"I’m an Albertan. I’m seriously tired of the same old rhetoric that has been repeated ad nauseam by those with a chip on their shoulder and a preference for big bucks with limited transferable skills.
Before it joined Confederation, Ruperts Land, aka the North West Territories, was known as a land of opportunity. Those with limited skills could make a living, and live well, by working hard at one of the founding economic trades of this region of the world; trapping, farming, ranching, and trading goods.
Alberta has always been a boom and bust economy. Good years followed by bad years. First it was wheat, the primary farming crop in the early years, beef has seen its ups and downs, and trade goods are also a volatile market (lumber, fossil fuels). Workers toughed it out. Maybe that’s why so many Albertans are so optimistic about future prospects.
As an Albertan, I’ve watched the boom and bust cycle my entire life. Low skill labourers make large sums of money during the boom times, and complain about the bust years.
Because this is just always been the way the economy works in Alberta, many Albertans are convinced it will happen again, now that we’ve elected the UCP and Jason Kenney to govern.
However, the world has changed, pretty much overnight for fossil fuel workers used to the boom being right around the corner.
Got news for you folks. It’s not coming back. Automation and consolidation have changed the game. Fewer workers are required. Fewer jobs are available. The only way to engineer a boom is to triple the number of wells and development projects.
ou can hate the Liberals and Trudeau all you want. It won’t change the fact we need to reduce GHG emissions and preserve some arable land and potable water to continue to live in this province. We can not afford to triple GHG emissions to give everyone that lucrative high paying job with low skill level investment any more.
Kenney can vilify Liberals, environmentalists and foreign funders all he wants. It isn’t going to change the impact climate change has already made in Canada, and it won’t change the fact our existence as a species, along with a host of other species required for our survival, requires fossil fuels to slow down production.
Notice, I didn’t say stop. It’s not stopping anytime soon, but the boom gravy train has left the station. There are no valid reasons to triple production, meaning industry jobs will never boom like 5 years ago again. The industry just doesn’t require as many workers, and the US has ramped up their domestic production, meaning our product is secondary to the US’s needs, though quite important to the investors & shareholders for profit.
our anger is a typical extinction burst. A psychological term used to describe a temper tantrum. You aren’t getting what you expect and you’re frustrated by it. Except, stamping your feet and shouting nasty epithets isn’t going to change the level of carbon and other gases in the atmosphere.
I remember my 6 year old packing his suitcase; a couple books, pj’s, a box of crackers and some clothes. He stormed out of the house demanding independence because I wouldn’t buy him a new toy replacing the one he broke in anger. He got about half way down the block. He was frustrated, but I didn’t cave. He stood at the end of the driveway for 2.5 hours. Unwilling to apologize and unwilling to back down. He called me ever bad name a 6 year old knows. Shouted to the neighbours that I was the worst parent ever. Swore he was finding a new family that would buy him whatever he wanted. All to no avail. He came in when he tired himself out. I sat on the steps waiting patiently for him to expend his profound frustration. You see, I had replaced broken toys in the past, and it was my own fault for setting the precedent. But I’d had enough. It was too expensive, & it was inappropriate to reward such toxic and rude behaviour.
That’s what these rants about being treated unfairly as a Province are. Grown men and an entire political party & its members stamping their feet, shouting and screaming blue murder, smearing those who have made a decision in the best interests of all Canadians, not just Alberta, and demanding their independence. Because they can’t expand fossil fuel development exponentially without consideration of global climate change and our national commitments & targets.
That’s the UCP strategy. A mass temper tantrum.
And CPC, the other potential authority in this scenario, promising any toy wanted will be provided. No consequences, no restrictions. Break as many toys as you want, the feds, under Scheer’s leadership, will enable a replacement and then some. Because the rest of the Canadian citizenry hates you Alberta. They want you to fail, they’ve planned for your failure from the beginning.
Are you recognizing how absurd and juvenile these arguments are?
Alberta has been governed by right wing governments for 80 of the last 85 years. Social Credit may not have known, but successive PC governments had every opportunity to save money, diversify production, retrain workers, plan for the future and not smash the toy to smitherines. But nope, we didn’t. We did start down that path under Lougheed, but the libertarians took over and broke every safeguard there was protecting Albertan’s future prospects. To the benefit financially of investors and shareholders.
So now those libertarians promised any toy in the store for those impacted by the broken toy. And you fell for it. Hook, line, & sinker. Kenney promised you jobs like the past, vast wealth & prosperity. And you want it now. Right f-ing now, or your leaving Confederation.
That’s a temper tantrum. Expected from a 6 year old spoiled child, but not from political leaders. Not from the affected ADULT population.
Grow up. Face reality. Oil isn’t going anywhere, but Canada will not be expanding production unfettered by regulations or limits to fill jobs.
We had a leader who arranged for transition to alternative & diversified capital investments, looked to expand refining here in Alberta. Kept oil jobs by arranging transportation for the product and, according to Kenney himself, fought the good fight for 1 more chance to play with the toy under our own rules. She even had plans to find you new opportunities.
But it’s the end of an era. The end of the rope. All Canadians future needs to be considered and you broke the toy Alberta. Now it’s time to pay the piper.
Till you figure that out, the rest of us will be waiting for the tantruming toddlers to tire yourselves out and face the future."
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