I love it when folks who are in charge of the eonomy claim that they didn't see the recession coming, or they didn't expect it or they are shocked by it.
There is little doubt this week's developments signalled a change in the economic conditions affecting the province -- and in the messages coming from the Stelmach government, said political scientist Peter McCormick of the University of Lethbridge.
"I do think Alberta thought it was flying pretty high -- 'Recessions might hit lesser economies but they can't hurt us because we're oil, and oil never hurts,' " he said Friday."This is completely new territory for the government."
Oh please Peter gimme a break. There was the recession and oil crash of the seventies when the Tired Old Tories first took power. Then there was the oil boom and crash of the late seventies and early eighties which occured while the rest of Canada went into recession, by 1982 the oil market collapsed and Alberta followed the rest of the country into a downward spiral. Then there was the recession and debt/deficit crisis of the ninties. And through out it all the Tired Old Tories were in charge. So this ain't new territory.
Indeed the rose coloured blinders of the oil boom that the Tired Old Tories wear are the same ones they wore in the seventies and eighties. And now the recession has hit Alberta, we still have a budget surplus, just as we did in the ninties. But like the ninties, watch for the Tired Old Tories to start belt tightening and attacking the public sector while giving royalty holidays to their pals in Big Oil.
Indeed, the economic woes have hit on a number of fronts: the stock market slide has hammered Calgary-based petroleum producers; Alberta's housing market is slowing; retail sales are down; a handful of jobs have been cut.
While Ontario's manufacturing sector has been feeling the pain for months, the downturn in commodity markets -- particularly for crude oil -- is squeezing Alberta.
"We have been living in a bit of a dream world for the last little while. Things have not been well in other parts of the country," noted University of Calgary economist Ken McKenzie. "Until recently, we've been relatively removed from that because of high oil prices."
Much of the concern stems from just how quickly economic conditions, including commodity markets, have changed.
Resource revenue is still on pace this year for a record $14.6 billion, but it's about $4.3 billion less than what was predicted only three months ago.
Banks predict the Alberta economy will grow 1.9 per cent this year, gearing down to 0.3 per cent in 2009 -- the slowest since 1986.
"A $2-billion surplus is not a catastrophe compared to other provinces," Bernard said Friday. "There are a lot of positives, I think, for the Alberta economy, but for sure the drop in commodity prices is going to hurt."
McCormick agrees the province is faring better than other parts of the country where deficits are now being calculated. However, the government is trying to manage expectations by talking about tough times ahead.
"It's directed at universities, hospitals, school boards and government employees who are thinking about salary negotiations coming up -- that's who they are talking to," he said. "They are trying to get rid of boom-talk and boom-mentality now."
Alberta veers on royalties
Financial crisis forces energy-rich province to back down on its demands for a "fair share" from the development of its resources; New transitional rate for oil and gas wells will cost government $1.8-billion over the next five years.
It's the second time this year Alberta backtracks on the new policy, launched when energy prices were thought to rise forever. Last April, it backed off royalty increases affecting gas wells deeper than 2,500 metres and oil wells deeper than 2,000 metres.
The changes won't be the last.
SEE:
Black Gold
Steady Eddie Runs Away
Lougheed Spanks Klein
Don Getty's Legacy
You Won't Have Me To Kick Around
Lack of Planning Created Skills Shortage in Alberta
Laundry Workers Fight Privatization
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Showing posts with label Ralph Klein. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ralph Klein. Show all posts
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Royalties Pay For Jobs
All those threats about job losses in the oil patch and the bosses protest at the Leg seems to have overlooked a little fact. Job losses in the public sector in particular our hospital sector were caused by the Klein government bailing out Big Oil in the nineties.
As this letter writer to the Calgary Sun pointed out.
The attack on the public sector was the result of low royalties and tax breaks for Big Oil. The neo-con advisers to the Klein government called for cuts to public sector spending, freezes on wages and contracting out to make up for the deficit created by this give away. The deficit was caused by the failure of the government to collect its fair share, even back then, as the auditor general pointed out, of the royalties, even as low as they were; a penny on the dollar.
