Comments on blog: Alberta Politics

Comment by New Jordans 2010

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:59:24 +0200

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Comment by Blaine Maller

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:56:57 +0200

Have you ever tried to grab a hold of water. It just runs off, you can't get a grip on it. That is Big Oil and Albertans have to educate themselves and need to learn a little bit about history.

The press and many Albertans very often refer to incentives as cash handouts to Big Oil and that seems, in the eyes of the public and press, to be all oil and gas companies. That is simply not the case, never has been. Albertans need to understand that this province would not be any where near as wealthy as it is right now if it were not for outside investment from these multi-nationals primarily from the US. When Alberta oilmen were looking for capital to develop promising initial discoveries in Leduc and elsewhere, it was the US companies that brought their money, men and expertise up here and they employed thousands, spent gobs of money and educated and developed an industry that continues to employ thousands to this day. The Canadian banks wouldn't help and neither would Toronto and Bay Street. To the oilman and women of the years past there was no border and we travelled freely from one office to another, not really one counrtry to another. Calgary/Edmonton to Houston and back. That has changed and it is now a one way ticket to Houston for many.

While it is true the majors have essentially left the conventional oil and gas business to mid-size and junior oil and gas, the majors continue to have the largest influence on activity, employment and capital investment in Alberta. Primarily in the oilsands, insitu projects and large unconventional oil and gas plays not to mention the shear size of their production base and all the facilities they operate around the province. CNRL has some 70% of their production base in Alberta and I believe they are the largest heavy oil producer and yet they spend now only 30% of their budget here and that is on maintenance and just keeping things running. Things are much better on the oil side than gas. CNRL, ENCANA, Imperial Oil, Shell, etc all put a lot of effort in behind the scenes and out of the public eye, trying to educate the premier and energy minister on how the industry worked and they warned the premier of the consequences of much higher royalties, breaking contracts, the loss of jobs that would ultimately come initially to the oil and gas service sector, oil companies and then on to all the spinoff industries in the supply and service side, hotel and restaurants, small businesses, and eventually the effect the loss of royalty revenues would have on the public sector.

So to get back to your point. The majors are international and have many assets and projects in many countries and they can move people and capital around when one jurisdiction get's nationalized or taxes become punitive, government stability is questionable, there is no predictability of the fiscal regime going forward, etc. They are running out of friendly places to go. Withe the NRF and thismpremier, the junior and mid-size companies are having to do the same thing. They have to look to BC and Saskatchewan to grow and profit.

Many Albertans have US roots and there are close to 100,000 Americans in Calgary alone. And that is because of the oil industry and the US investment in Canada. We do not have the local capital required to build the plants and upgraders envisioned, the $ 100 Billion that was pulled off the table in the last year. That was coming from outside the province and it is gone and it won't be coming back in a big way anytime soon. The oil and gas industry and service sector are not impressed with the premier and energy minister. Most projects will remain on hold until we have a premier and party in power that has their act together and understands the relationships we have developed and especially this provinces economy. There is a lot of repairing to be done.

My money and my committment are on Danielle Smith and the Wildrose Alliance Party.

Comment by Leigh Patrick Sullivan

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:12:07 +0200

Even the politically novice can see that the entire surge the Wildrose Alliance is currently experiencing would be lost with a Mark Dyrholm/Craig Chandler victory. A Danielle Smith victory will solidify the upswing in popularity.

Dyrholm would make it us nothing more than a blip on the historical radar. Smith would solidify our standing and our credibility, and possibly even lead the party into Official Opposition standing.

Comment by David Kirschman

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:03:18 +0200

Well put Mr Maller.
The thing that amazes me in regards to the PC short sightedness on the economy is the fact Donald Trump had been in the news for 2 years saying that sub prime lending policies would be the collapse of the US housing markets and no one in our present government with all their top advisers and political analyts could figure out what the repercussions would be to our economy. Fire them people now or admitt you are all wearing blinders and were running on hope and approaching things with the lets see what happens method. Please my hope is when you have lost the next election in 2013 and are all out kicking turds that you never take a position as a safety officer. Proactive is not in your mind sets. As was the case with raising the royalties on the biggest industry here in Alberta. Then waiting to see what would big business do. Guess what Eddy and your crew of court jesters it didn't work out so well and you have only accomplished throwing had working tax payers out of good paying jobs. Idiots

Comment by J Caouette

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:51:59 +0200

This article is well written, and well intended, but I think it's lacking an important perspective. The author has greatly underestimated the strength of social conservatism in Alberta, although s/he is correct that it is not the majority Albertan worldview. The WA, especially, has become a haven for social conservatism ever since Stelmach laid the final stroke by refusing the nomination of Calgary PC David Chandler of Concerned Christians Canada.

