A few months ago I mentioned that the Prairie Centre Policy Institute would do themselves a favour by keeping their website current. Just got a note that they’ve updated the site. Check it out.
While I was there, I thought I’d snag this nifty little graphic…
Tommy Douglas. Not. Dead. Enough.
Well, at least you have the wheat fields… Those would be valuable but for the CWB…
Wow, there is a wealth of information to digest there. Suffice to say that government and taxes are killing any hope of Saskatchewan and Manitoba from becoming a “have” province in the forseeable future. And that is a shame considering the potential that exists.
I honestly don’t think Tommy Douglas did Canadians an good in the long run. Most conservitive leaning people I know have no problem reaching out to help our fellow man provided they at least make an effort to meet you half way. Damned if I’ll deliver their welfare cheques to the pub/bingo hall!
Wasn’t it cruel of God to make sure that all the oil reservoirs ended at the border?
I remember as a child growing up in one of those nameless small towns in western Saskatchewan in the mid – seventies. (Just east of that big green blotch). At the time there were seismic crews everywhere looking for oil. Some were so close to town that you could feel the ground shake when the explosion went off. Exciting times for a small town kid. I remember my Dad talking to one of the crew chiefs asking him if he found any oil. He said there was lots of oil all around my home town but it was something he called “heavy oil” and they were looking for “light oil”. Allan Blakeney was re-elected on a campaign of nationalizing the resource sector. You know, Sask-Oil, Sask-Energy, Sask-Potash, Sask-Government-Insurance, Sask-Tel,Saskatchewan Mining Development Corp (Uranium). I’m sure there is more.
Next year they were gone.
It sort of reminds me of the border between North and South Korea, as viewed by an orbiting satellite at night. [Try Google Images: “Korea satellite night”]
Socialism is for losers!
But on the bright side the waterfowl hunting is top notch in Sask!
Too bad that Graphic has the title block covering norther Sask….that is where geologist fee the biggest untapped gas fields are located in the province.
I can’t wait for the road between Fort McMurray and La Loche to be completed. It will open up access to all of the big fishing lakes in northern Saskatchewan.
(Looking forward to having a nice 30+ pound Snot Rocket (northern pike/jackfish) mounted on my living room wall!
It’s more than just Tommy D. The whole history of Sask. in confederation is one of socialism. It’s probably the longest vacation from the laws of economics in Canadian history, if not world history: government surveyors explore the area … a government railroad opens up the region for farming … government gives away free land … government develops crops to grow … government subsidizes their freight rates … government gives them marketing boards … government gives them crop insurance, welfare, EI, health care, schools and highways …
If Saskatchewhatchemacallits are a little slow to develop the oil and gas resources under their feet, it’s because acting slow, dumb and lazy pays too well.
From their commentaries section, this hits the nail on the head:
Tommy Douglas – The Man & The Myth: If Saskatchewan is a Worker’s Paradise… Where are the Workers?
That oil exploration comes at a cost. Just fly over Alberta on a seismic helicopter and you’ll see why.
Aaron, please explain “cost”.
I’m sure Aaron means “up front investment.” All of that equipment takes money to purchase, that money comes from investors.
Or, Aaron means ecological costs. Sure, throw on a $1/barrell tax to do recovery work on spent oil fields.
I’ve flown over backwoods Alberta many a time in the Cessna. What most treehuggers don’t realize is how much effort is actually spent on reclaimation. A few years ago it went largly unsung that Alberta has replanted more trees than were ever cut down due to logging, oil and gas exploration etc.
Yes there are lots of cutlines and old drilling leases, but the leases are not always just abandoned. Perhaps they are lower producing wells that can be later frac’ed and put back into production. Cutlines also provide a network of roads providing access during the winter.
The reclaimation under way at Syncrude and Suncor are indeed arguably late in getting under way, but nevertheless it IS happening.
Fuck You Eskimo. I’m from Ft. Mac. And I’ve work on those so called reclaimation projects… they are the biggest joke in Alberta, next to the Stamps :p
As for Sask. now that oil is $70 (or is it $70,000) a barrell they stand to make a killing… better late than never I say.
Proof that God hates socialists…
/sarcasm.
Hat tip:small dead animals: Prairie Centre Policy Institute
UPDATE:
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man.
Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded- here and there, now and then- are the work of an extremely…
Hey Tony, who pooped in you puffed wheat this morning? What kind of work have you done on these projects? Cool down dude. Nowhere was I praising the Ft. Mc reclaimations, just stated they were under way, so get your panties out of your crack.
I asked a friend who works in the Calgary oil patch, why the line was so strait along the border.
Succinctly:
“crappier production to the east, coupled with taxes, drops opportunity.”
Sorry Eskimo:
That probably came off as aggressive… I just meant it in a friendly way, if that makes any sense, hence the ‘:p’. Whoops…
*panties remove from crack*
One day Tommy’s fossil will become oil… and all will be forgiven.
Thanks, Tony and cheers! I’m relatively new here and still wearry of lurking liberal moonbats! Or to put it more colourfully, Librano fart catchers and turd polishers.
Wow. For once, I can say it is Good to be on the left.
Eskimo:
Liberal, Conservative. Its all semantics to me – I just look for intergrity and competency. And lets just say I’m not finding it in politics.
Having been born in Ft. Mac in the late 70s and having lived here my whole life; lets just say I’m a bit disallusioned with whole thing right now. I’ve got a Liberals Exec. taking money from my pocket… I’ve got provincial Tories who are so incomptent I don’t get water pressure to take a fucking shower in the morning cause the “boom” wasn’t forseen and there’s no money for an infrastructure upgrade in Alberta.
Just a little pissed off in general.
I hear you Tony.
The Tommy Douglas statement – love it!
I just wish the CBC would stop its efforts to make that Commie a demigod!
epw