The Greek situation is far more desperate than what the new NDP government in Alberta is facing with an economy that’s trending down, given low global oil prices that could stick for some time. With increased layoffs, less drilling and deferred investment, one would think Rachel Notley, the new premier, would punt some of the anti-investment policies promised in a campaign that she did not expect to win.
Instead, the unneeded royalty review, a 50 per cent planned hike in the minimum wage, higher corporate and personal taxes and tougher carbon policies promised during the campaign have been confirmed in the maiden Speech from the Throne that the new Lieutenant-Governor probably choked on. Overall, these policies are putting on hold many investments in Alberta, aggravating further layoffs.
So? These guys still snugglin’ with Rachel?
http://www.edmontonsun.com/2015/05/14/canadian-association-of-petroleum-producers-cozying-up-to-albertas-new-ndp-government
Or, are they just lying there under the covers choking on the stench of her green gas?
Maybe enough lefties will be laid off so that they go back East to their respective Provinces but I am afraid that the significant increase of new lefties to Alberta are now in Government positions. Government is surely growing in Rose Country so so are socialists.
We know Government rarely lays off workers; they go into deficits instead.
Beta males working the oil rigs, I suspect are rarely from Toronto or Montreal and so the lay offs will mostly affect people who normally vote right wing anyway.
Welcome to the show where your leftie infested big city centres will decide your faith from now on. Me thinks you guys might be screwed in Alberta.
You have my sincere sympathies from a McGuinty/Wynne screwed Ontaxio resident.
Make that “alpha” males….Dah!
Hold it a minute we were told this woman was not your normal Dipper. She was a Alberta
pragmatist who would not do anything outrageous like load up on debt.
Sorry, I must have the wrong province.
This seems like Bob Rae all over again and as ugly as it got in Ontario under Rae, I think the collapse of oil could make it much worse for Alberta.
Well cousin marrying communists will now have more latitude in Alberta than ever, thats for sure Honorable me. In Calgary they have a cheap version of Beavis and Butthead on QR77 in the morning that were just doing everything they could to knock over the only successful applecart in Canada before the May 5 election, laughing and giggling about how stupid the Conservatives were along with this vile little creep Taylor and his dopey sidekick Cumquat they had in the afternoon shows. Well along with the equally vile Herald they got the job done, so as I see it, they have what they want, failure. People need to come to the realization that the media is the enemy. Alberta sent 22 billion a year out to the rest of Canada in transfer payments, and hardly ever did anyone here balk about it, well get ready ROC because with these misfits and idiot union commies running the Alberta till, commie pockets will be lined first.
Hm. What happens to those who will not learn from history?
I came to Alberta to get away from the NDP in BC. When the PC party whip was a former union leader, I knew that the PC’s were no longer conservative. Too many still hang onto the name PC, even though the parasites have outnumbered the host for many years. Many I’ve talked to are still hanging onto the illusion that the NDP doesn’t mean what they say, that they’re too smart to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. They really don’t like it when I go over NDP track records in BC, Sask, and Ontario.
Good. The low oil price (and believe me folks its in for a long spell) plus Dip kleptonomics will chill or freeze Alberta’s over heated economy to the point where the cost of living will be where it should be – the unfortunate consequence of that is the Dips will inflate what economy there is left with sales/consumer taxes equalling a net zero benefit for working class people.
Personally I think the Dips are wise enough to stay away from raping the oil patch (yet) and risk a political backlash – they will spend their 4 yrs growing government (AKA public sector unions) to secure more vote % and hopefully squeak into a second mandate with the help of a greatly expanded public sector union alliance, where they will really go after the private sector.
Occam >
“Good……..will chill or freeze Alberta’s over heated economy to the point where the cost of living will be where it should be”.
Agreed 100%.
I look at it as a form of “Market Correction” or Corporate restructuring whereas layoffs mean streamlining and throwing out the deadwood. Hopefully with a deep enough recession the thousands of TFW and other deadbeats piss off to wherever they came from.
In four years or so, Albertans will kick these NDP freaks to the curb, and by then Alberta should be positioned perfectly for some great investment opportunities all around.
Knight 99 said – “In four years or so, Albertans will kick these NDP freaks to the curb, and by then Alberta should be positioned perfectly for some great investment opportunities all around.”
That is what I said about McGuinty’s first term, and second and Wynn – the turning factor was the public sector union interference in the elections – directing massive amounts of union funding into negative messaging in ridings which were a 3 or 2 way split – it put the worst imaginable governments back in power – It will happen in Alberta if you don’t put a cap on these Dips expanding govt./unions
“That is how your hard core commie operates Mandrake” – General Jack T Ripper
The same dead beats who voted to keep the Redford PC’s in power are the same idiots who voted the NDP into power. Getting it good and hard will be their just desert.
