Our political leaders, both provincial and federal, need to take a deep breath. Premiers Kenny and Moe specifically need to reset their expectations after the rather surprising election victory by Trudeau built on the wings of Canada’s unfair “first-past-the-post” system.
Yes Alberta, and to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan, have endured over four years of lousy economic performance. However, unemployment increases and declining investment are due mainly to our economy’s being hostage to internationally determined oil and gas prices, not Ottawa’s policies.
Political leaders in this province have talked for decades about “getting off the energy roller coaster.” Common lore – “give us another oil boom and we promise not to piss it away again” has not seemed to penetrate our political leaders’ psyches. For the past century politicians have willingly sacrificed long-term economic and fiscal sustainability for short-term political gains.
As one example of this short-termism, in September 1982, just before a provincial election, and during the last separatist insurgence, Peter Lougheed surprised Albertans by announcing it was “raining” and the Heritage Fund would be raided. Poor Alberta, let’s remove all the income. Woe is us, although the 1982 budget boosted spending by a remarkable 30%. And the result? Lougheed’s Tories increased their dominance of the Legislature from 73 to 75 of the 77 seats while unseating the lone separatist in the Legislature. Wow!
Instead of accepting the fact that oil prices were outside the government’s control, our political leaders go to the default position. Victims of Ottawa, conveniently ignoring how decade after decade, political leaders have depended on oil to remain in power.
What Alberta requires now is some empathy from the rest of Canada. But receiving empathy will also require some Humble Pie. When commodity prices were high, we felt special. We felt entitled to vast capital works projects and enhanced public services. However, a significant portion of the cost was financed by selling the resources we owned.
As the climate emergency accelerates and as consciousness changes about the emergency, Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C. and Ottawa must find leadership models that avoid the blame -victimhood dynamic. It requires a clear-eyed vision of a green future, a future our species deserves. The path to the future is not through blaming Ottawa (or the oil industry for not investing), but rather mapping out a massive multi-decade program for moving Alberta and Canada to a country of clean air and water- a vision like a Manhattan Project which coordinates public and private resources in a war we must win.
In place of more royalty holidays to multinational corporations to add more plastic to this world, we should substitute solar on all new homes, better public transportation infrastructure, and municipal zoning that incents the public to use these systems, ride bikes and walk.
Take another deep breath. The oil and gas fairies won’t be coming back. The winning strategy is to acknowledge our mistakes of not saving (thank you Peter) and ask for assistance. It’s quite fair of political leaders to argue on behalf of the oil industry that if we don’t pump oil other unsavory countries like Saudi Arabia, will sell the product. And world oil demand is still growing. That’s true, but it misses the point that leadership involves foresight and sacrifice, and requires mobilizing societies resources to accomplish what must be done.
Source: Alberta Freedom Alliance
At this critical moment, Alberta leaders must acknowledge we are a big part of the problem. We need help. And we must ask for that help. We must engage Ottawa’s help with a long-term plan to transition the Alberta economy from one driven by a sunset industry to an economy that is clean and smart.
The federal government, for its part, should create a new equalisation program which supports this transition. Federal grants could be determined on the basis of per capita GHG emissions and sent to provincial governments to green their economies. This proposal, admittedly high level, could be funded by a significant rise to the carbon tax. Canadians all over will protest but if they see meaningful action in the form of non-renewable energy projects, Canadians and Albertans will grudgingly accept.
In addition to green infrastructure Investments, the matter of environmental liabilities must also be tackled. This problem is mainly a Western Canadian issue in the form of orphaned wells and tailings ponds but abandoned mine sites are found all over the Canadian shield. A national program to support the cleanup of industrial activity will also create thousands of jobs over many decades.
Alberta needs to work out a plan with Ottawa for financing this vast undertaking towards a just transition. Alberta needs the most help of all the provinces to bring this transformation about. Bullying Ottawa, stating demands or fanning separatism is hardly political leadership. It is dangerous political theatre based on victimhood myths. We can do better. We must.
For an excellent commentary about this subject go to Stephen Murgatroyd’s Alberta’s Psychological Dystopia