Go West Liberals,Thar's A Boom Out Thar

We Feel Your Pain Canada, Not

Alberta Awash in Riches

Alberta may get $7-billion surplus
Private sector foresees a booming budget as oil hovers above $65 (U.S.) a barrel. And as the money from crude and natural-gas royalties flood provincial coffers, there are concerns about how the Ralph Klein Conservatives will use the riches. "For the last 13 years, their whole mindset has been around the politics of constraint . . . well that doesn't prepare you well for the situation we are in now," said Roger Gibbins, president of the Canada West Foundation, a western think-tank. "It takes a real leap in imagination to get into this space. I think it's very difficult for this particular government to do this."

Well that's an understatement, the Ralph Reich is still in debt and deficit mode, and will be until the King steps down and makes way for his Calgary Corporate Replacement. But that does not assure us that the Party of Calgary will have any new ideas of what to do except like Scrooge McDuck to dive into their emabarssment of riches.



What's interesting is that the Harper Conservatives who complain about the Federal Liberal Government underestimating its surpluses are silent when Alberta does the same. Perhaps while Paul Martin is out here today, placating the alienated Alberta Robber Barons see below, he can ask Ralph for tips on underestimating surpluses and not having the opposition howl about it. Oh yeah that's right there is an Opposition in Ottawa, unlike Alberta.



The surplus we have in Alberta is thanks to the world price of crude and the $1 a litre gas prices at the pump in Toronto and Montreal. Thanks Canada. We appreciate your generosity even if we whine about our alienation. Again it's the Scrooge McDuck ideology in Alberta, 'they are out to get our oil, wealth, money." And its summed up as the NEP. Give it a break already heck most Albertans weren't even born when the NEP had its short lived existance.


Using data from First Energy Capital Corp. and Peters & Co. Ltd., The Globe and Mail estimated Alberta may reap an extra $3.9-billion to $4.1-billion in oil and gas royalties, on top of its budgeted $6.7-billion. Even the more conservative figure means that Alberta would take in a total of $11.6-billion in overall non-renewable resource revenue, easily surpassing the current record of $10.5-billion in fiscal 2000-01. In that scenario, the provincial surplus would swell to at least $6.9-billion, another record.

A growing windfall
Alberta's spring budget forecast $6.7 billion in oil and natural gas royalties but soaring prices since then mean the province will take in much more. Prices since April, along with analyst forecasts through to the end of March point to a windfall of close to $4billion, a record year for royalties and a surplus nearing $7 billion. The calculation of those extra royalties combine commodity price forecasts from First Energy Capital Corp. and Peters & Co. Ltd. with price sensibilities from Alberta Finance.
First Energy Capital Corp. Peters & Co.
First fiscal quarter $659 million $599 million
Second fiscal quarter $956 million $1.02 billion
Third fiscal quarter $1.23 billion $1.07 billion
Fourth fiscal quarter $1.27 billion $1.2 billion
Total $4.12 billion $3.89 billion

COMMODITY PRICE PROJECTIONS; FIRST ENERGY CAPITAL CORP AND PETERS CO.

Why that would be the amount needed to pay for Lyle Obergs $7 billion infrastructure bill, a need created because the Debt and Deficit Fear Mongers in the Kingdom of Ralph, failed to pay for them over the last decade. So there is no need to tap into the Heritage Trust Fund or to borrow the money.

But again the King Ralph and his government will cry poor, just like Scrooge McDuck, while being awash in riches, its been their mantra for 13 years why change now.




The Liberals Go West

Here they come
The boys in the bright white sports car
Waving their arms in the air
Who do they think they are?
And where did they get that car?
Boys In The Bright White Sports Car (Trooper)

A Great band from Calgary, home of Western Alienation and Warren Kinsella. This song started going in my head when I read about the PM and the Liberals moving right, err coming to Alberta to commiserate with those suffering from western alienation

PM's trip aimed at soothing West
On Monday, Martin will meet in Edmonton with the Canada West Foundation, an Alberta-based think tank that released a poll in 2003 that suggested most western Canadians believe the federal government doesn't care about them.

A right wing think tank from Southern Alberta, aren't they all, but not as right wing as the Western Standard.

