Enbridge Pipeline

[grower99]

When I google Norway's "heritage fund" I see it's about 600 billion dollars.Why is this fund so large and ours in Alberta is only 14 billion if that is an accurate figure? Norway's fund has been accumulated over a short period of time.

[nicolaas]

NO money? The reason is because this province has been run by a bunch of hillbillies and cowboys for the last while. There has been no focus by this government since the early part of the klien years. They are run by the corporations and only care about their own short term interests. I became a member of the P.C's to help Ed become priemier, and then he backtracked on raising the royalties. They are on a sliding scale based on price and output, and the increase would not have been triggered with these gas prices. Only with the oil it would have gone up 5%. We are being very complacent with this government, and they are definatley acting like royalty, not elected officials. Once our elected officials begin to use the words "billionare socialists" as an attack on those against the pipeline, you know it is all about ideology, not substance.

[chuckChuck]

Oil and gas are one time resources. Once they are gone the party is over. Norway rightfully decided they didn't want the hyper inflation that goes with rapid uncontrolled growth. So they collected higher royalties and put alot of revenues from oil in their heritage fund for future generations.

If you look at cities going through an energy boom such as Estevan, housing is in such short supply workers are paying a 1000 per month or more for a room in a house or trailer. Families with overpriced houses, mortgages and rent are having trouble keeping food on the table. One K - 8 school in an older part of Estevan has 70 kids eating in their breakfast program because the kids are not getting enough food at home. This a problem in many cities and towns across the west. Many people are getting left behind in the so called "boom". Oil money is great if you are part the industry, but it is not sustainable and leaves alot of people with a lower standard of living.

We can easily extract higher royalties for the public good but the political will is not there. To many oil and gas companies are good friends with current governments.

Any threat to pull out by the oil and gas companies is just BS. The oil is largely a publically owned resource and when all is said and done it will still be in the ground waiting to be developed.

Danny Williams forced their hand in Newfoundland and made a better deal for all Newfoundlanders. He could give BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan a lesson on how to negotiate with the oil business.