Slowing the Economy?

[cowman]

I caught an interview on the radio the other day with one of the contenders for the premiers job in Alberta. His main thrust was how can we slow down the economy!
Is this guy nuts, or what? He said government just couldn't keep up to the demand for infrastructure, services etc.! I guess he never considered spending some of the billions being raked in, or something?
My own personal opinion is let her rip and lets make hay while the sun shines!
How many of us in our personal life would back away from making more money?
Maybe if the provincial government wasn't pissing away most of the revenue on social programs and equalization payments they could afford to keep the infrastructure up to snuff? And we could really rock and roll!

[coppertop]

cowman, the cost of building infrastructure has risen by 25% and the lack of available contractors and materials is one major drawback to forging ahead with all sorts of construction projects.
I don't agree with the 'let her rip' concept, the oil is not going anywhere.The downsides of the current boom are scary. The drop out level in high schools, colleges etc. is alarming, as young people choose to get a job in the 'patch' vs completing their education. Olds college alone has had a 50% drop out rate for the second year of some of their courses.

The province can't keep up to repairing the existing infrastructure let alone keep building new, and anytime there are dollars available Calgary and Edmonton have their hand out. Towns and cities in the resource areas can't keep up to the growth in infrastructure including solid waste facilities, water and sewer facilities etc. the lack of municipal assistance grants to municipalities has caused urban/rural feuds all over the place.
The push to have the new Land Use Policy Framework in place by March is scary, as it will be a done deal before the new leader even has time to get his office unpacked, but the pressure on land use is the key reason for this initiative and I am suspecting that some knee jerk legislation will be implemented because of the boom that is happening.
Well thought out growth in the industry will do as much for Albertans as the boom or bust mentality that has guided the oil and gas industry since Leduc #1. The pressure on the environment, water etc. is huge, and if that is not addressed by good long term planning future generations will pay a huge price.
We now have maritime provinces concerned at the drain of workers from that province to Alberta, and we will likely be heading into a federal election by spring or fall of next year. The larger the BOOM in Alberta the more likely that Ontario and Quebec will want a larger piece of our pie.
The lack of housing is causing major problems in all resource based communities as workers arrive with their families and have no place to live. I just returned from a business trip to the Peace Region. The Grande Prairie airport terminal was full of young fellows from eastern Canada arriving to find a job in Alberta.
As workers with or without families arrive in our province the pressure on our health care and education system increases. As far as housing goes, I feel that the industry has to step up to the plate and provide housing for their employees in places such as Fort Mac. etc. Back in the days of the first oil boom in Alberta, company houses made up the lions share of housing in towns such as Devon, Drayton Valley etc., vs having the taxpayer subsidize affordable housing.
Every hotel/motel in areas such as Grande Prairie; Whitecourt; Drayton Valley; Edson etc.has a no vacancy sign, when in actual fact most of the establishments do have vacant rooms but can't find sufficient staff to clean them.
I will be attending the Alberta Urban Municipalities convention next week and am betting that there is a call for orderly growth of the industry so urban centres can catch up with infrastructure, social programs etc.
Interestingly enough Jim Dinning is now touting slowing down the boom, when he was yelling from the rooftops a couple of months ago about how important it was that the province keep booming !!
Oberg was Minister of Education when many of the school closures took place, and now we need to build new schools due to the increase in population!
The key factor in this booming economy is to ensure that we stop shipping raw products out of this province, and get the best dollar for Albertans for this depleting resource.

[cowman]

Well the way I see it is prosperity breeds prosperity? All those boys coming to work means one thing... more money flowing into the economy!
I have a real hard time feeling sorry for people who don't grab the brass ring when it is right in front of you?
I think it is a good thing that more and more young people are getting out and making some good money...we have too many useless paper pushers in this world as it is!
We have a good safety net for those who can't take care of themselves and if you are old and broke in Alberta, you might want to ask yourself "How come?" With a few setbacks we've had good times for a lot of years!(and I'm not talking about you here...LOL)
How come the province can't afford infrastructure the way the money is rolling in? The job of any government should be to create an atmosphere where commerce can flourish, not to wipe your nose and butt for you! People can take care of themselves just fine, thank you very much...if government gets the hell out of the way!
Just my old "far right" opinion?

[carebear300]

If things are too wild and wooly for you all out in Alberta send some of those problems to your poor eastern cousin Saskatchewan. I wish we had those problems!!!!!!!

[coppertop]

we expect government to get out of the way, and in the next breath expect government to build infrastructure at inflated prices !!!

One huge drawback to commerce in rural Alberta is the lack of high speed internet. Home based businesses cannot compete when they have to depend in dial up connections.

As far as encouraging young people to work in industry vs getting a post secondary education of some sort, we are seeing the results of that mentality right now with the lack of skilled workers in all trades in the province. I have no problem with people from other areas coming to work in Alberta, but I do feel that housing them should be their own or industry's responsibility not mine. If a worker has a house in another province I question why they would move their family to Alberta until they have secured housing here. We have families living in tents and RV's to the point where a serious situation is looming in some areas, Grande Prairie for one.

I spent many years raising kids alone when my husband was working in various oil fields of Alberta, and it would have never entered our heads to uproot our kids and move until we were sure we had not only good housing but adequate schools and health care nearby as well.

