A debt on the other hand exists and transfers from year to year. A debt is what you owe someone else. You cannot have a debt to yourself. But in the wonderful Wizard of Oz Topsy turvy world of neo-con logic, government financed and owned infrastructure was seen as a business cost rather than as an asset.

The wailing and gnashing of teeth from the industry lobbyists, including Klein, and those in the investment business is predictable if somewhat disingenuous. After all this is Alberta, not Saskatchewan or Manitoba. This is a Tory run one party state at the beck and call of the Petroleum Club in Calgary. And the panel doing the review well it was stacked with capitalists.

The report was written by a six-member, blue-ribbon panel named by the government. The members included two economics professors, a chief economist for an Calgary-based energy research firm, a businessman, a forestry executive and a former senior executive with an oil company.

If anything, the panel was seen as too pro-business. In fact, the appointment of Sam Spanglet to the panel caused a stir back in February when news broke that the former oil executive still had "a couple of million" dollars worth of stock options with Shell Canada.

As if to bolster the opposition's accusation, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers was reportedly pleased with the panel's members and their credibility.

It seemed just about everyone was predicting the panel would deliver an industry-friendly conclusion.

One of the funniest comments comes from an one of those dime a dozen investment newsletters;

"Do they really wish to kill this golden goose with one fell swing of the tax axe?" said economist Dennis Gartman, editor of the Gartman Letter, an influential investment newsletter based in Virginia, who was "shedding tears" about Alberta going "socialist" and wondering whether the provincial government has "gone mad."

Socialist, well gee where has he been. Let's see Alberta is dominated by one party, a party that has been in power so long it naturally thinks it is the government. One that has subsidized the oil industry at the cost of the owners fair share. That spells socialism to me....well state capitalism actually, but for the rabid right they are the same. As ex- King Ralph pointed out;

"It was a regime created by industry and government. Those kinds of rules don't change on a whim. Companies are nervous."

And then there are those who, like our Treasurer Lyle Oberg, are doom and gloom proponents who claim that the sky is falling and once again are declaring impending debt and deficits. The reality is that it was the royalty holiday that Getty gave the industry that led to the deficit crisis of 93-95 that gave Klein an excuse to implement the Fraser Institutes neo-con revolution in Alberta.

On page 23, for example, the report points out "The panel was constantly told by companies and by energy industry trade groups that Alberta ranked very high in Government Take." However, those companies and groups were citing from an outdated 1997 report by an international expert. The review panel commissioned the same international expert who compiled new data and concluded "the very opposite is now unequivocally true."

In this case its also the oil and gas industries who are claiming a crisis in their industry and again have their hands out asking for more state subsidies.

Yet, because of public expectations, it's unlikely the panel will recommend what's needed at this time: a reduction in royalties to salvage what's left of this vital part of the sector. Indeed, there are indications the slump is not just another cycle, but a structural change that will require new thinking from everyone -- industry, government and labour -- to reduce costs so it can compete with the cheap imports of liquefied natural gas invading the U.S. market, once dominated by Alberta producers.

Oh you didn't know there was a slump in the oil and gas business? It didn't appear that there was according to the markets this week.

Oil prices hit record highs

Oil dips, but gas prices set to rise

Taking Cues From Fed, Speculators Bid Up Oil

More oil firms hike fuel prices

Crude oil sails over $80 buoyed by bullish mkt

Oil near new high amid tight supplies

Well there is. It's called peak oil and the industry is panicking over its potential impact. Alberta's conventional oil and gas reserves will peak in 2020 and begin to decline, as will provincial revenues. And so the oil business in Alberta is focused on developing the tarsands output, regardless of costs to the public or the environment, by then.

A litany of Canadian investment banks also pulled no punches in their assessment of the proposals in the Our Fair Share report.

FirstEnergy Capital Corp. warned the proposed measures, in a report entitled "Albertastan? Misguided Intentions and the Fair Share Option," would be "negative if adopted, and will slow down the development of oilsands."

Well frankly that's a good thing since the boom is artificial and has caused untold problems in Alberta. We need a planned economy from our 'socialist' government, since the oil sands development has gotten out of control.

Since Prince Eddies government refuses to adopt such a plan, then if the royalty regime forces a slow down all the better. Alberta is an overheated economy. One that is sure to bust big, because no boom is sustainable. And woe betide Albertans if that happens. The boom of the seventies and early eighties was followed by a quarter century recession in the province. One that was used as an excuse to rack up surpluses at the expense of public services and infrastructure expenditures.