Higher taxes, lower wages, fewer and fewer jobs, more and more regulation strangulation’s, and to top it all off, a housing market crash.
Occam >
I get your point, I just don’t think the majority of Albertan’s have gone that far commie yet.
Basically 60% of eligible voters did not vote NDP in the last election. They split the vote. Of the 40% who did vote NDP very few of those voters were historical NDP supporters, they we looking for a change and we’e simply uniformed, even afraid to vote WRP.
At the end of the day prior to 2015 the NDP had about 9% support in Alberta. They didn’t suddenly jump to 40% by doing anything miraculous.
If they wish to keep that 40%, they had better do something miraculous over the next few years, and even then they will still need to contend with a 60% (unified) conservative vote.
I’m banking that they’ll tank the economy as predicted and end up back to their historical numbers below 10%.
But that just me.
Rachel Notley is increasing funding to hospitals thinking that something is going to improve. The net improvement will be the same as throwing a few extra billion at Indian reserves believing that they will improve. Alberta has the best healthcare system in Canada despite the constant whining. The Conservatives tried to buy efficiency in the system but it’s not underfunded, it’s broken. Everyone from top to bottom is grossly overpaid and no effort seems to be made to set and meet goals.
Why are the photos of Rachel Notley now coming out with scrotum skin on her face? She can look scary in photos. Where were these pictures during the election?
Like Lenin said, (paraphrased), “The capitalist will sell me the rope with which I will hang him”.
bartinsky is right, the largest part of the media is the enemy and will do its best to have the Notley Crew re-elected in four years. A talk show host like John Gormley is almost the exception.
Occam is right about the government unions also working their best to support and re-elect the Notley regime. We see this new powerful government union strategy of jointly working together to defeat conservative parties or governments more and more in provincial and federal elections. They are merely extensions of the NDP.
How absolutely sad to see what has happened to my beloved Alberta! I agree though that a reset was needed, ha, a cooling of the economy and subsequent emigration would probably restore the ratio of conservatives there.
Let me know when this bumper sticker starts showing up on the average working Albertan’s F150…
“Please God let there be another Conservative government, I promise not to let us piss it away next time!”
Thank You Socialism
There is nothing like the bracing tonic of failure to reorganize a person’s priorities. One way to find out what you want is to lose what you have. Albertans were too complacent for too long.
There is nothing inherently good about conservative politicians. They resemble other politicians. For the last 2,000 years, most politicians have been a bunch of power hungry narcissistic money-grubbers. Rants on the floor of the ancient Roman Senate about corruption, self-interest, and mismanagement would sound familiar to us today.
Conservative Albertan democracy was far too shaky anyway. For example, Alberta political candidates could only win power through the gauntlet of getting nominated as the conservative candidate for a particular riding. After that, the election was a formality. That was poor democracy, because the voters had little control over who got nominated.
And as political enemies go, socialists are not too bad. Marx built a system that had a quite beautiful, internally consistent logic. It was wrong, but it was pretty. It has produced a unified socialist dogma that makes a great punching bag. Once you open a tear, all the sawdust runs out.
And science and economics have opened a big tear in the punching bag. The facts show that world poverty is rapidly decreasing, global life expectancy is increasing, and these are correlated with how strong the democratic free enterprise is in each country. India’s GDP grew by 7% last year, as it does in most years. For at least 2,000 years, until 1800, most people worldwide lived on about $1 per day, with an annual GDP growth of zero. From 1800, the capitalist-driven industrial revolution continues to accelerate economic growth to fabulously high levels of prosperity, undreamed of in human history. Thank you capitalism!
Yes, the rich are getting richer, but contrary to socialist dogma, the poor are also much better off. The average ‘poor family’ in the US owns their own home and has central air conditioning. Horror of horrors, economists have found that Ronald Reagan was right, a rising tide of prosperity does float all boats.
So lay on MacDuff, and fear not the fight.
Hmm… do I detect Albertans in denial here?
“Over heated economy”? That’s quite the statement because perhaps it is at the level where ALL properly functioning economies should be performing. Everything is relative. Perhaps the real issue is not the Alberta “over heated economy”, but the stone cold economies of other provinces.
“Perhaps the real issue is not the Alberta ‘over heated economy’, but the stone cold economies of other provinces.”
On that, I am in complete agreement.
Only ideological quibbledicks could make “overheated economy” sound like a bad thing.
Goodbye to “Truck Nuts”.
Canadian Observer >
“Please God let there be another Conservative government, I promise not to let us piss it away next time!”
LOL – that’s good.
JJM >
“Only ideological quibbledicks could make “overheated economy” sound like a bad thing.”
Actually only ideological quibbledicks would love the inflated costs/ bubbles and the hundreds of thousands of scumbag squatters that an overheated economy brings. Plenty of Albertan’s are sick of it.