Liberals seek to woo West at caucus meeting
At least one-third of western Canadians think it's time for their provinces to consider forming their own nation, a poll suggests. The survey, which was released earlier this month, was commissioned by Western Standard magazine, a right-leaning bimonthly news and opinion magazine founded in 2004 by Ezra Levant, a former Reform Party and Alliance Party activist."Westerners are very frustrated with their position in Confederation," said Faron Ellis, a political science professor at Lethbridge Community College, who conducted the survey.

Note Farron is also a longtime supporter of the Reform/ Alliance rump in the new Conservative party, he like this poll are NOT objective, and highly suspect. It's increbible that anyone gives this junk politics of Western Seperatism any credence, but then again Lougheed saw the danger of the right wing seperatist rump when the WCC won a provicial seat. Basically if you look at the politics of Western Seperatism they are the right wing of the right wing, old Social Credit, anti-French, anti-semitic, White Western Canada only type. Which means that they are all bluster and no base.

Of course Western Canada has suffered alienation from the East, cause it acted like a colonial power over the fate of the Western Provinces since the Riel Rebellion. But to kowtow to the likes of LeRant, the Byfields, Farron Ellis, or the majority of the Conservative Caucus, which comes from Alberta, is to capitulate to a minority view which is situated in one city; Calgary.

So lets call it Calgary Alienation, and Calgary Seperation, heck they already want to seperate from Alberta, cause we're all reds up here in Edmonton. And because they are the largest American city north of the 49th parellel. Whats good for Huston is good for Calgary.

And they rule the West in their little minds cause all the old eastern based capitalists are moving their Head Offices from Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg to Calgary. It gives them a royal swollen head about their importance as a city state.

Federal Budget gets big Canadian Yawn

One-half of respondents couldn't name one specific item from Goodale's financial blueprint. Half of Canadians paid absolutely no attention to the last federal budget, despite its long list of expensive spending promises on subjects ranging from child care to the military to seniors, federal government polling suggests.Cdns still demanding change: poll

To make matters worse, almost one-third still erroneously thought Ottawa is running deficits - undermining one of the Prime Minister Paul Martin's greatest claims to fame: the fact he balanced Ottawa's books, clearing the way for eight successive surplus budgets.

Okay Liberal media spinners here you go the messaage is; there is NO DEFICIT. The slogan should be hey we are like Alberta deficit free, and well on our way to being debt free thanks to the billions you bilked out of EI.

Liberals have been a little too successful with their controversial practice of underestimating surpluses to dampen public demands, said Derek Burleton, economist with TD Bank Group. "They've made clear . . . there are only limited fiscal resources and as a result, perhaps Canadians are interpreting that as government is running short of money - which spells deficit." Critics complain Goodale repeated that pattern in February's budget by projecting only a $3-billion surplus - just enough for his rainy-day fund - when the books are finally closed on fiscal 2004-05. In reality, the surplus should be about $6.8 billion, rising to $9.5 billion in 2005-06, thanks to lower debt-servicing costs and higher corporate tax payments, says economist Ellen Russell.

Yep who needs Monte Solberg whining about deficits when you have Goodale being cautious and the Liberals playing hide the surplus sasuage,with undeclared budget surpluses, to appear frugal and good managers. It fails to reassure Canadians all is well in the economy, surprize surpirze. Just say NO Deficit.

Surplus rockets to $9.5B
The federal government is -- and will continue -- racking up fatter-than-forecast budget surpluses that will climb back above the $10-billion mark next fiscal year, an economic think-tank says. The surplus this fiscal year will rise to $9.5-billion from an estimated $6.8-billion last year, and then surge even further to $11.3-billion in 2006-07, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says in a new forecast prepared for the House of Commons finance committee.The surpluses forecast by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives are in excess of the $2-billion a year required to meet the conditions for that agreement with the NDP to be implemented.

Ok so perhaps its Alberta and Canada awash in riches, but I don't expect to see Paul Martin and Ralph Klein toasting each other like their predecesors, Peter Lougheed and Pierre Trudeau, did back when oil boomed in the eighties.

Nope don't see that at all.

Now thats Western Alienation, well actually it's Calgary Pig Headedness, cause out West here we are real friendly even to our enemies.