The cuts to the public sector were ideologically driven, at the time the Klein and Harris governments, indeed in 1995 so did the Federal Liberals, embraced the idea that the private sector can deliver services cheaper and more efficiently then unionized public sector workers.
Well cheaper yes by driving down wages and benefits. Efficiently well no, because they low balled their bids and now the costs are rising. Unionized public sector workers may cost more in wages and benefits, the workers in the private sector, but their costs are controlled by collective bargaining. And the government has controlled public sector wages in Alberta to be below inflation for the past decade. Whereas private sector costs are now skyrocketing.
Today infrastructure costs are higher because the Tired Old Tory government spent the last decade acting like Scrooge when it came to infrastructure expenditures. Instead of spending the annual surpluses they did get, which occurred annually since the pseudo-crisis of 1993, they hoarded the money crying poverty. Now the chickens have come home to roost.
Ralph cut nurses and doctors as well as capping nursing programs in Alberta universities. The cuts over a decade created a crisis we now face in staffing. especially in the hospital sector. The result has been a decline in health care services, with deadly results.
As we have seen investment in public sector jobs have been a boon to the Canadian economy. Costs of having services delivered in house are much lower than contracting out in an overheated economy. So much for the supply side economics of the Fraser Institute and it's pals.
So the next time some oil supply company workers complain that they may lose their jobs tell them to talk to the nurses in this province who left during the nineties to find work elsewhere.
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As this letter writer to the Calgary Sun pointed out.
There seems to be a double standard in both media and government attitude regarding regular public service workers and the oil industry. In the '90s, during the Klein "devolution," health-care professionals, teachers, public service workers and their collective bargaining agents protested cutbacks to health-care, education and other public services. They warned of gross shortages and infrastructure deficits in the future (which all came true). They were written off as "special interest groups" by media and government. Now an independent panel indicates the oil and gas industry has not been paying its fair share and the industry gets closed-door meetings with the government and is regarded as a VIP by the media. They come out with a government decision that still has them paying less than their fair share. They still grumble and yet neither the media nor government disregard their threats and grumbling as "just another special interest group."
Larry Connell, RN
The attack on the public sector was the result of low royalties and tax breaks for Big Oil. The neo-con advisers to the Klein government called for cuts to public sector spending, freezes on wages and contracting out to make up for the deficit created by this give away. The deficit was caused by the failure of the government to collect its fair share, even back then, as the auditor general pointed out, of the royalties, even as low as they were; a penny on the dollar.
The cuts to the public sector were ideologically driven, at the time the Klein and Harris governments, indeed in 1995 so did the Federal Liberals, embraced the idea that the private sector can deliver services cheaper and more efficiently then unionized public sector workers.
Well cheaper yes by driving down wages and benefits. Efficiently well no, because they low balled their bids and now the costs are rising. Unionized public sector workers may cost more in wages and benefits, the workers in the private sector, but their costs are controlled by collective bargaining. And the government has controlled public sector wages in Alberta to be below inflation for the past decade. Whereas private sector costs are now skyrocketing.
Today infrastructure costs are higher because the Tired Old Tory government spent the last decade acting like Scrooge when it came to infrastructure expenditures. Instead of spending the annual surpluses they did get, which occurred annually since the pseudo-crisis of 1993, they hoarded the money crying poverty. Now the chickens have come home to roost.
Ralph cut nurses and doctors as well as capping nursing programs in Alberta universities. The cuts over a decade created a crisis we now face in staffing. especially in the hospital sector. The result has been a decline in health care services, with deadly results.
As we have seen investment in public sector jobs have been a boon to the Canadian economy. Costs of having services delivered in house are much lower than contracting out in an overheated economy. So much for the supply side economics of the Fraser Institute and it's pals.
So the next time some oil supply company workers complain that they may lose their jobs tell them to talk to the nurses in this province who left during the nineties to find work elsewhere.