One of Danielle's greatest strengths, I believe, is her ability to broker fiscal conservatism and social conservatism without compromising too much of her appeal to each faction. Her campaign, in fact, is headed by socially conservative and pro-life advocates Link and Joanne Byfield. Smith herself is pro-choice, but is against leftist silencing of the socially conservative agenda, and is against the institutionalization of socially left-wing policy in government. She wants to (re)include social conservativism in the political discourse.

Where Dyrholm would scare away some social liberals, Smith is somehow irresistible. She is the feminist ideal of a successful business woman, and (in the event that she wins) she will be the only female candidate for Premier. She is a pro-choicer championing the rights of pro-lifers. She has a Deborah Grey knack for making everyone else in the room look like dunces without even insulting them. Leftys eat your hearts out, Danielle Smith is running for the "scariest" right wing party in the most right wing province in Canada.

Comment by Phip Tekman

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:54:40 +0200

I agree. Danielle Smith is the only leader capable of taking out the PCs as head of a new party. Her opponent in the WRA race (I forget his name) has made a point of trying to prove how "conservative" he is by claiming to be the most religious. Huh? What about separation of church and state? I don't care if the guy is a big family man or goes to church -- I want smart, attractive, affable, honest, and innovative people who have a live and let live attitude. That is why I bought my first political party membership ever in order to be able to vote for Danielle Smith. But I hope everybody who bought a membership actually votes!

Comment by Brian Dell

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:43:49 +0200

Good work at getting the message out, Blaine!

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Comment by Doug

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:03:08 +0200

It will be interesting to see how Calgary Glenmore plays out. If Dianne CU loses it will be a definite message to Stelmach....if she wins comfortably, that too will be a message to Ed! The message will be... stay the course!
Even if the Wildrose draws off enough votes to let the Liberal come up the middle that will be a positive thing? I hope Paul can win but find it unlikely.
The real test of the Wildrose alliance will come when they select a new leader? This is just my opinion but I believe if they don't elect Danielle Smith they are headed nowhere. The other guys might be fine fellows but their socially conservative views will not get them elected in Calgary or Edmonton or in fact any of the smaller urban ridings? Sorry it just won't happen.

Comment by John Rimmer

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:57:45 +0200

Here is an email I sent to my current PC MLA who was a cabinet minister in Ralph Klein reign. This was my first request, inwhich he wouldnt reply. I have sent him another email subsequent to this one. Again silence from my MLA. I guess all he wants is his nice pension. Shame, shame, shame.

Mr. Lund,

Thank you for taking the time to discuss the current situation in our province. I am disappointed as you know with our Premier and his group of MLA’s who obviously don’t mind making the entire population suffer because of their ignorance and arrogance. I think that you and many other of the ‘old guard’ who have been moved into the ‘Mushroom’ patch should unite and cross the floor as ‘Independents’. In fact, I am asking you, as my representative, to do that very thing. It is obvious that you have been cast off for a new group of Ministers. I believe that this would be truly the best way to put pressure on the current majority. I believe you can serve your constituents far better in this manner. Please consider my request. Thank you.

Comment by Alberta Altruist

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:39:17 +0200

Blaine,
It would not matter what the PC government did with the royalties at this point. It is clear industry and the investment community does not trust this government, and with the constant messing around with the royalties can't count on them for stability. The only way to make a change for our economy is at the polls, bringing in a fresh party to regain confidence in Alberta. All the associations such as PSAC, CAODC, CAPP, and so on do not help the average Albertan to understand. When they tell the media they are happy with the concessions being made, it gets interpreted as the industry overall is happy, no matter how far from the truth this may be.

