Ontario’s Falling Productivity Becomes Alberta’s Burden

31 Replies to “Ontario’s Falling Productivity Becomes Alberta’s Burden”

1. It’s the leftie mindset. Just like with health care. If I can’t have the best healthcare then I want everyone else to suffer like me.
   If I can’t have the best economy then I want everyone else to be economically held back like me.

2. Personally I think they should tax ONT.s poor economic performance. Say a tax on productivety the slower it grows the higher the tax. Any indication of poor economic performance and its localized reason should be taxed.

3. ‘Oil Prices Are High Because’ …
   Because of Albertans(and Saskers and Newfies)?? NO
   The world is out of oil ?? NO
   Petro Can is screwing us ?? NO
   The United Nations failed to find more ?? Partly
   The Eco-Fanatics have made it difficlt for new discovers to be brought on stream —- if they allow drilling at all. We are becoming more vulnerable to the Arabs by the minute.
   Exactly what the hippies wanted — chaos. Everybody can then go to the beach and smoke pot and raise hell. Utopia a la PET.

4. Things are more restrained around here (east central AB) at the moment than they were last year. That might have something to do with the oilpatch shutting down most of the exploration and drilling activity in my area. There’s a small amount going on, but nothing like back in 2006 where you couldn’t throw a rock without bouncing it off a couple of drill rigs.
   This slowdown has led to a lot of guys who are leveraged to the max on cheap credit suddenly having trouble servicing their debts. I’m looking forward to buying a home cheap from one of these schlampigs in the next year or two. 🙂

5. Regarding the Globe and Mail article…
   I just love the second-to-last paragraph:
   The better solution is sensible economic policy in Alberta. This Wild West of exploitation needs to be inhibited by a government policy of moderate restraint, such as a moratorium on new leases for exploration; the discouragement of any further oil-sands projects at least until the infrastructure to house and feed workers has caught up; the investment of excess government revenue outside of Alberta and even outside of Canada; a fair increase in royalties in the oil sands, at least to international norms; and much more careful assessment of the environmental costs of projects against their economic benefits. One way or another, the Alberta economy will have to cool off. It can happen either through interest rates or through good provincial government policy, but Albertans should be aware that it will happen.
   Have you ever seen such a nicely compacted and complete example of left-wing double-talk? All of the buzz words are there:
   “sensible economic policy” – left-wing policies are never sensible…but they love to use that word. Kind of like the “fair and balanced” reporting at the CBC.
   “Wild West of exploitation” – Translation: those dumb-ass Albertans who must be doing better than us because of luck and not how they manage their resources. Because, hey, we’re the intellectuals.
   “government policy of moderate restraint” – Nothing to explain there.
   “discouragement” = punishment for success.
   “investment of excess government revenue” – One of my favorites. Lefties love to call it an “investment” when you throw around money and make no attempt to evaluate whether or not there was a return. In other words, their idea of “investment” is the exact opposite of what it is to everyone else. But the concept of “excess government revenue” is a laugher too. Have you ever heard a government complain that it’s got too much income? Only when it is one government envying another.
   “fair increase in royalties” – In this case, “fair” means confiscatory and with no consultation nor regard for the negative effect it will have on the industy and the people.
   “careful assessment of the environmental costs” – means we plan to give a lot of tree-hugger types “jobs” in which they have to do next to nothing and the stated “results” of that assessment will have no meaning or impact.
   “One way or another, the Alberta economy will have to cool off….but Albertans should be aware that it will happen.” – a warning that the lefties can’t be stopped. From Trudeau to Stalin…one way or another the acheivers will be made to pay.
   This is the greatest single paragraph I have ever come across for illustrating the way these minds work. I’m going to save it and use it as an example to others.