Stelmach says he'd stand up to big oil

Be still my beating heart. Anyone who thinks Farmer Ed is going to accept this report in whole, has missed the fact he has not accepted the recommendations of any public reports that he called for upon his appointment as Alberta's CEO. He has adopted the minimum to make him look good sometimes that has meant rejecting the public reports and making a big deal out of the fact he asked for them.

We need only remember the Alberta Housing Report, which called for rent controls. He rejected this outright. He has rejected the public commission calling for controlled growth and a slow down in oil sands development as well.

A columnist at the U of C student newspaper the Gauntlet sums it up well.

Furthermore, even if the provincial government does go for the whole 20 per cent increase, Alberta’s royalty rates will still be some of the lowest in the world. And don’t try to tell me that all the oil companies will uproot and flee the country the second people start talking about increasing royalties. As a fellow editor commented to me recently, “They’re in the oil business. They’ll go where the oil is.” The oil companies have invested too much money and stand to make far too much money for them to vanish in a cloud of carbon monoxide like the conservatives are arguing.

Anybody who has studied the provincial Conservatives in even the shallowest capacity knows that Premier Ed “Steady Eddy” Stelmach will likely not raise royalties at all come Oct. when he makes the decision. If royalties are increased, it will likely be by just enough for Stelmach to seem like a populist without putting even the slightest dent in Big Oil’s beer budget. This isn’t necessarily is bad thing; the quality of life in Alberta will continue to improve at the same rate it always has if nothing is done. There’s no immediate negative consequence in deferring to the oil companies on this one, and that’s likely why nothing will be done: nobody wants to rock the boat. However, it’s worth considering the possibilities of even a slight increase.

And those who are in the known when it comes to economics agree. Big Oil will stomp their feet and wail but all is for naught. They will go where the oil is and if they don't well there are the Chinese, and Japanese, and....

Alberta premier walks into lion‘s den with business leaders over royalty review

Many of the business leaders attending the event said whether Stelmach chooses in the coming weeks to adopt the report‘s recommendations or not will be his most important decision, not just for now but for generations to come.

“My view is that the province should just out of hand reject this report because ... the decisions that they made are totally out of touch with the economy and what‘s happening around the world right now,‘‘ said Doug Mitchell, co-chairman of the forum.

“I don‘t see any credibility whatsoever in the report.‘‘

But one energy specialist said regardless of what Stelmach decides, the oilsands are too rich and vast for industry to ignore.

Ken Moors, a managing partner of Risk Management Associates in Pittsburgh, Pa., said he has brokered royalty deals around the globe and he believes Stelmach has been smart to make this dispute a public one.

“This is a rare opportunity for a democracy to do things in the open,‘‘ he said.

“But you must remember that every other time these royalty situations have been advanced in other countries, they‘ve been advanced in a market in which the expectation was that supply was going down. This is the only example I‘ve ever seen where these are being introduced in a market where the supply is bound to go up.‘‘

He said the province will still be very competitive with other countries.

"It is not going to take place . . . this is the only major supply side push left in the international oil market, so people either invest here or they see their profit margins dwindling in the future -- there is no other alternative," he said.

That is rich, There Is No Alternative. TINA. The famous neo-con excuse for selling off government services to embrace the Market. And now the shoe is on the other foot for Big Oil. TINA. LOL.

Amongst the sturm and drang of capitalist outrage in columns in the National and Financial Post comes a whiff of wisdom if not prudent observation.

Royalty review just good business

Diane Francis, Financial Post

Published: Saturday, September 22, 2007

It's important to note that what is being discussed is not taxation but the royalty paid to Albertans who own the lion's share of subsurface mineral rights in the province. And they are not getting as much revenue from their resources as competing jurisdictions are, according to the report. Industry spokesmen dispute the numbers and say Alberta's take is already high enough, and any higher will drive away investment.

For instance, conventional oil and gas royalties and taxes in the U.S. average 67% while they are 50% in Alberta, said the report.

Non-conventional oil production -- offshore and heavy oil -- is another interesting story. Heavy oil royalties in Cold Lake are 60% compared with Nor-way's offshore royalties of 76%, California's heavy-oil royalties (and taxes) of 67.5% and Venezuela's 72%.

To me, both the markets and media have been hysterical about nothing. Stelmach is not some fiscal confiscator. He's the CEO of the most valuable jurisdiction in the Western hemisphere and his review of royalties is simply prudent business practice.

