Surplus ???

[gordie]

Ralph and crew are meeting in Bonnyville to decide what to do with the huge surplus. Word yesterday is that they intend on giving a one time check to Albertans plus spending on schools etc. I am very interested to hear what your views are on the one time check vs spending on the failing infrastructure ? For those of us that travel Albertas highways on a daily basis, it seems as though billions could be spent repairing, rebuilding etc., and that would be a benefit to all Albertans at one time or another vs a little check that will be spent in five minutes !!!

[cowman]

Well without a dougt we need to keep up the infrastructure. The provincial Tories have let things slide quite aways in the last several years as well as letting Ottawa siphon off a good deal of cash that should have been spent on infrastructure!
There is a healthy surplus this year and I suspect if the government does decide to give the people of Alberta a dividend check, you'll hear the howls across the country? Maybe it would be better if Ralph eliminated the health care premiums...after all what other province charges health care premiums?
My own preference for the surplus would be to take that money and start setting up the firewalls to get Ottawa out of our lives!

[farmers_son]

I think the one time cheque is designed to take pressure of the government for higher energy prices. In effect it will be a one time gain for long term pain.

[cropduster]

f-s,when you say`pain` do you mean higher energy prices or the `pain` of having those sodomite endorsing LIBERALS in our back pockets?????

[Horse]

I would like to see a cheque a real big one to replace the income I never got out of the marketplace.
As for infrastructure I think the resource companys that have been the largest users should put more in as in larger royalties.
If emerald would like better roads to surf dayly mabey a little more tax on the gas would do .
I think I would like to spend some of the so called alta advantage on something I feel is important rather than Ralph saying I can have some money if I give it to the energy companys like they did in the past.

[cowman]

So I wonder Horse. What do you think is important to spend the surplus on?

[cowman]

With all the speculation about a dividend of $300, or whatever, I wonder what kind of game Ralph is playing? I suspect he is attempting to make it very difficult for Ottawa to get their grubby hands on it!
But the fact is a lot of that $300 dividend will probably end up in the casinos or bars!
If Olberg says we need to borrow $7 billion for infrastructure spending(and I have no doubt he might be right) then what is this $300 about? Spend the surplus on some much needed improvements in the infrastructure...where all Albertans will benifit? A solution to the transportation situation to Fort Mac comes to mind? Or an upgrade of Highway 2 in the Calgary/Edmonton corrider?
And I might suggest instead of building some more grand schools, how about a few shelters for the homeless so they don't end up freezing to death?
How about using some of the money to bankroll the education of apprentices? Or some new processing facilities? Or some innovative things like biogas, or solar power?
All of the above things are actually investing our money back into our province? Is that better than just blowing it at the VLTs or in a bottle?

[Horse]

I think some serious thought not political thought should be done . Sure schools sound good will we have a population to fill them in the future or will it be like all the hospitals they built tro get elected?
Highways I thought the fuel tax was for that.
How about some rural water lines we could tap onto there is some very poor water on a lot of farms now and probably about to get worse with the coal bed methane .
Our rural roads are taking a hell of a licking by the energy sector and I L O these roads were not built to standards for the heavy and sustained trafic.
Then there is always to posibility of paying actual producers of ag products dont see much diference why we cant get a decent living when oil is paying exorbident wages and machine dealers and plumers and so on and after all I need to eat more often than I need a trip around the world or a lunch in calgary.
When you get right down to it we are the second most important people after those controling water and we are at the end of the line to get paid, so to answer cowmans question on another thread mabey I am Gentry.Or should be.

[Horse]

Emerald1 just a query ? Do you realy have to travel the highways every day ? Are you sure there isnt someone there at your destinations that could do your job and save a lot of resourses.
What about all this electronic parafanalia is it no good . I have always suspected if I could take oil and turn it into s--t and show a profit the gov would be glad to back me.

[cowman]

Horse: I never thought about the water issue but of course that would be a very worthy project. I will note the federal fuel tax in Alberta is $1 billion/year and I believe we got a few bucks back out of it last year...about ten cents on the dollar...which was a big improvement over the ZERO dollars of the last several years.
The municipalities are raking massive amounts of money in from oil field developement? Quite a bit more than from farm land tax?
In my municipality the farm land and residential tax makes up less than 30% of the total tax take...and that was two years ago before we saw the explosion in coalbed activity! These light drilling rigs don't really beat up the roads all that much?
The biggest destroyers of the roads around here are the silage trucks and manure trucks. When a rig is moved it is monitored and they post a bond. If the road is beat up they pay for the gravel and the grader...that doesn't happen when the silage/manure trucks destroy the roads...the taxpayer picks up that tab.
I agree a lot of these roads weren't built for heavy traffic, whether oil and gas or modern farm equipment!