6. I read that article this morning; i guess as an Ontario resident i should have agreed, but mostly it seemed as if the author wanted to rant about the oil and gas industry, and alberta in general for being a capitalist, conservative province.
   His language got hysterical near the end of the peice, kind of revealed his agenda. The caledon institute is suspicious of job growth, unless it comes from an expanded civil service.
   All provinces benefit from Alberta’s prosperity, i wonder what the tax burden would be here if Ontario was the only “have” province?
   I say all this in the vain hope it might ease the “damned easterners” onslaught which i fear will be fierce and creative. What the hell, you’ve earned it.

7. Funny I recall a federal government implementing high interest rate policies to cool down an over inflated economy in …. well basically Toronto!
   Took the rest of country down in order to stabilize housing prices in the GTA!
   Round about 1990 and again in 1993!!
   So basically the attitude is that if Toronto prospers then we all must suffer yet if Toronto suffers then we all must suffer!!
   I think they should look to themselves for the causes of their discomfort.

8. Notice the moralism of the rhetoric.
   It’s filled with moral judgments that define Alberta’s economy as an’uncontrolled exploitation’ – leading to workers who are trapped in a ‘shortage of housing, roads, sewers, hospitals, schools’. Ahh, the evils of capitalism. His suggestion is neat; he says that BEFORE you set up your industries, you should have the Worker’s Infrastructure of homes, sewers, roads, schools etc – all in place.
   But, dearie, that’s not how it works. Who and what pays for all these empty homes, unused roads, empty schools and hospitals if they must all be in place BEFORE the industrial development?
   More moralizing – including statements of the ‘fevered search to exploit hydrocarbon resources’. Ahhh – here comes the ‘back to pure nature’ environmentalism with its image of quiet forests, calm lakes and silence – rather than fevered, wild, uncontrolled Capitalists.
   So, it’s ‘the Wild West exploitation’ of the environment and against this cowboy image (Bush??) we must first consider the ‘environmental costs’ of Alberta’s economy.
   What’s needed – apart from socialist Big Government against Evil Capitalism? Stop Alberta! Stop its economy!

9. Jeeze I guess I shouldn’t have ordered $35 grand worth of survey equipment from the distributer in T-O-R-O-N-T-O.
   I’ll think twice next time.

10. “a moritorium on new leases for exploration”
    what the feds telling us what to do with our property.
    FREE THE WEST. the west wants out.
    solve Canadas ” grin ‘ouse gas problem” in one swoop , let Alberta go. (transfer payments not included)

11. Eastern Paul: AMEN.
    Perhaps we should make the Prairies an Auot Pact Free Zone. Only Hyundais and Toyotas, thank you very much. We’ll levy a special tax on anything made by Buzz’s boys and girls because, well, eastern Ontario needs to slow down on their wild exploitation of the auto industry. Good for the goose?)
    Did you know that here in Alberta if you order a pre-engineered steel building from some eastern (Ontario) companies, they will charge you a lot more than someone from Ontario? This is over and above shipping costs. I’ve been told we can pay as much as 30% more for the same building. I guess there IS an exchange rate on the “Alberta dollar” after all. I also know of someone who drove to Thunder Bay from Edmonton because his new Chevy Trailblazer was $8500.00 cheaper than at the local dealers. Once again, this isn’t just shiiping costs, it’s gouging compliments of that swriling socialist cellpool of eastern Can-uh-duh.
    I’m starting to think some of these latte socialsts should freeze in the dark this winter. How about $5.00 per litre gasoline in downtown Tranna for starters? If they have the nerve to claim moral/intellectual superiority over us knuckle dragger, lets see them walk the talk and curb thier own excesses, perceived or genuine.

12. Whenever I deal with a US or European company that directs me to their “DIstributor” and that distributor is located in Ontario or Quebec I first ask them if they have a western Canada distributor.
    If I have NO choice I’ll order out of those provinces ….. but I’ll make a point before I do….

13. ot harper giving money to palistinians

14. http://www.caledoninst.org/
    “Canada’s Voice for Progressive, Practicable Social Policy Welcomes You”
    Needless to say, I didn’t need to read the “Report on Business” today.