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Thursday, October 25, 2007
December 3 Alberta Election
The cat is out of the bag. Rod Love, Ralph Klein's brain, was on Don Newman's Politics show on CBC today reacting to Ed Stelmach's Royalty announcement. As the guy who worked with Klein to give away our wealth at a penny on the dollar he was in shock. As predicted here Stelmach raised the royalties but not as much as the Royalty report had recommended.
In shock Love inadvertently blurted out the Premier's planned election date as December 3. Mark your calendars.
See:
Mason Hits The Bricks
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Stelmach Sells Out
Uh oh prepare for a sell out by Prince Ed. He has appointed Ron Stevens to oversee reactions to the Royalty Report , the most negative coming form the self interested oil tycoons, and he announced in Toronto that any decision will be in favour of big oil.
Rick Bell commenting in the Calgary Sun wonders too if Prince Eddie will take on the dragon of big oil, and has his doubts.
SEE:
More Shills For Big Oil
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"I've promised Albertans a royalty regime that is fair to the companies who are investing billions of dollars to develop Alberta's resources," Stelmach said, according to a text copy of his speech.Ron is also Minister responsible for the Oil Sands Secretariat, so the deal is sealed.
Rick Bell commenting in the Calgary Sun wonders too if Prince Eddie will take on the dragon of big oil, and has his doubts.
Since Ed wants to hear from all Albertans make sure he hears from you.Now, Premier Ed has this panel report. Those in Big Oil's culture of entitlement who cry catastrophe but still strut the flash-the-cash attitude downtown won't surrender a copper, reminding the Tories who wags the dog.
Big Oil wring their well-manicured pinkies in front of Deputy Premier Ron Stevens, a Calgary lawyer who hears more blues than in the old days at the King Eddy.
Energy Minister Mel Knight, the Spymaster, so named because of the Energy and Utilities Board's hiring of private eyes to spy on citizens opposing a power line, has his deep thinkers give the panel report a look-see.
Those numbskulls couldn't do the math on the existing royalties. Beautiful.
NDP Leader Brian Mason likens the move to handing over the keys of the new locomotive to those who have been asleep at the wheel.
No matter. It comes down to Ed. Does he have the guts to be the leader for all Albertans or is he just the latest dude along for the ride willing to risk a train wreck?
SEE:
More Shills For Big Oil
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Sunday, September 23, 2007
Socialist Alberta
As I posted here earlier one wag complaining about the idea of increasing oil royalties in Alberta, called the province socialist. Another referred to us as becoming like Venezuela, which is far more democratic, and one clever fellow called us Albertastan.
How right they were. But not for the reasons they think. In a series of articles this week in the Edmonton Journal they exposed the number of card carrying PC appartachiks who dominate government appointments to public boards.
This of course is a well known fact of the nudge, nudge, wink, wink variety.
The party has become the state and the state is the province. Hmm, I have heard that before, oh yeah Trotsky said something like that when he was a Menshivik criticizing the Bolsheviks. The party substitutes itself for the people and the leader substitutes himself for the party.
Which is what of course happened in Alberta with the cult of the great leader. As I have said before the difference between Stalin and Klein was the mustache metaphorically speaking.
His current stand in Farmer Ed is attempting to pull a Gorbachev by claiming to create a more open state, perestroika Alberta style. Of course its all for show.
Of course Alberta isn't a police state, the state doesn't spy on its citizens who democratically protest its policies for being in bed with big oil interests.Nope that would never happen here.
And once having allowed democratic elections for health boards the state would not overturn those elections because the folks elected weren't Tories. Nope and they wouldn't then fire those elected officials to replace them with party hacks.
And of course unlike other one party states Alberta would never come up with a five year plan, even if it knew it was a failure. Nope no comparison with that and the provinces insistence on P3's.
And the party hacks and political commissars would never engage in historical revisionism claiming that the conservative party and its ideology was the natural ruling ideology of all the people in the province, anyone else who thinks or votes differently of course is not a real Albertan.
