fuel prices?

[cowman]

As fuel rises, we all should realize that it is more than filling up the old pickup? The cost of literally everything is going to have to rise in the next few months?
About the time we can hardly bare it anymore the Bank of Canada is going to suggest inflation is getting out of hand and start raising interest rates! Like yea we really need that, right?
Maybe it is time that some of our governments started reducing some fuel taxes? After all they are getting 7% from the GST and how much from the various PST's? I mean when gas was 50 cents/liter they got 3.5 cents GST...at a buck they get 7 cents?
When does the day come when the farmer gets to the point where he realizes fuel at a dollar a liter and fertilizer at ?(who knows) just don't get the bills paid...when he is getting $2/bu for his barley? Not sure about the figures but somewhere back in the seventies my Dad got $3/bu for barley and was paying like 8 cents/liter for fuel!
Somewhere along the line something has to drastically change here? Something is so out of kilter...can this continue? I remember my Dad saying they sold wheat in the dirty thirties for 32 cents/bu.? I wonder how that compares to dollars in 2005? He said they went down to Turner Valley and bought raw condensate for $4.00/bl or less than 2 cents/liter? 32 cents times 50 equals close to $16/bu for wheat!
I realize production efficiency has increased in a big way but is this in any way fair?
I would suggest that our esteemed leaders need to start implementing some programs to start to address these type of problems real soon or there simply won't be anyone willing to keep producing food? We have been seeing the exodus over the last few decades? How long until the last "diehards" give it up and quit?

[Horse]

With all the 1 thousand $ a day men inthe oil patch and some lots more and the profits going out of country WHY THE HELL does every one pick up on the tax , AT least we get something back from govmt and that is a hell of a lot more than we get from oil companys or the people working for them and stealing them blind whenever the oportunity presents itself. And trying to justify they are worth it gust like the 7 mill a yr hockey players.

[grassfarmer]

Hopefully the light is coming on for other people too Cowman, "I would suggest that our esteemed leaders need to start implementing some programs to start to address these type of problems real soon or there simply won't be anyone willing to keep producing food?"
This is what happens with a FINITE resource. Stopping producing food in the world is not going to happen so logically we must learn to produce with less oil usage. Maybe the whole concept of feedlot beef production should be reviewed? look how much marginal grain land is farmed in Canada that could be used to fatten cattle on grass and forage.Having a feedlot system because grain is cheap isn't really that bright when the grain is produced at a loss using up oil we don't have to waste.

[silverback]

Whoa Horse. Just what exactly is it we get back from Gov't ?? "Free" health care probably?

If your son or daughter was making $1000 per day for an oil company would you be ranting like that??

[silverback]

just returned from a 750 km jaunt around the province and saw gas prices from 96.8-1.02.9. Did NOT see fewer vehicles on the road and certainly did NOT see folks driving slower !!!


As far as the $1000.00 per day job in the oil patch goes more power to anybody that has that job because they sure as heck won't keep it if they don't know what they are doing. Along with top paying jobs comes sacrifice of time away from home and family. It isn't just the oil patch that makes those salaries, anybody check to see what a lawyer makes these days representing a client in court ?

[cowman]

Well Horse nobody forces the oil companies to pay those high rates? It is simply supply and demand at work.
Taxes make up close to half the cost of a liter of gas and actually what do we get from our government from that money? Remember it is our gas and oil...not the government of Alberta? If you think these clowns have done a good job of managing your property, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you!
The $1000/day man actually is giving a lot of his money back to the government and society as a whole? I mean lets face it he isn't stuffing it in a sock under his mattress?
Governments do not create wealth, individuals do! In fact governments largely squander and waste wealth?
You should be happy there are industrious people who are out there doing their job so your government has the money to blow on many stupid schemes and rules! After all if they didn't have the oil and gas money they might require a lot more from you?

[cowman]

Right on cowman !!! I get damned fed up with people complaining about how much people make in the oil patch. Many of these folks stuck their neck out years ago to start a company on a shoe string budget and had some pretty lean times before they started to make decent dollars. Consultants likely started and worked from the ground up, many of the ones I know worked for fairly low wages for years as they learned the ropes. Now with the industry booming many of these fellows and gals have seized the opportunity to cash in and may a few bucks marketting the knowlege they have acquired over years in the 'patch'.
My son worked for a company for many years, running a huge tank truck outfit, making all the major decisions on saftey, doing the bidding on all the jobs, dealing with the staff etc., while the five owners bought Harley's, motor homes etc., and lived the life of Riley, he was on call three weekends out of four.
He started his own consulting company and has been doing extremely well. He makes big bucks but sacrifices to do it.
This summer he had three companies begging him to look after field work for them, but when things slow down he may be lucky to have half the work he has now, so making big bucks today doesn't mean it is going to last forever.
Most consultants I know have always been go getters, never content to sit at home and whine about how much somebody else was making.

[cakadu]

Horse, it's important to remember that not everyone employed in the oil patch makes the big dollars that you speak of. Wages for working there are better than average, yes, but there are a lot of risks associated with that money in terms of personal safety, family well-being etc. As emrald says, many of these people employed in the oil patch do not see much of their families at times, miss out on important milestones and events and have to deal with potential dangers like blow-outs, fires, H2S gas etc. and of course, the drop in oil prices that sees massive lay-offs. Granted, there are trade-offs and you get well acquainted with the good and bad very quickly. (Ask any stay-at-home mom with three small children at home on day 23 of a 28 day stretch what she thinks of him working away from home like that and I'll bet you'd be surprised by the answer.)

Each occupation and/or profession has its pros and cons attached to it and we live by the decisions and choices we make. What is most disturbing to me is that the gap between rich and poor just keeps getting larger. How we address that and similar issues is more important to me. Of similar concern is what has been raised in another thread - how do we reconcile asking landowners to care for the land when we are out there exploiting our natural resources at an ever increasing brisk pace.

[cowman]

Nothing wrong with exploiting our natural resources and creating wealth? The problem is are we doing it in the best manner possible and are we policing the exploiters?
I think we can probably answer no to both those questions?
The Alberta government has one agenda: Get those wells drilled no matter what it takes! That is the number one job of the EUB! Their enforcement and policing of the industry is a complete joke!
I am personally still a little leery of coalbed methane? I suspect the government will do everything in their power to make it easy for this industry? The problem is not the dry coal seams they are going after now but the wet ones which will happen later? A field supervisor told me quite frankly that they avoided the wet zone(where there is a lot more gas) so they could get their foot in the door and become established on the land! In reality the dry coalbed wells hardly make any economic sense!
There have been some very insane things done in the oil patch over the years. Things that have actually ruined a lot of wells and left the oil in the ground forever! The old standby of "watering a well" to increase production is simply wrong! All it does is increase production for a very short time...usually enough time to cook the books and sell out to some other company!