Just like Danny Williams is doing in Newfoundland except in order to get his folks the best deal he didn't sell the goose, just a part of the golden egg. Funny thing the same folks whining over the Alberta Royalty report said this about Danny's provincial version of Petro-Can;

Paul Barnes, the St. John's-based spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said state equity stakes are common throughout the world beyond North America and Europe. He said his members are prepared to negotiate exact figures for specific deals. "It's not overly concerning to our members that equity participation is on the table here because we experience it on worldwide basis."

Gee you don't hear that from the CAPP when it comes to Alberta's Royalty Revue.

"At first blush," gulped Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers spokesman Greg "Sky is Falling" Stringham, "this is far worse than anticipated."

So what is all the fuss about, why the chicken little exercise in outrage? What does this dastardly commie socialist pinko report say. Well it is damning of years of incompetence by an entrenched and debouched Tory party of Calgary Oil insiders.

A tired old party that instead of collecting what is owed to Albertans by Big Oil for the past decade, forget just the last few years of booming oil prices, gave them a royalty holiday paid for by Albertans. We paid in increased user fees, privatization, contracting out, wage freezes in the public sector, caps on AISH payments and claw backs,kicking the poor off welfare, selling off the ALCB at fire sale prices, systemic mistreatment of seniors in seniors homes, the Health Care premium which is a tax grab, failure to invest in infrastructure, firing of nurses and doctors, capping of nursing and doctor graduates in Alberta universities, not only closing but blowing up hospitals, lack of vocational and technical education that has led to current labour shortages, etc. etc.

The government makes more money off gambling then it does off either royalties or taxes on conventional oil and gas and the tarsands.

And no matter what Stelmach does, he cannot make up for being part of a government that at best was asleep at the wheel for two decades, at worst was implementing harsh cuts and reconstructing the state according to a neo-con agenda that was never for the benefit of the people of Alberta but to please the Fraser Institute and its pals.

Stelmach will never, ever, ask for the billions Big Oil owes the people of Alberta who had to pay for Ralph Klein's renovation of the province for their and the Fraser Institutes benefit.

The Conservative regime has forgotten that natural resources belong to Albertans and not developers, says the report from the royalty review panel appointed by the same government.

And the Alberta Energy ministry is bracing for another unsparing probe next month of how it handles royalties from Auditor General Fred Dunn.

His office has chided the government in past years for being unable to effectively track what companies owe in royalties, and suggested the problem was costing hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty losses.

But the royalty review panel took the criticisms much further, recommending a new oversight body and far better reporting to the public.

"During our review we discovered an absence of accountability from the government to Albertans, the owners of resources," panel chairman Bill Hunter told reporters this week. "We encountered significant difficulty in accessing information -- to have even simple questions answered."

"How the administration or public leaders make informed decisions in this vital arena is an open question," says the review report, made public Tuesday.

"In the case of Alberta's multibillion-dollar energy reserves, seen as an enterprise, the onus on government to inform the public should actually be orders of magnitude higher," the report said. "Stated politely, this standard of disclosure is not presently being met.

"The panel is of the opinion that the government has not built up sufficient expertise and capacity to administer and manage this complexity."

It also identified a specific problem of missing money, or "what preliminarily seems like a pattern of material deferral of payments that is not in the interests of Albertans."

Once again the real Alberta Deficit is revealed, the democratic deficit. So the next time some Alberta Conservative MLA or MP, they are after all joined at the hip, talks about accountability, transparency, honest government, usually pointing fingers at Liberals in Ottawa, just ask them if they know where the missing billions from Big Oil are squirreled away.


Read it for yourself.

Royalty Review Panel final report

SEE:

Transparency Alberta Style

Closing The Barn Door

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Mason Hits The Bricks

The party that Ezra Levant and other right wing pundits dismiss, the Alberta NDP has hit the hustings in anticipation of a November provincial election.

NDP leader campaigns in anticipation of election

Smart move. The municipal elections are this fall, but in both Edmonton and Calgary they appear to be snorefests.

Eddie Stelmach who is nicknamed Steady is doing just that steadily declining in the polls. So now he has a new nickname.

Alberta's Ed Stelmach tagged with "Mr. Dithers" moniker, low support


Political analyst Jim Lightbody says now that Albertans have gotten to know Ed Stelmach as the new premier they're ``quite unimpressed.' Lightbody says Stelmach seems like a very nice man who is in way over his head. He says the Mr. Dithers tag on Stelmach is much deserved because the premier has been indecisive on key issues, such as nuclear energy.

