Great piece from an engineer/designer

Dave Shook
April 12 at 9:42 PM

I am an engineer. I work in the oil patch, and I have for decades.I run two companies and I'm an economic policy wonk. More specifically, I am an automation engineer. If you used to work in the oil patch and you don't any more, then I am your enemy, not the government. I have been helping oil companies reduce maintenance and operating labour cost per barrel for 20 years. And business is booming. It has never been this strong. Alberta companies are spending millions - billions - of dollars to replace people with computers. I can't name names because of non-disclosure agreements with clients, but if you look around, you will see that companies are laying people off and maintaining production.

The oil industry is in fact late to automate. It's about 10 years behind manufacturing, and 20+ years behind refining and chemicals. 20 years ago there were 315,000 people employed in forestry, pulp and paper, etc. in Canada. Now there are 186,000. Those jobs are never coming back.

The problem with oil industry employment is structural, and it's global. If our companies don't automate, they will go under, because other companies are automating too. And lots of companies outside Alberta are producing oil at a loss. It's a case of he who bleeds to death last, wins.

This isn't the government's fault. All the government can do is help people adapt - by upgrading and adding more value in the province, by helping people retrain, and by diversifying the economy.

Yes, the carbon tax is annoying. It's supposed to be. We need to reduce our CO2 emissions. Other countries are implementing carbon taxes or other ways of reducing carbon intensity. Including China. Guess what: automation is a big part of how companies can drive down their CO2 emissions. Been doing that for a long time, too.

The oil price dropped in 2014. I was laid off in January 2015, before the last election. This is not the NDP's fault. It is the fault of an industry that was not prepared for a change, 40 years of government that coddled them, and a long, happy ride. An oil boom is not your birthright. Nothing is going to bring back the oil boom. It is time to adapt.

Jason Kenney's policy statements are, by and large, red meat for the angry and uninformed. The NDP policies are intelligent and have resulted in investment by companies in diversifying our economy by adding value in the province. Their investment in infrastructure has kept people working and reduced our infrastructure debt at a lower cost than would have been possible during the boom.

Whether you trust Jason Kenney - in spite of two concurrent RCMP investigations into his nomination - or think his antics to avoid voting on the bubble law indicate support of women's right to choose, or think he supports marginalized kids, his economic policies are going to do a lot of damage to Alberta.

Even if you are ignoring the UCP's hard-right social leanings, it's worth knowing that their election is going to hit all of us in the pocketbook for a long time.