Ken, you have it backwards, the NDP are the extension of the unions. My point of reference is Manitoba, where the unions tell Premier Selinger to jump, and he says “how high?” When the NDP had their recent leadership race, during the announcing of results, sitting to Selinger’s right was CUPE Canada president Paul Moist. Enough said.
“…the hundreds of thousands of scumbag squatters that an overheated economy brings…”
My, you’re a charmer, aren’t you?
JJM >
Absolutely!
I charm the pants off anyone who knows me to be sure.
The good news is that a few thousand “Temporary” Foreign Workers are already heading back home especially in Alberta’s oil & gas sectors. Remote work camps don’t need Guatemalans to do those “jobs albertan’s won’t do” as the layoffs continue.
The bad news is that Ottawa has granted an extension to the 4 year visa’s of many squatters, and many of them are also having convenient “accidents” prolonging their stay a little longer.
With another 2 or 3 year downturn due to NDP mismanagement, we should be sending the bulk of them home in good time, thus allowing reasonable housing, rent and job opportunities for Albertan’s.
It’ll be nice to drive down Hwy #2 in cruise control, without bumper to bumper traffic again, or actually pull into a lakeside RV resort and get a premium lot for the weekend.
This just in – The Notley Crew has hired ex-Bankster David Dodge as a consultant for Alberta’s capital/infrastructure projects.
Fox guarding the hen house?
May God help us.
I’ve noticed most of the temporary foreign workers in the food service industry in Alberta are from the Philippines. I want them to stay, as permanent residents or eventual citizens. They’re mostly hard working and mostly Christian, something we can use more of in this country. And they speak English.
Ed Minchau >
“I’ve noticed most of the temporary foreign workers……..”
Unfortunately not all.
I like the Congolese pygmies myself, useless workers but they make me laugh allot – alas we can’t have it all.
it sure is a good thing that the price of oil is so low. just imagine how much more expensive it could be. 1.23 a litre. or 5.54 a gallon. jeez aren’t we just the smartest people on the planet.
You can find exceptions to any rule, but, the TFW program was valuable in attracting people to do jobs that no one else wanted to do, such as, the jobs in the fastfood industry, that our young people will not do, as they are entitled and “above” that, won’t lower themselves to such work. A terrible attitude, but very prevalent today (and not so much in my generation, from 35 years ago, at the same age. Think WORK ETHIC)
A few business trips last year to Redmonton verified the dependence on the TFWs, in FF, and there’s nothing worng with that. I agree with EM’s views, they ARE hard workers, and thankful for their opportunity. Even in my neck of the woods in BC, it remains true, to a lesser extent, the Phillipinos are present, and are good citizens.
Let me repeat, our entitled young kids will not do these jobs,and that makes the TFW program wrong, because of a few offenders/exceptions?
You can make the same excuse that capitalism is evil, because of some exceptions
We are about to see a grand experiment in Alberta, in rampant socialism, and to see its dismal failure, in holding Alberta back. Yup, the TFWs will go home, and the small business owner will either go belly up paying Have Notleys socialist bills, and paying for over inflated burger flippers, janitors and coffee servers, or, welcome to the new world of the $10 Big Mac, the $10 Latte and $5 double double, etc, etc.
Which do you think is likely? I vote for the mix, some will stay open, overcharging for simplistic food, while having fewer staff, and other shops folding and relocating to BC or Saskabush. Either way, the status quo will not remain, which, is the expectations of the zero sum gamers, the NDP, who will never understand economics, ideology trumps all! Guranteed hard times for ALberta, for at least 4 years, likely much longer, as the stench of the NDP will need time to sterilize, when they are turfed.
DanBC >
And that is precisely why “We need a Famine”, why we will get one, and why we will turf the NDP in a few short years.
Cheers
Once the parasites take hold it will be very painful to get rid of them.
Talk show radio hosts are entertainers. They swing in what ever direction they perceive the audience is. The real reason for them to exist is to connect their advertisers with a buying audience. As for their opinions….well just ask QR 77’s Dave Rutherford. Fired 2 weeks before retirement after more than a 1/4 century of spewing the company line. He said something the overly sensitive boss didn’t like…. They are talking heads, nothing more and if you are entertained by them, okay.
As for 4 years from now. Don’t bet against the ndp staying in power. Alberta has a long history of hanging with the party in power. Unless the dippers do something deemed so egregious that they have to be tossed from office they could be around a long time.
The times are a’changin’ I’m afraid and not for the better.
As it stands now, fast food is not cheap anymore.
Except for chicken.
I can get a bucket just a little more than what I have to pay for the same amount of pieces at the grocery store.
But, family of four and McDonalds?
I’m lucky to get out there with change from a fifty.