It was perhaps that headline that finally pushed him over the edge to actually respond to public challenges. However it was far from being decisive leadership, despite Neil Waugh's cheer leading, as the Edmonton Journal correctly points out.

In fact it exposed the rudderless government he is running. He was forced to grab the tiller to force the ship of state from the rocks of misguided policies, that should have been seen from the crows nest.

- Up in Peace River, Brenda Brochu feels like she was "blindsided" when she heard her town was selected as the proposed site of Western Canada's first nuclear power plant -- and the first to be built in decades.

"When did we ever say we wanted nuclear power here?" said Brochu, who is head of the Peace River Environmental Society.

A lot of Albertans are feeling exactly same and so they should. With little warning and almost no public discussion, Peace River residents and the rest of the province are suddenly staring at plans for a $6.2-billion privately built and operated plant proposed by Calgary-based Energy Alberta.

And all this before there's been any formal public decision that Alberta should go down the path to nuclear energy.

Premier Ed Stelmach should have consulted Albertans, developed a consensus that nuclear power was the right option, or not, with everyone fully aware of the serious issues nuclear energy raises.

Instead, there were private talks, with a handful of municipal politicians in the Peace River area keen to attract the jobs, business spinoffs and tax assessment that will come with such a massive project.

They may be elected officials, but those private talks are no substitute for the broad public discussion Albertans need to have first on whether they want to go down this road.

After all its Stelmach who has given the marching orders to his MLA's to decide if they are running or not. Unfortunately being part of the Tired Old Tory regime most of them slept through his announcement.

a growing number of government MLAs have announced they won't seek re-election under their new leader, Ed Stelmach.

The most recent retiree is Wetaskiwin-Camrose MLA LeRoy Johnson.

That means thus far seven have indicated they will step down when the election is called. That's only about 10 per cent of the government caucus.

It's not as if anyone has to widen the legislature exits to accommodate the departures.

The trouble for Ed Stelmach is unless more government MLAs quit this time around he will have to run with "Ralph's Team" for the election expected in 2008.

That's not a good thing for a premier trying to rebrand the Tory party as something new and re-energized -- not as a bunch of oldsters, some of who were first elected when Brian Mulroney was in the prime minister's chair and Toad the Wet Sprocket was in the top 40.

And who knows perhaps with Alberta's tradition of wholesale turnover and electing upstart parties, which the NDP is, well anything could happen if Stelmach calls an election this fall or next spring.

Either way Brian is right to kick off his campaign now, while the Liberals look for a new leader and new policies. Oh they aren't? Too bad.

Dynasty, Alberta-style

Since Alberta joined Confederation in 1905, only four parties have ever formed governments. When political change came, it was wholesale and the victor was a party that had never governed the province before.

Liberals, 1905-1921

Won Alberta's first election in 1905 under Alexander Rutherford. Re-elected under Mr. Rutherford in 1909 and under Arthur Sifton in 1913 and 1917.

United Farmers of Alberta, 1921-1935

Won 1921 election under leader Herbert Greenfield. Re-elected 1926 and 1930.

Social Credit, 1935-1971

Founded as Social Credit League of Alberta 1932. Won 1935 and 1940 elections under leader William Aberhart. Re-elected under successor Ernest Manning 1944, 1948, 1952, 1955, 1959, 1963, 1967.

Progressive Conservatives, 1971-present

Won 1971 election under leader Peter Lougheed, re-elected 1975, 1979, 1982 and 1986. Led by Donald Getty in 1989 and 1993, then by Ralph Klein in 1997, 2001 and 2004.

Tories to set record

On Sept. 18 the Alberta Tories will surpass the Social Credit party's 36-year record as Alberta's longest-serving government. The country's longest-serving political dynasty was the Liberal Party in Nova Scotia, which held office for 43 straight years, until 1925.

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Cavet Emptor Illegitimate Goverment

There is no government like no government.

For an prime example of American Republican Libertarian forms of limited government one needs only look to Alberta.

Last weekend a fire destroyed 94 housing units, the majority were part of a new condo complex, the others were single family dwellings built too close to the complex, with little or no fire protection for their siding and outside walls. The result was mass destruction.And folks left homeless. In a boom economy with rental housing and other ownership options priced beyond most folks means.