Nope none of those nasty aspects of the one party state happen here. Because of course this is a conservative one party state. Wait a minute there have been plenty of them too. Of course the right wing always calls them socialist too.
Here is a list of the the party apparatchiks in government. The Tories are the Government, and the government is the Party. Just like back in the good old USSR.
Alberta State Capitalism
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How right they were. But not for the reasons they think. In a series of articles this week in the Edmonton Journal they exposed the number of card carrying PC appartachiks who dominate government appointments to public boards.
This of course is a well known fact of the nudge, nudge, wink, wink variety.
The Conservatives have drawn criticism in the past over blatant patronage appointments, but The Journal probe, which analyzed the composition of 100 government agencies, boards and commissions, reveals just how far the party's influence reaches into the everyday lives of Albertans.
It shows that the province's most influential boards are loaded with Tories -- constituency executives, former candidates or key members of the party's powerful provincial executive.
Keith Brownsey, who teaches political science at Calgary's Mount Royal College, is not impressed.
"The party has become the province, and it's a real slap in the face of democracy. It demonstrates that if people want to be appointed to these boards they have to become a card-carrying Conservative," he says
The party has become the state and the state is the province. Hmm, I have heard that before, oh yeah Trotsky said something like that when he was a Menshivik criticizing the Bolsheviks. The party substitutes itself for the people and the leader substitutes himself for the party.
The most prescient critique of Lenin's style and methods was contained in Trotsky's 1904 pamphlet, "Our Political Tasks":
"Lenin's methods lead to this: the party organisation at first substitutes itself for the party as a whole; then the Central Committee substitutes itself for the organisation; and finally a single 'dictator' substitutes himself for the Central Committee."
Which is what of course happened in Alberta with the cult of the great leader. As I have said before the difference between Stalin and Klein was the mustache metaphorically speaking.
His current stand in Farmer Ed is attempting to pull a Gorbachev by claiming to create a more open state, perestroika Alberta style. Of course its all for show.
Of course Alberta isn't a police state, the state doesn't spy on its citizens who democratically protest its policies for being in bed with big oil interests.Nope that would never happen here.
And once having allowed democratic elections for health boards the state would not overturn those elections because the folks elected weren't Tories. Nope and they wouldn't then fire those elected officials to replace them with party hacks.
And of course unlike other one party states Alberta would never come up with a five year plan, even if it knew it was a failure. Nope no comparison with that and the provinces insistence on P3's.
And the party hacks and political commissars would never engage in historical revisionism claiming that the conservative party and its ideology was the natural ruling ideology of all the people in the province, anyone else who thinks or votes differently of course is not a real Albertan.
Nope none of those nasty aspects of the one party state happen here. Because of course this is a conservative one party state. Wait a minute there have been plenty of them too. Of course the right wing always calls them socialist too.
Here is a list of the the party apparatchiks in government. The Tories are the Government, and the government is the Party. Just like back in the good old USSR.
SOME PROMINENT TORIES WITH MULTIPLE APPOINTMENTS
- Audrey Luft, organizer of 2007 Alberta PC annual convention: Alberta Foundation for the Arts (chair), NAIT, Alberta Economic Development Authority
- Doug Goss, Edmonton co-chair of Tories' next election campaign: Capital Health, Alberta Economic Development Authority
- Wayne Jacques, former Conservative MLA: Peace Country Health Region, Transportation Safety Board, Law Enforcement Review Board
- Alf Savage, former PC president: Auto Insurance Rate Board (chair), Municipal Government Board
- Wendy Kinsella, losing Edmonton PC candidate in 2001: NorQuest College (chair), Capital Health (vice-chair)
- Marvin Moore, former PC campaign manager and cabinet minister: Peace Country Health (chair), Agriculture Marketing Products Council Appeal Tribunal
- Dale Johnson, president of Whitecourt-Ste. Anne PC association: Aspen Health, Credit Counselling Services of Alberta
- Robert Seidel, lawyer to former treasurer Stockwell Day: Grant MacEwan College, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research
- Skip McDonald, former president of Klein's PC constituency association: Calgary Health, ATB Financial
Some appointments provide an honorarium while others pay expenses. For health authorities, it's between $134 and $350 per day for members, based on hours worked, and up to $492 daily for chairs. On the Peace Country Health board, Moore earned $42,000 in 2005-06, while most others members earned around $15,000, including additional allowances and benefits. At Capital Health, chair Neil Wilkinson -- an admitted fan of former premier Ralph Klein, under whom he was first selected -- earned $79,000 for 2005-06, the last year for which figures are available.
