Alberta Premier Jason Kenney
An article by Rabble yesterday said, with fingers pointing at Alberta, “Its political leaders, by allowing corporate interests to design the economy to their own benefit, have squandered the province’s vast natural wealth, leaving Alberta’s citizens with a mere fraction of what they could be enjoying today, even with the downturn in world oil prices.”
Suncor and Shell are off in other countries investing in energy projects. Major investors, corporations and banks are pulling their support out of Alberta. The rats are jumping ship. We’ve been left with an empty puppet in charge, who has squandered out bank accounts. Now he’s throwing our pension money and CPP at them — hollering, “Come back!! We have more…” Is the Heritage Trust fund even safe? Can Premier Jason Kenney continue to lead the province without the corporate sponsors that were guiding him? Is he capable?
We need a green new deal.
No, wait! I can explain…
Other places have been hard hit by Covid19 and oil profits declining. During the decline, some of these places are keeping their economies afloat by investing in renewable energy. Why can’t we? A Green New Deal would put the province to work building renewable energy sources. Okay, I see some of you shaking your heads… But it would:
- put people back to work
- stimulate the economy
- encourage what investors we have left to stick around a little longer (because they told us we needed to do this)
- reduce energy costs
- open markets
I know some of you don’t believe that wind, hydro, and solar can replace oil & gas. But it doesn’t have to. However, oil & gas is not stimulating the economy or putting anyone back to work. And yes, it’s salable. We have British Columbia just over there making deals with the United States to bring in lower priced green energy to power their grids. If we were smart and innovative enough, we could have that market, plus lower our own energy costs.
The World Bank group is investing in renewable energy projects in over 100 countries to help developing countries strengthen their pandemic response. They are offering $160 billion in financial support.
Bloomberg reported last year: “The market triumph of renewable energy marks the biggest victory yet in the fight against global warming. Solar and wind are proliferating not because of moral do-gooders but because they’re now the most profitable part of the power business in most of the world. An industry that once relied on heavy subsidies and was propped up by government mandates is now increasingly standing on its own.”
In an opinion piece on the CB,C by Graham Thomson, he said, “As Kenney proudly itemized the government’s achievements in the marathon session “to get Albertans back to work,” Total announced more sobering news.
“The French-based energy company declared that it is writing off $9.3-billion worth of oilsands assets in Alberta. Translation: We don’t have much faith in the future of the oilsands.
“Translation: Oh boy, the price of oil isn’t going to rebound. Ready the lifeboats; prepare to abandon ship.”
Linda McQuaig said in her article, ‘How Alberta capitulated to Big Oil and left Albertans poorer’ that “the real measure of success is what one makes of the hand one is dealt. And, by that measure, Alberta has been a train wreck.”
Alberta needs a change. We need to change now.