15. I am amused at the number of Albertains that posted comments in the G & M. Who would have thunk there were that many edumakated peeples in the wild west that could reeds. /sarcasm turned up full\
    BTW, Just what does a “senior scholar at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy” do to earn his wages exactly? Has he pumped one barrel of oil out of the ground? Has he produced a single widget? Has he even flipped a burger? Just what is the contribution to the economy of a “senior scholar at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy”? Just curious.

16. The article was typical left-wing wackado, self congratulatory twaddle. But, that is because left-wackados are SOO morally superior, especially to the Wild West peasants in Alberta. WHADYA expect from Canada’s newspaper…

17. “…Alberta has permitted uncontrolled exploitation of its oil and gas resources…”
    “We have seen this horror movie before…”
    “…the super-stimulation of high oil prices and the fevered search to exploit every possible hydrocarbon resource…”
    “…The question for the rest of us is how much we are going to have to pay if Alberta continues in its unrestrained ways…”
    I thought this essay was written by a high-school student flexing his or her hyperbole muscles. Then I came to the unbelievable punchline:
    written by… Michael Mendelson, a senior scholar at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy.
    No doubt the CBC will be falling all over itself to get Mr. Mendelson to appear as a guest expert.

18. .
    “Michael Mendelson is senior scholar at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy.”
    When you see a line like this at the top or bottom an article, get your barf bag and hide you wallet.
    .

19. Mendelson is right: Albertans are incapable of self-government. They need wise people like him to administer their affairs.
    Perhaps a Torontonian could be appointed as, say, “Viceroy”. Then a group of senior civil servants from Ontario could be shipped out (with hardship pay, of course)to administer the different regions of that benighted province. Call them something such as “District Commissioners”. Of course, there’d need to be a special territorial police force officered by trusted Toronto police sergeants to keep order and enforce the rules. Perhaps some few young Albertans could be taken each year to Toronto to be trained at Upper Canada College (love that name! “Upper”!)and eventually, when they have absorbed the proper attitudes, shipped back to be mid-level functionaries. After a few decades, and when a suitable number of Albertans had come to identify with the proper Toronto attitudes, a limited form of self-government could be restored to the province.
    Poor Mendelson: when you’re on a shining hill, bathed in the worship of the eastern media, surrounded by people who know—just know—they are superior beings, it’s simply impossible to think that you may be wrong. And if the Globe and Mail prints your musings—why, they must be true, indeed, better than true!

20. Sean at 2:15 said,..
    **Things are more restrained around here (east central AB) at the moment than they were last year.**
    That would be logical. Opec recently expressed some misgivings about oil prices. That would be a fist for them. They have always been 100% smug up until just recently.
    Do you suppose the booming influx of bio-fuels, [ Brazil 80%], is taking some of the lustre off petroleum?
    The recent craze for Prius and a whole cross section of hybrids would never make Opec uneasy, would it?
    Compressed air vehicles, [ Paris taxis ], and other models by Tata motors India selling for about $3,000 would not likely give Opec pause, do you suppose?
    The switch to bio-fuels is pronounced with municipal works yards across the US and Canada. Guess they want to get things fixed during a gas / diesel shortage.
    Expanding the relatively inefficient oilsands seems unwise at this time.
    Alberta may just be trying to limit a hard fall if oil prices weaken too much. = TG

21. I am from Ontario but the article is completely false. The cause of long-term inflation is an increase in money supply, which governments around the world are doing in droves.
    Country YOY increase
    Russian Fed. M2 50.94
    India M3 19.70
    China M2 16.74
    Australia M3 14.05
    United Kingdom M4 13.84
    Mexico M4 12.21
    Brazil M2 11.92
    Denmark M3 10.62
    Korea M3 10.07
    Canada M3 8.08
    Euro zone 10.9
    United States M3 13.7
    Germany M3 6.16
    More money chasing the same number of goods causes prices to increase. This explains why prices have continually risen for the past 100 years even through recessions.
    An economic boom such as Alberta is experiencing would only causes short-term increases in price were it not for the money supply increase effect.