SOURCE: Alberta Government
- - -
A TORY TOP 40
The Journal has examined 100 Alberta agencies, boards and commissions and compared the names of the people appointed to serve on the boards to a recent membership list of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Association.
Here are the top 40 boards with the highest percentages of card-carrying Conservatives serving on them.
Health boards and regions
- Peace Country Health Region:
13 Tories / 13-member board
- East Central Health:
9 Tories / 12-member board
- Capital Health:
8 Tories / 14-member board
- Calgary Health:
7 Tories / 13-member board
- Aspen Health Region:
11 Tories / 14-member board
- David Thompson Health:
11 Tories / 15-member board
- Chinook Health:
7 Tories / 12-member board
- Northern Lights Health:
7 Tories / 12-member board
- Palliser Health Region:
7 Tories / 13-member board
- Alberta Cancer Board:
5 Tories / 10-member board
- Health Quality Council:
4 Tories / 8-member board
- Public Health Appeal Board:
2 Tories / 4-member board
- Health Facilities Review Board:
8 Tories / 12-member board
Post-secondary Institutions
- Northern Alberta Institute of Technology:
8 Tories / 12-member board
- Portage College:
5 Tories / 7-member board
- Lethbridge College:
4 Tories / 7-member board
- Athabasca University:
6 Tories / 11-member board
- Red Deer College:
3 Tories / 6-member board
- Mount Royal College:
5 Tories / 10-member board
financial
- ATB Financial:
9 Tories / 13-member board
- Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corp.:
4 Tories / 8-member board
addictions and disabilities
- Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities:
5 Tories / 8-member board
- Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission:
7 Tories / 10-member board
- Crystal Meth Task Force:
7 Tories / 12-member board
- Northwest Alberta Persons with Developmental Disabilities:
6 Tories / 7-member board
Agriculture
- Alberta Grain Commission:
8 Tories / 11-member board
- Agriculture Products Marketing Council:
7 Tories / 11-member board
- Alberta Agriculture Research Institute:
4 Tories / 7-member board
Other
- Seniors Advisory Council:
8 Tories / 10-member board
- Northern Alberta Development Council:
9 Tories / 10-member board
- Worker's Compensation Board:
3 Tories / 4-member board
- Alberta Foundation of the Arts:
6 Tories / 10-member board
- Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission:
6 Tories / 7-member board
- Alberta Economic Development Authority:
29 Tories / 60-member board
- Alberta Order of Excellence Council:
6 Tories / 6-member board
- Social Care Facilities Review Commission:
7 Tories / 11-member board
- Alberta Science and Research Authority:
9 Tories / 19-member board
- Northeast PDD Board:
5 Tories / 7-member board
- Alberta Fatality Review Board:
3 Tories / 3-member board
- Rural Alberta's Development Fund:
6 Tories / 12-member board
For more on who runs Alberta
SEE:
Alberta Business Back PC Candidates
Vencap
Alberta State Capitalism
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Saturday, September 22, 2007
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.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.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.
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,
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 payoutsA 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.
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.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."
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....
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.
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.
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.
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;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.
Gee you don't hear that from the CAPP when it comes to Alberta's Royalty Revue.
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."
"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.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.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."
Read it for yourself.
Royalty Review Panel final report
SEE:
Transparency Alberta Style
Closing The Barn Door
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Sunday, July 29, 2007
Legacy Of The Ralph Revolution
All those gold stars and awards the Fraser Institute gave Ralph Klein for his neo-con revolution in the nineties are revealed to be bronze.