The problem is an obsolete building code written in 1960 and based on the notion of preventing fires from spreading from building to building from inside out instead of from the outside in, Wolsey said.

"There has to be a better look at how we deal with building codes as to how we protect our society," he said.

"Is this preventable? I believe it is. With minor amendments to building codes and minimal costs, we can prevent this kind of a devastation from occurring in our communities."

The governments response was little, minor, small, none at all.

The Alberta government's own public safety division recommended changing building codes more than two years ago to prevent fires like Saturday's $20-million inferno in south Edmonton.

But the government chose not to act.

Instead, it forwarded the recommendation to the National Research Council for further study via a provincial committee - although it is under no obligation to wait for an NRC recommendation before making code revisions.

In fact, a year later, the department - then under the leadership of Rob Renner - rejected an official request by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association to address the insufficient separation between homes, saying there was no evidence to support it.

Government exists to protect citizens, except after the neo-con revolution that defined government as existing above, apart, separate from the people. The earliest forms of self government, have been about building codes and fire prevention. Whether at the municipal, state/provincial or federal level. In Alberta this responsibility has once again been abdicated by the ruling Tories.

Building codes blamed for massive fire
Condo blaze sparks call for tighter fire codes
$25-million fire calls building codes into question
Insurance industry backs tougher building codes
Heed fire's warning: improve building code
Fire chiefs say Alberta should be leader in Canada on building codes

Since the Ralph Revolution of the nineties the neo-con/neo-liberal republican lite agenda of the Fraser Institute and the right wing political business lobby the NCC have dominated conservative politics in Alberta and Canada.

Tougher code carries a price

The Tories created a myth, first they attempted under Lougheed to both expand oilsands development and diversification of the economy. The former succeeded the latter failed. Under Don Getty the diversification expanded, but it ended up a failure because it was simply the government doling out corporate welfare to businesses and lobbyists that had the best selling points, rather than realistic business plans.

Though some plans and businesses were by their nature something the state should have done as public services, such as hazardous waste disposal, due to the costs and long term responsibilities involved, as well as the continuing need for state funded research and development required for technological and industrial advances.

And as usual the left wing moonbats like Neil Waugh of the Edmonton Sun trash our glorious republican government for their obvious contradictions.

More study is needed before deciding whether to update building codes to prevent repeats of a $25-million condo development inferno, Alberta's municipal affairs minister said yesterday.

Although he said he personally favours a "proactive" approach, Municipal Affairs Minister Ray Danyluk also said the numbers aren't all in. He said the province approached the National Research Council 18 months ago and asked it to study the issue. Its next major amendment of national standards, however, isn't until 2010.

Ray's job in Ed Stelmach's Country Club Cabinet is housing and municipal affairs. Both are hot topics after Wolsey warmed up to his usual theme following the MacEwan Fireball. Edmonton houses are fire prone. Thanks to the controversial vinyl siding that's slapped on them without any fire retardant board beneath.

Wolsey talked about a "simple fix." And when asked whether the MacEwan blaze and other similar fires involving Boom-berta houses are preventable, he answered: "I believe it is."

He talked about "minor amendments" to the building code. Which is Ray's responsibility.

And if the houses around the condo blaze had something as simple as exterior grade drywall under the plastic siding "we probably wouldn't have lost any of those homes."

So here's the question I put to Ray in the flower garden.

"Are get-rich-quick developers cutting corners and building shoddy houses that could put Albertans' lives in peril?"

Which, of course, is the Monday-morning-coming-down question for many folks.

No emergency meeting with Battlin' Randy Wolsey, no read-the-riot-act session with the Edmonton Region Homebuilders Association, no task force of surly bureaucrats to prepare a report, make recommendations and get to the bottom of what's going down out on Pleasant Acres Drive and Woodside Wynd.

Instead Danyluk froze up like a rusty Lada at 40 below.

The best he could offer was that the National Research Council is apparently working on something, but it won't be ready for three years.

Once again showing this government has no use for its citizens and is in the pocket of establishment special interests.

Caveat Emptor, citizen beware you have nobody to blame for getting screwed but yourself, the government refuses to protect you or to govern for the public good. Just as they have failed renters in this province now they fail homeowners, in favour of developers.

This then is limited government in a nutshell.

See:

Pay 'Em What They Want

He Can't Manage

Drumheller Bell Weather

Stelmach Tanks

Alberta Deja Vu

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