22. Try living outside of trawna, yet in the same province with these idiots. Provincially, the have introduced laws that literally freeze land development outside of moonbat city. It is more important to save the lives of some friggin bug or newt or whatever, than to allow us out here in the hinterland to thrive. We are in the process of trying to build a fourth apartment building on our complex, and $60,000 later(all new since chimpy mcidiot came into power), and we are about to sell it to a trawna firm for condos(screw the seniors, like the one’s who can afford to live in our other three buildings). All I can say is this Alberta. RUN, RUN, RUN ALBERTA. GET OUT OF CANADA BEFORE THE LATTE/MOONBAT COMMIES SCREW U OVER AS WELL(well, more than the idiots already have)

23. Went to check out the prices of bug killers at crappy tire in British Columbia,…$200 cheaper than in Alberta….no shipping necessary, not even a propane tank included. It is bad enough Albertans pay for health care, eye exams, and rent our kids school books, but I thought inflation was across the board, I mean border….that other Canadian one.

24. Ontario’s economic performance has been hurt by the soaring dollar and little else. Nothing to do with ‘left wingers’ and ‘commies’. In real terms manufactured products from here have gone up by 50% in the last 5 years, so buyers go somewhere else. We’ve lost 250,000+ jobs in the factory sector. Oddly unemployment remains low, but that hides the fact that tons of folks have lost jobs that paid 20-30$ per hour to find new jobs at 12-14$ per hour. My daughter’s one of them.

25. GreenNeck
    Sry to here about your daughter loosing her well-paying job. I lived in Ontario until I couldn’t stand what those crypto-commies(aka McNumbnuts and crew)have done to the province. Government policy may not be the sole cause of Ontario’s failure, but it sure as hell has acted like a giant vaccum on the average Ontarians wallet(health tax, etc).

26. Maybe he should have told McGuinty to lay off building all the new electrical generation plants fueled by natural gas (3000MW so far)?
    I have a feeling people that use NG should be more concerned about supply and demand when it comes to their electricity bill and their gas bill in the future. I guess that won’t matter anyways when they finally realize their getting it from both ends(yet again) it will still be Alberta’s fault.

27. The tip off, of course, comes in the first line when Mendelson hauls out a neutron bomb metaphor for a discussion about economic policy, which so far as I know (and hope) is the first time anyone’s tried that. A good candidate for the Neil Macdonald Tortured Prose Award.

28. everyone spits on alberta when she’s flush and they try to beat her down to their level. sometimes they succeed with catastrophic results throughout the country but mostly felt in alberta when people walked away from their mortgage/business or sold them literally for $1 but nobody could afford to buy it. we didn’t ask for government help then and certainly none was offered. western canada for the most part hasn’t gotten fat and lazy on guvmnt largesse.
    we work hard, play hard we are damn proud of our accomplishments, forward thinking and mobile. we live in the greatest part of the greatest country on earth. personally…I think they’re jealous

29. I’m really getting tired of hearing this crap from socialist Ontario. Almost daily we’re subjected to sermons from one twerp or another, and told that our values aren’t “Canadian”. Makes you wonder if we’re in the right country. Do you think the Americans would take us?

30. Belisarius: as one American, I can only speak for myself, but I think Alberta would be welcomed with open arms as a US state. Canada’s loss, perhaps, but not Alberta’s: I think you’d like equal representation in the Senate a lot, for one.
    Of course, most of the Albertan secession talk I’ve heard of has been for independence, not to join the US. But we’d welcome you as a good neighbor and ally as well if that instead of statehood were your chosen course.

31. Anyone else smell an election soon?
    This is the opposition’s lapdog producing pap that they cannot afford to produce themselves.
    Enrage the rest of the country by blaming their problems on Alberta. Whip them into a mouth-frothing, liberal-voting frenzy. You KNOW the libs are the only ones who are trying to hinder Alberta’s growth…
    Now although far too many references are made to it, there are echoes of the ‘nazis and the Jews’ incident a few decades back here. You may have heard of it – many deaths, very sad.