Ten years after his cuts to health care and public sector workers the chickens have come home to roost.
A scandal has erupted in Alberta CEO' Ed Stelmachs backyard. The Hospital Authority and the local hospital in his hometown of Vegreville have not had adequate sterilization procedures in place since 2003. For four years it had been ignored until this spring when scandal broke.
The government has fired its appointed health board, claiming that the Premier and his Ministers did not know of the crisis in his backyard.
The government has brought in an old buddy who promotes the privatization of health care to oversee the board and hospital.
It has talked about hiring risk managers to assess how to avoid this kind of thing in the future.
What it failed to do was hire more cleaning staff, those folks who were either laid off or contracted out during the Ralph Revolution.
A scathing report issued this week found that the hospital and health board practices were a result of the 'culture of fugality', that is as Ralphs appointed buddies they knew that they had to keep costs down, which meant contracting out laundry services and cutting back house keeping services while paying big bucks to a top heavy administration. Now they want to bring in more management to resolve the crisis when what they need is more hospital cleaners.
The Stelmach governments response has been more of the same. Which will not solve the problem.
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Ten years after his cuts to health care and public sector workers the chickens have come home to roost.
A scandal has erupted in Alberta CEO' Ed Stelmachs backyard. The Hospital Authority and the local hospital in his hometown of Vegreville have not had adequate sterilization procedures in place since 2003. For four years it had been ignored until this spring when scandal broke.
The government has fired its appointed health board, claiming that the Premier and his Ministers did not know of the crisis in his backyard.
Premier Ed Stelmach and Health Minister Dave Hancock both suggested yesterday the government couldn't have done more to prevent a four-year outbreak of infectious disease at St. Joseph's Hospital in Vegreville because they weren't aware it was going on.He is of course fibbing.
Marcinkoski is currently suing the hospital for allegedly exposing her father to a fatal infection a few years ago.
"The province, in fact Premier Ed Stelmach himself as our MLA, knew about the ongoing issues here years ago. I called him personally when he was our MLA to alert him to this issue and he never called me back," she said.
"The Conservative government has known about this problem for years and now wants to come in and look like they are everybody's saviour.
The government has brought in an old buddy who promotes the privatization of health care to oversee the board and hospital.
Effective immediately, Jim Saunders, of J.L. Saunders and Associates Inc., and Paddy Meade, deputy health minister, will serve as official administrators for East Central Health, replacing the board.
It has talked about hiring risk managers to assess how to avoid this kind of thing in the future.
The region is also looking to hire more staff in risk management.
What it failed to do was hire more cleaning staff, those folks who were either laid off or contracted out during the Ralph Revolution.
A scathing report issued this week found that the hospital and health board practices were a result of the 'culture of fugality', that is as Ralphs appointed buddies they knew that they had to keep costs down, which meant contracting out laundry services and cutting back house keeping services while paying big bucks to a top heavy administration. Now they want to bring in more management to resolve the crisis when what they need is more hospital cleaners.
In a “culture of frugality” the facility did not even have the proper equipment to sterilize laboratory gear, and ignored requests from the authority because of a turf war caused by fuzzy provincial legislation.
It also says the testing procedure for those potentially infected has been slowed by a lack of provincial support.
The sterilization area of the hospital was actually a converted portion of the laundry room. It wasn’t isolated from other areas. Basic procedures for sterilizing equipment were ignored as well, including using properly sterilized water instead of attempting to sterilize hospital tap water. The authority, meanwhile, did not follow up to ensure its requests were followed.
The Stelmach governments response has been more of the same. Which will not solve the problem.
In an era when hand-sanitizing stations can be found metres apart in places like the Capital Ex fair grounds, it is appalling to learn that the healthcare facilities that people in east-central Alberta count on have ignored or neglected even the most basic hygiene measures because of turf wars, confusion or because administrators were just too cheap.