Comment by doug malsbury

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:54:08 +0200

And I totally agree with you sir. Over several years I have dealt with many oil and gas companies and have always considered them my partners in extracting a natural resource we all benifit from. I know they are in a very tough situation right now and I understand how devastating the NRF has been.
I also totally agree with your beliefs in a smaller government so all Albertans can share the good life.
I have met and talked to Paul Hinman and I find him a very common sense guy and a man of principle. Hopefully we can get this party up and running to provide a viable alternative to the Stelmach government.

Comment by Laara Zimerman

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:57:05 +0200

Couldn't agree more. There is a need to show Albertan's that there is another alternative to voting PC, Liberal or NDP.

Comment by Blaine+Maller

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:20:49 +0200

Thank you for correcting me on the Cattle ID/Tag issue. I sincerely appreciate you correcting me and anybody that comments on my blog and corrects me when I am off base or I jumped to the wrong conclusions. I am not right about everything but I am right about the New Royalty Framework and the devastating effect it is having in Alberta. I am not afraid to tell people about it and I feel that I owe it to Albertans to educate them on the entire issue, as I see it.

I am all about common sense and that comes from life experiences in family and business. If you have not had these life experiences, you will not have a lot of comon sense and we need to be practical here. We are in a lot of trouble and Ed led us down this path. We can weather the economic storm but not at the same time the government comes looking for more and more money.

I did my homework on the New Royalty Framework(NRF) and came to my own conclusions based on how I know the oil and gas industry works. I am a very frustrated oil and gas engineer and while we can easily pack up and move our families and capital to other Provinces and jurisdictions where the grass is greener, I am an Albertan and I am not going anywhere.

I own a house here in Calgary, a cabin at the lake, my family is here and we are all Albertans first and foremost. After 30 years of hard work I hope I have earned enough to have a nice truck and nice house and few toys. Not over the top, just comfortable. I earned it and paid for it with my after tax dollars.

I have so many neices and nephews and cousins I can't keep track and their families are growing and I want them to stay here in Alberta. Get educated here, work here, raise a family here and have the opportunity to succeed here. In life, in business and to generally live a descent life free of government intervention that threatens our businesses and livlihoods and the well being of our families. The governemt is supposed to be a facilitator. They are supposed to encourage business and attract people and businesses to the Province and they do that by making it a business freindly place with low taxes and as little governmnet intrusion as possible. They sure are not supposeed to be competing with private business. They now are an owner of 20% of Precision Drilling.

I'll bet I have at least these principles in common with every Albertan. So I am willing to open my mind on all issues, compromise and stand to be corrected and I hope others see the necessity of doing the same. WE can be fiscally conservative and very giving and compassionate on the social services side. WE have the potential to be everything we want Alberta to be and we need to remove those people that stand in our way. That is this PC government and Ed Stelmach. I have no doubt he is a nice man and a family guy, but he is the wrong man for the job at the wrong time, period.

I do not wish to make personal attacks against the Premier or any MLA and I will try to uphold that. But when it comes to policy, vision and directions and the future of this Province, we have to have the best and brightest, the most qualified people involved and running the show and we, as Albertans, deserve a lot better than what we have here.

Paul Hinman is a cattleman as well and he is a cow/calf producer. He is very knowledgable about the cattle industry and agriculture in general. We need people like you and I to come together and learn more about each others livlihoods and businesses and what it takes to make a go of it here in the Province. Right now we have north vs south, Edmonton vs Calgary, rural vs urban, oil and gas vs the rest and it is very, very counter productive to all of our best interests. We need to work together.

We have many more things in common as Albertans than we have differences but the government is very skilled at planting seeds of distrust in peoples minds and they use it to drive a wedge between different people in differnet sectors of the economy. They play us off against one another to prevent us from coming together and settling our differences through discussions and understanding. We can't have our way all the time, compromise is OK as long as it doesn't kill one business to prop up another.

My beef is the New Royalty Framework and the devastating effects it is having on the economy. The government through a very skilled and aggressive hidden agenda has manipulated the media and labled us all BIG OIL. We are all filthy rich and swimming in money and oil. Nothing is further from the truth.

