Alberta is all over the front pages and above the fold stories in the Globe and Mail. The Strategic Counsel poll is showing Premier Stelmach is doing much better in the minds of ordinary Albertans than with the energy industry C-suites in downtown Calgary. This is good news going into an election that will be called in about 2 weeks. I will do s specific post on this poll and
The Report on Business story is a bit more unsettling as it looks like the Alberta Minister of Energy is weakening on a strong stance on royalties with the Alberta oil and gas industry. The Stelmach government has to be careful to do any such review with the industry in public and not behind closed doors.
The Klein government had an all too cosy back room relationship with the energy industry and did not do a very good job of protecting the interests of the resource owners…ordinary Albertans.
Stelmach has recently instituted an all party legislative committee process. That is the proper place for the energy industry attend in public to make it case about the “unintended consequences” they are facing as a result of the royalty review decisions. The fundamental question is should the royalty rates which are rents, be used as a means to subsidize uneconomic high cost drilling and why shouldn’t the higher producing wells pay a higher royalty?
There is a difficult political situation around the trust level of Albertans have over how well their government has managed our natural resources and the growth in Alberta during the Klein years. Any hint of returning to the behind closed doors and back room deals between Alberta Energy and the industry on our resource management will come with a significant political cost to the Stelmach government.
The Report on Business story is a bit more unsettling as it looks like the Alberta Minister of Energy is weakening on a strong stance on royalties with the Alberta oil and gas industry. The Stelmach government has to be careful to do any such review with the industry in public and not behind closed doors.
The Klein government had an all too cosy back room relationship with the energy industry and did not do a very good job of protecting the interests of the resource owners…ordinary Albertans.
Stelmach has recently instituted an all party legislative committee process. That is the proper place for the energy industry attend in public to make it case about the “unintended consequences” they are facing as a result of the royalty review decisions. The fundamental question is should the royalty rates which are rents, be used as a means to subsidize uneconomic high cost drilling and why shouldn’t the higher producing wells pay a higher royalty?
There is a difficult political situation around the trust level of Albertans have over how well their government has managed our natural resources and the growth in Alberta during the Klein years. Any hint of returning to the behind closed doors and back room deals between Alberta Energy and the industry on our resource management will come with a significant political cost to the Stelmach government.
I wouldn't be too quick to say the Energy Minister is weakening. As per G&M article, the "unintended consequences" clause that we have all read about before was elaborated to mean that:
ReplyDelete'... such a consequence "must have a quantifiable negative impact on Albertans generally; resolving the issue would increase revenues to all Albertans." '
In short, it is not enough to say that higher royalty on a well is not ok because it reduces returns to the company (i.e. the "economic vs uneconomic" argument). The company must prove that overall royalty collection and/or tax collection would be higher if the royalties were adjusted from the current plan. The onus is on the company to prove that, which may be difficult to do.
I don't disagree that the process should not be open, but this would appear to be a specific point of discussion, and not a new series of hearings. I would expect that if an adjustment was made, the change and the rationale would have to be publicly presented.
I agree with everything you say Anon @1:37 - but key question is who can the OWNERS trust to represent them?
ReplyDeleteIt has to be their government and it is not just about economic growth anymore..the environment and social costs are on the minds of Albertans now too.
Is that integrated approach on the minds of the policy makers as well? If Albertans perceive that it is not, they are secure and volatile...changes could happen in the next election.
I am confident in the PC government's ability to refocus to a more integratated approach on all of this and to contineu to be the preferred choice for the electorate...but it will not happen by accident.
Didn't Hancock have a say (more specifically a cabinet seat at the table) during those Klein years;)
ReplyDeleteWhat are those energy industry C-suites in downtown Calgary going to do - vote Liberal?!? Granted they may sit on their hands and not vote at all like in the last election - however, the PCs handily won.
Alberta is and always been anti-Liberal. The last time there was a Liberal premier was .... in 1905.
And who knows - Stelmach is not a proven campaigner. He could make a mistake. A fellow new leader, Dion, has proven that with his suggestion of invaking Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 6:37 you bet! Hancock did have a seat at the Klein Cabinet table and my bet is he lost a lot of votes on progressive initiatives given the nature of the majority there.
ReplyDeleteI don't know for sure because of Cabinet secrecy but I know Hancock tried to institute some intelligent change - like a 20 Year Strategy that Hancock worked out and actually got passed - and it was immediately shelved by the then Premier.
Stelmach is a strong campaigner...he proved that in the PC Leadership. I have also taken a day in the past 2 elections to go door knocking in Vegreville with Ed...I can tell you - first hand - he is a strong campaigner.
ReplyDeleteDion never said anything about invading Pakistan - that is more typical Con spin and defensive misdirection.
Come on people, learn a little of your own history. The last time there was a Liberal premier was in 1921, at which time the Liberals were defeated by the UFA. I would vote UFA if I could.
ReplyDelete(Plug:) Join the Historical Society of Alberta, or at least buy the journal Alberta History. Good stuff in it.
Ken, I don't know how you can say that Stelmach leading strongly in the recent poll is good news for the upcoming election. Given his rather flacid performance to date, and his lack of ability to articulate any vision for the provinces future, surely the most healthy thing for Alberta would be a vibrant debate in which all parties (at least the more credible ones) are given consideration by the public. A poll showing 2- 4 parties in contention would really be good news for an upcoming election.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are not letting your partisan leanings cloud your judgement on this, as you usually are above that.