Despite an outbreak of wildly contagious Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at St. Joseph's that lasted years, neither hospital officials nor the provincially appointed health board took the crucial steps to bring the situation under control.
The public only learned about the problems in St. Joseph's and East Central Health when the region's Medical Officer of Health ordered the hospital closed to new admissions in March due to concern about the facility's central sterilization room and bits of flesh on hospital tools.
One of the key problems the Health Quality Council identified in its investigation is the fact that the province's varying pieces of health legislation have set up a system of rival bosses. That same conflict potentially exists throughout the province.
Despite the chilling report on East Central Health, Hancock rejected the notion this his government bears any responsibility for the problem. "This is not an issue that can be thrown back on the budget process," he said.
Hancock is ignoring the fact that when the Tory government he now represents first introduced its draconian cuts to health-care funding and decentralized the province's medical system to a series of regional boards, there were public demonstrations against the moves. Anyone with concerns was ignored by the then premier and his cabinet or portrayed as a Liberal crank.
The people overseeing the health authorities also were in a bind. If they didn't play ball, they were either turfed from their jobs or the region was simply disbanded. When budgets are everything, how can anyone be confident that a rigid budget allows administrators to spend extra for the best cleaning fluid or to buy the appropriate sterilization equipment when faced with a huge list of competing needs?
Vegreville's problems likely widespread: doctor
'These things happen everywhere'
Frank noted cardboard boxes were found in sterilization rooms in Tofield, Lamont, Two Hills and other health centres, creating concern for the buildup of fungus. Staff at St. Mary's hospital in Camrose wore jewelry while sterilizing. Frank said the cardboard could have been taken out and the jewelry removed in one day to prevent closure of the units.
But other problems were clearly more major, Frank said. Tables in the Lamont hospital's operating room weren't wiped down between patients, the report found. The sterilization room at Viking's hospital had holes in the wall and ceiling that hadn't been fixed in several years. In Provost, nail care supplies from community health clinics weren't being sterilized, only cleaned.
No sterilization records were being kept in Killam, and a January audit revealed that single-use cautery devices were being re-used after wiping the tip, even though they were meant to be disposed of after one use.
Frank, who doesn't work at these other centres, acknowledged such safety gaps may suggest a lack of a safety culture, which the report pointed out.
But he said, "I don't think there has ever been a don't-care attitude (among health care workers)."
He said such problems are likely happening across Alberta, especially since many centres are struggling with short staffing like St. Joseph's.
Self-evaluation of sterilization practices -- done by all Alberta health regions earlier this year after the health minister ordered them to -- isn't enough, he said. Government inspections and document reviews will also be needed.
SEE:Doug Knight, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president, said a "culture of cutbacks" in the provincial government and health regions dating back to the mid-1990s has led to unfilled vacancies in surgical processing and cleaning departments across Alberta.
He has heard cases of Calgary licensed practical nurses getting their scrubs back from the washers with mop strings in the pockets.
"That means they're washing their scrubs with the mops," he told Sun Media.
Knight disapproves of hospitals sending their linens out to private cleaners where the hospital has little control of the cleaning process. He suggests immediately returning privatized cleaning and laundry services to the control of health regions.
Ed Stelmach--in good times and bad - has certainly been the recipient of Ralph Klein's legacy.
In the case of the staphylococcus infection at St. Joseph's General Hospital in Vegreville, the premier clearly got the dirty end of the stick.
Health Quality Council CEO Dr. John Cowell's damning report into the incident revealed that anomalies began showing up in East Central Health authority stats as early as 2003.
By the time Cowell's team finished their investigation, they found serious breaches of sterilization standards throughout the region.
The problem was so extensive that Alberta Health Minister Dave Hancock placed the region under direct government administration and fired the board.But somewhere along the way, a fundamental aspect of the system - proper sanitation - has been allowed to slide.
This was clearly the case in the East Central Health region.
It also puts a spotlight on the role and responsibilities of health boards, which were partially elected at one time.