Small oil and Gas companies and oil and gas service companies are being wiped out. The major oil and gas companies are much smarter than the Premier and Energy Minister. They are very diversified and have hedged their bets. They knew their rights and they know how to play the political game as well or better than the PC's. The PC's pitted BIG OIL ( that's all of us in the media's mind) against the public and used the OUR FAIR SHARE BS to get elected.

Stelmach shifted the PC's to the left to counter a threat from the Liberals. The liberals, like dummies, shifted left of that and lost a fantastic opportunity to put a number of MLA's in the legislature. But that should tell you where they really are. They are tax and spend liberals. The ND's are no option at all.

When the government wanted to tear up contracts with Suncor and Syncrude, they started by giving them 90 days to see it their way and the government found out that they had a binding contract, enforceable in the courts and they end up slithering out of the meetings with no better deal for Albertans than they already had. Albertans don't know this. A contract is a contract and the lawyers from the majors made sure the government knew this. I am sure the Premier found out the potential damage a public legal battle would have done to the Premier's reputation and so they backed off and most Albertans don't know that.

It is the fact the the government will even think about ripping up or wanting to rip up legally binding contracts with Syncrude and Suncor that scares off the outside private investors and forces companies to move their money elsewhere. We need stability; a long term stable fiscal regime for royalties and everyone must benefit for it to work properly.

In the oil and gas buisiness, to do nothing is to grow stagnant and see your assets depreciate rather quickly so the name of the game is drill, drill, drill to be able to grow your cash flow and become a self sustaining company. If the company doesn't grow it eventually dies. Alberta is in a death spiral because our conventional oil and gas production is dropping and we are not replacing the production by drilling and finding new oil and gas here in Alberta.

Please refer this blog to others and let's get the issues out front. I want to understand your legitimate concerns and your industry and I ask for the same respect in turn. That's it. It is pretty easy to agree to listen and respect each other and we don't need a government to say if we had more money from BIG OIL we could pass that on in incentives and subsidies to an industry that needs help. I can gaurantee you that in the cities, people don't know about this cattlemans issue but if you wish to enlighten us all, I will pass it on to people with the same message.

If we got rid of the governmet middle men telling us what each other is saying, we could just talk to each other and I believe sort it all out. Greed is a bad thing and greedy people need to be weeded out of the process. The current group of PC MLA's are only looking out for thier own interests, not ours. I want to deal with people who are about family, business, education and that love Alberta and respect the environment and a I think that would cover most Albertans.

Comment by Doug Malsbury

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:11:51 +0200

Dear Mr. Mallar
Sorry I forgot to add this in my last comment.
You do not do your party(my party too)any good by bashing the agriculture industry. Do you think we are all PCs? The idea that Stelmach can buy me with a paltry payment for doing his work is ridiculous. I get one hell of a lot more money every year from surface leases and freehold royalties than the joke payment for traceback/age verification.
It may surprize you that farmers get hurt by this clown cutting back oil field activity through the NRF too? I am a director in my local surface rights group and it also might surprize you we don't see the oil and gas companies as the enemy...the government is the problem!
I hope the Wildrose Alliance can get their act together, because without a real conservative alternative to these imposters in Edmonton we are all going to be beat.

Comment by Doug Malsbury

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:50:07 +0200

I am a cow/calf producer and while I generally agree with your blog I think you are somewhat misinformed on the cattle deal. First of all it is mandatory to be in compliance. If you didn't age verify and premise ID you could not sell cattle in Alberta. The pay out was $300 million, not $500 million...and on top of that the government stiffed us for 1/3 of that payment. Because it has been mandatory to have a RFID tag in every animal since 2002 at a cost of $3/tag we were only getting back the cost of the previous cost of meeting the government requirement for tracibility...never mind future costs that go on forever! Food safety is the governments responsibility and they are paid very well to provide it...but they have down loaded that expense through the traceback/age verification as well as actual meat inspection onto the beef producer.
You may not realize it but we are about to see the greatest reduction in the Alberta cow herd we've ever seen this year, following a massive sell off last year! I suspect most Albertans will be eating beef from Brazil within a year! The beef business is unsustainable in Alberta.

Comment by Blaine+Maller

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:34:12 +0200