Here is one of those darkening clouds. In politics, we call this having a tin ear, and I think we all know which office needs to have their ears cleaned out.
ReplyDeletePremier's official resigns
Jason Markusoff
Edmonton Journal
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
EDMONTON - A veteran premier's office official dubbed by some the "legislature's brain" resigned abruptly this week.
David Gillies had the pivotal task of organizing and scheduling the legislative agenda for the Stelmach Tories, as executive assistant to the government house leader. The Journal has learned that he resigned over serious disagreement over delivery of a special program that taught Grade 6 Calgary students about the legislature.
Gillies had run the popular school at that city's McDougall Centre since it began as a pilot project in September. It has been cancelled for this week, when 347 students were to participate.
Days before Gillies' left the premier's office, the government had shifted responsibility for that program from Alberta Education to the legislative assembly office, where it was meant to be run more professionally and less ad-hoc, premier's spokesman David Heyman said today.
He would not discuss issues surrounding Gillies' departure, saying he can't discuss human-resources issues. Gillies had worked for the government and legislative assembly more than 20 years, and was one of the most senior political staff to have stayed during the transition from former premier Ralph Klein to Premier Ed Stelmach.
He might also be the one of the few Tory political appointees who drew consistent praise from the Liberals and NDP. He was their chief contact for all legislature scheduling of debates and motions, and juggled their requests for assembly time along with ones from the government side.
"We always found him fair and open and very forthcoming," said NDP House Leader Ray Martin. "He was employed by the premier's office to do a certain thing, but he really believed in the (non-partisan legislative assembly) and what it could accomplish," said Laurie Blakeman, the Liberals' house leader.
"He's going to be really hard to replace, and it's a big loss for the Tories - a lot of instutitional memory there." Gillies, reached today at his Edmonton home, declined comment. Blakeman said she knew the Calgary legislature school was important to Gillies.
The government will restart the program once they find someone to replace him, Heyman said.
So apparently all of the media is totally wrong. Take a look at Stephan Taylor's blog and you will clearly see that Dion stated that Canada should invake Pakistan (using Nato forces).
ReplyDeleteThis blunder will surely come up in an election campaign.
More importantly, Dion will probably ignore the well-written and well-researched Manley report.
Anon @ 10:16 - the self justification you poor Cons have to go through to keep to the Emperor's message is quite remarkable.
ReplyDeleteI visited Stephen Taylor's site and saw the Duffy clip and feel quite fine tht the Cons are conning Canadians. Great site BTW and I will visit it often.
As for the media they are reporting what you say Dion said...and leaving it up to Canadians to measure the authenticity of your motivations against the intentionality of Dion's concerns and comments.
Canadians are not as gullible or stupid as you think they are.
As for the media all being wrong. It happens. Think WMD and how the US MSM bought the Bush bull...yes they can be all wrong at times.
The simple black and white - for us or agin' us world the Cons live in is very distant fron the nuanced reality of geo-politics.
I understand why you need to demonize Dion because otherwise your base would see how hapless Harper really is.
Go ahead and play the word parsing game but your credibility is at risk and Canadians are now questioning your capacity to govern as a result.
Time to trot out some more moribund "attack" ads to abuse the electoral process and to shift attention away from your gaffs and goofiness.
See you on the hustings.
I see you did not comment on the departure of David Gillies. A real loss for the Alberta government.
ReplyDeleteKen:
ReplyDeleteDid you see the results of the Leger poll in the Edmonton Journal today? What are your thoughts?
It will be interesting to see what comes out the climate change announcement today? If the climate change policy is more of the same, I think these guys could be in some difficulty. Climate change has become the third rail of Alberta politics, and is a particularly salient issue in Calgary.
Luckily, the PCs are running against Kevin Taft. If they were running against someone like Decore, the Liberals would clean
their clocks.
Politics is a bloodsport. If Dion can't handle it, he should just quit (he will likley be kicked out once he loses the election in any event). He should stop calling Harper a 'bully' - it makes him look like a weak whiner.
ReplyDeleteHis comments forced a response from the Pakistan High Commission - why should Canadians not be reminded of that international incident during an election? Surely Canadians have a right to know the real Liberal foreign policy.
My guess is that the liberals sit on their hands on the next budget - what a joke.
Anon 9:24, I disagree with this. Albertans will never vote in a party with the name "liberal" in it. They equate it to the National Energy Program in the past - but now with Dion talking about carbon taxes and punishing industry, it equates to National Energy Program part II (although we can all wish and hope that Dion and the liberals do not destroy our economy).
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:49 am. I hope you are not a member of the PC Campaign Team.
ReplyDeleteAlbertans don't have to vote for the Liberals for the government to fall into a precarious state. Albertans just have to sit it out and not vote PC.
There are significantly more ridings in play than since 1993. Look at what happened in the 2004 election when Tories sat on their hands or what happened in Calgary Elbow in the 2007 by-election. You have to give a compelling reason for these people to vote PC. I don't think Stelmach and crew have done so. Do you?
As far as climate change is concerned, be very careful about its impact on the electorate. It is hot-button issue. A majority of Albertans disapprove of the govenment handling of climate change. There is the potential for significant blow back on the PCs if they simply demonize the Liberals on this issue.