They have now deteriorated into Buddy Boards that are liberally stocked with friends of the PC Party as a reward for loyal service and dedication to the cause.
As part of his mandate from Stelmach, Hancock is now charged with reviewing the governance of health boards.
But even before it began, he ruled out a return to elected health boards.
Opposition parties say Premier Ed Stelmach must should some of the blame for the hospital sterilization scandal that has rocked Alberta's health care system and forced three-thousand former patients to be tested for HIV and hepatitis.Liberal health critic Laurie Blakeman says it's ironic that the same Tory politicians who helped created this sterilization crisis now want people to believe they're in the best position to fix the problems.
NDP Leader Brian Mason said Stelmach must shoulder some of the blame for the "mess" that is now affecting thousands of Albertans.
"This is a legacy of neglect that has affected the health of Albertans and Premier Stelmach bears significant responsibility," said Mason.
The auditor general pointed out three years ago that the committee that checks Alberta hospitals is unqualified, yet the premier has done nothing to change this, said Mason.
The premier also confirmed Thursday that the government is reviewing a master agreement for Alberta's so-called faith-based hospitals.
The controversial deal more than a decade ago kept boards in place at hospitals with religious ties at a time when other hospital boards were being dismantled as the province created health regions with new boards that would run all health facilities in the region.
The facility is run by volunteers and is known as a faith-based hospital. It works under a separate master agreement with the province. The East Central Health Region, however, also has responsibility under different legislation to run the hospital.
That was the wellspring of the problem, said Dr. John Cowell of the Health Quality Council.
He told a news conference in Calgary there there was acrimony and bureacuratic turf wars between the hospital board and the health region board. The health region didn't feel like it could step in unless asked and the hospital treated orders from the region as requests that could be acted on or ignored.
"There was a problem of two bosses and no bosses," said Cowell.
"At certain levels of both organizations there seemed to be much more focus on turf and not a focus on patient safety."
That problem flowed to people on the front line, he said. Nobody knew whom to report to, problems weren't getting solved, doctors declined to step in, morale dropped and health and safety practices spiralled out of control.
Then Cowell took aim at the board which he said had a "dysfunctional" relationship with the hospital, and did not show a "clear understanding of the seriousness of the MSRA situation and did not take action to improve the situation."
For that and much more, they are gone. But how they got there in the first place, Cowell chose to pin the tail on the political donkey.
"In terms of how these individuals are discovered and chosen and appointed," Cowell winked, "I think that's a question you should place right to the minister."
So I did.
Hancock quickly confessed that since these folks get their jobs from the government "these are political appointees."
They weren't always appointed, of course. For a brief moment in Tory time, a portion of health boards were elected.
That means you can de-elect them if they step out of line, unlike Hancock's Buddy Boards.
Part of Hancock's damage control is to develop a "culture of excellence." Including something he calls a "governance review and accountability framework."
You mean like elected health boards?
That's where Hancock started getting nervous and making Freudian slips like calling health care "haircut."
"No," the health minister blurted. "I don't foresee that."
"I'm elected and my colleagues in the legislature are elected to help set health policy for the province."
If they got their jobs in a vote, those regional health boarders would almost certainly go wild. Just like elected school board trustees do. Except they don't.
"I don't believe there has been pork barrelling of the health authorities," Hancock insisted, even though as the Minister Responsible for Edmonton, Hancock is the Grand Poopah of Pork for the Capital Region.
"In making appointments, we've always had to make sure we appoint good people," he said.
And now he's had to fire "good" people too.
Hancock calls the sideshow "irreparable and untenable" and boots the provincially appointed board. He is also expected to can a couple suits with the health region.He says he will put in provincial standards for infection prevention and control and he says he will make sure health regions know they are the boss. He also doesn't feel the health region board is clueless because they are Tory appointees.
"I don't believe there has been pork barrelling," insists the health minister. Couldn't that be cleared up if the health boards were elected as they were supposed to be?
Tories Health Plan Kills Albertan
Laundry Workers Fight Privatization
Feminizing the Proletariat
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