The kid in a candy store mentality will come back to haunt us, but then, I have always been one to save for a rainy day !

[nw9flynn]

cowman a plolicy driven slowdown is used to curve inflation. China is using policy to do this right now. If a economy grows too fast the bubble bursts and everyone loses. We want this growth to be sustained growth, not just something we look back on 20yrs from now as the good times.

[coppertop]

excellent comments, sustainablity and manageable growth are two things that require vision to achieve.

If we keep forging ahead at the current rate we risk creating such an environmental mess that future generations will never have the clean air and water that should be their birthright.
In a recent forum in Edmonton, only one of the municipal leaders present was in favor of the growth continuing at the current pace.

[wilagro]

I agree with 'coppertop'.

Many of our problems in Alberta came about because our government had its head in the sand.

Ralph says that nobody could have forseen the phenomenal growth...what a crock of doodoo that is.

They spent billions promoting Alberta to the Americans and when they got a reactive response with new investment, our gov't says 'gee whiz', what the heck happened.

Bunch of dolts.

[coppertop]

The Congress Board of Alberta warned several years ago that there would be a severe labour shortage but was pooh poohed by industry and government.

[blackjack]

...agree with cowman...in fact their are signs it is starting to slow already... you only control your own financial affairs and so if people that live in tents and trailers save a little money...just maybe their the smart ones...young people that are buying quarter of a million houses are out to lunch but it is their money...hey i got an idea for yeah coppertop maybe the people that have not been able to take advantage of the boom could rent out a part of their home...as for infrastructure you name one other province that doesn't have a problem and i'll name you two that do...kinda like your half full half empty glass scenario...

[coppertop]

blackjack you missed my point, people are NOT living in tents and RV's to save money they are families that have moved to resource based communities and cannot find housing. There is quite a difference. I highly doubt that any sane family would choose to live in a tent in an Alberta winter !
Many of these folks can afford housing but in most resource based communities there is a lack of developed lots, infrastructure and contractors to build homes.

I agree that far too many people are getting deeper and deeper in debt, and when things slow down and their income slows with it they are bound to be in serious financial difficulties.
There seems to be the mindset among many younger and some not so young folks that the money is coming in in bucket fulls so we may as well live the high life while we can.
That is where the farming mentality comes in handy, most of us know the boom and bust and have learned to save for a rainy day.
As far as people who are not in a position to capitalize on the current booming economy goes, many of those are working at jobs that barely keep the wolf from the door, and perhaps do not have skill sets to get higher paying positions. Many of these folks do not have adequate housing, let alone homes with rooms to rent !

Oh well, we can choose Oberg for premier his platform certainly sounds like a nannystate to me !!

[cakadu]

Like with all things, you cannot pick the parts that you want and don't want. You can't have all these people coming in to reap the benefits of the hot economy and then not want to put money into the infrastructure and services to support the influx of people.

Bear in mind that the infrastructure was allowed to deteriorate prior to the influx happening and we are now just trying to catch up, let alone get ahead of the game.

The myopic and short-term thinking of grabbing all that we can now, could very well have serious consequences over the long-term. It may not be us that pays the price for all of this, but someone will - likely those that have had absolutely no say or input into the decisions being made in such haste right now.

It is so easy to judge others by the positions we ourselves enjoy. There are likely a variety of reasons why everyone isn't jumping onto the oil bandwagon.

Along with all this prosperity comes a whole host of social problems that we want to ignore or sweep under the proverbial carpet. We have the highest divorce rate in the province in Central Alberta and I would say that our divorce rate is well above that of other provinces. But that's okay right, because enough money is being made to pay support, right?

Whether you call it being negative or not, there are always consequences to our actions. How much forethought and planning are we putting into the consequences or are we just going to enjoy the short-term?

[coppertop]

There are many areas where no forward thinking is coming back to haunt us. Land use is one, the current push to have new land use policies in place by March is certainly a knee jerk reaction to the current demand for various types of land uses across the province.
Many municipalities urban and rural have chosen to spend millions on recreational facilities, monuments, etc. vs installing new utility lines or upgrading existing infrastructure. The province has elected to do only 200 kms of highway overlays this year vs the ususal 1500 due to the soaring costs. That leaves a 1300 km infrastructure debt to be carried over, and if we continue to go on this way the next generation will be saddled with either no decent highways or the cost to repair them, perhaps in a different and not as affluent economy.

I know that over the past three years the highways have deteriorated significantly and I am not convinced its all due to the heavy traffic, I think that the lack of understanding of by caucus of the importance of maintaining the existing highway system has had a lot to do with where the dollars have been spent. The rural MLA's are few and far between,and many that consider themselves rural have the majority of their residents in large urban centers.

[blackjack]

...i understand coppertop but i don't put much hope on govt...why do we pay these bureaucrats if they have no vision until it hits them between the ears...they must have know areas like ft.mac were going to boom...is that not why all our tax dollars go into studying what has to be done but never gets done...sure government has a place but from what i see most of their track records shows they usually react after the fact...in saying that the other provinces make alberta look like a rose...

[coppertop]

blackjack, I will be the first to agree that we have far to many bureaucrats, I sometimes wonder if the cart is driving the horse. We need bureaucrats to carry out the directions given by elected representatives, not the other way around.