Where is our Heritage Fund?
By Letter to the Editor on December 19, 2020.
Inside Wednesday’s (Dec. 9) paper Geoffrey Capp wrote on the need for Trudeau to admit his many failures. My only concern is that you people continually bad-mouth Trudeau, yet never do you say anything bad about provincial or federal Conservative leaders. Where is our billions in oil money that your intellectually stimulated leaders were supposed to keep as a Rainy Day Fund?
Where is our “Rainy Day” Heritage Fund, where is it, now that we need it? It’s raining, it’s pouring, yet you people continue voting for failure.
No one ever talks about the failures of your elected leaders in this province to look after the public piggy bank.
Kenney has not told us how the famous Alberta Advantage was squandered by the “Blue Eyed Sheiks.” All of you gifted and brilliant people who for years supported the conservatives, please explain who, when, what and how our Heritage Fund was squandered by the conservatives you trusted and regularly voted for. Don’t bother to attack my findings but read and study the failures of those you blindly vote for.
Esa Salonen
Pincher Creek
-1
Former fiscal conservative AB Premier Peter Lougheed had ‘Six Principles’ for resource development which were, not, followed by subsequent AB Conservative governments. They are: “Behave like an owner, Collect your fair share, Save for a rainy day, Go slow, Add value, and Practice statecraft.”
Lougheed lived long enough to witness the financial mess being created for which will affect Alberta negatively into infinity. Add to that the $billions in infrastructure debt left by the Klein era and it’s even more of a downer yet.
Norway, even though they are a country, did follow Lougheed’s ‘Principles.’ and they now have over $1 trillion (Canadian) in their Sovereign Trust Fund for the benefit of all Norwegians. Norway did not do royalties with their oil and gas sector, they instead, did a fair tax on oil and gas sector profits which not only generated funds for all Norwegians but allowed their oil and gas sector to thrive. Alberta being part of a federation could have had at least a few $hundred billion in our Heritage Trust Fund, but……
As an Albertan, born and raised, I stopped voting for the AB Conservatives even before the Klein era because of this, and their hostility toward front line health care professionals, unfair taxation…on and on. I agree, that the AB Conservatives did not advocate for all Albertans who were the actual owners of our oil and gas resources, is unconscionable.
What is even more sad yet, is that Alberta now has a sputtering populist authoritarian ultra right wing government. That folks do not understand the difference between the Lougheed era more inclusive fiscal conservatism as opposed to the angry, divisive, unwise, vindictive Kenney UCP populist authoritarianism, is unfortunate, indeed.
You have nailed it. Norway collects a 78% tax on their oil wealth and look what it’s done for them. I was there about four years ago and the benefits from this wealth was huge. Absolutely no costs for education. In fact university students pay no tuition fees and receive $1,000. per month each instead. All health care costs are covered including all drugs.The list goes on and on and like Alaska they followed what Lougheed was doing in Alberta taking it a step further.
They also have 40% sale tax only on items that are considered to be expensive toys, such as fancy water ski boats, snowmobiles, skidoo’s etc.
It keeps their young people from running up huge debts which is a smart move.
I have been to Alaska twice over the past few years. Alaska has $66.3 billion in their Alaska Permanent Fund even though their oil production isn’t anywhere near what Alberta’s is and they collect as much as 60% on some projects, and every man, woman, and child has received around $45,000. US each in annual oil dividend cheque’s since 1982. They pay no state taxes and their property taxes are next to nothing.
Because of their blind support of these phoney conservatives Alberta has allowed their oil royalties to be dropped from 35% of oil production to a pathetic 3% the lowest in the world.
How many of these senior couples in Alberta could have used $90,000. to put towards their retirement instead of letting these phoney conservatives help their rich friends steal it?
According to economist Trevor Tombe of the U of C if these previous phoney conservative governments had continued to collect oil royalties at the Lougheed levels we would have had an additional $575 billion to enjoy.
Oilmen tell me that it’s higher than that because it doesn’t include natural gas royalties these clowns helped screw Albertans out of and I bet they’re right.
Fedup Conservative “Norway is a country!” If Alberta had a nest egg as large as you want the Federal Goverment will find a way to take it away from us and the other Provincial goverments will be sending all of their dependents on welfare to Alberta with a one-way ticket!
As a Province: It can not work! When the Heratage Fund was first proposed; I remember the news papers across the country were full of these similar comments! Lets send our people on welfare to Alberta!
This is one more good reason why Alberta should be an independent country!
Those of us from the world of finance have heard enough from you guys who believe the lies you are being told by these phony conservatives. Being a country has nothing to do with why we are broke and Norway isn’t .So where is your proof that Ottawa is stealing our money when in fact all Canadians pay the same federal taxes and where do you think your Old Age Security , Canada Pension Plan payments and free health care payments comes from ?
Why don’t you do some research there are dozens of articles written about how Albertans believed the Ralph Klein lie that we are being shafted? Too bad you are one of them.
Here is a good one to start with;
“Is Alberta Really Being Shafted With Equalization Payments? We talked to an Expert”
“Debunked: Alberta Doesn’t send the most Money To Ottawa”
Why are you guys so easy to fool? The seniors in my world aren’t that stupid.
I don’t know where you got $45,000 the PFD is between $1000 to $2000 a year. Dunleavy tried to raise it to $6,700 in 2018 but that didn’t happen.
Why don’t you be a hero and pull up the article
“Alaska Permanent Fund” and add up the total annual dividend cheques that have been paid out . Or maybe you should go to Alaska and talk to the people like I have done on two trips there. The fact is they have received the following in the last five years. What did you get while the foreign oil corporations stole your money?
2020 $992.
2019 $1,606.
2018 $1.600.
2017 $1,100.
2016 $1,022.
While you are at it pullup the new article
“Home: Alaska Permanent Fund”
Their fund is now at $69,780,600,000. up from the $66.3 billion when I was there in 2018
And like Norway, Alaska shares with no one other than their state citizens.
Southern Albertan THINK.. The NDP spent our childrens inheritance they (our Children) will be paying for the financial mess the NDP made long after we are gone! The Conservatives have been tasked with the job of cleaning it up! You blame the Conservatives for trying to tackle the debt?! There is no such thing as a free lunch!
Trudeau is also spending the country into a very deep hole; he knows leaving the mess for his successor, will have people like you blaming them (the next goverment) for the Liberal financial mess! Having the attention span of a house fly he knows you will forget his idiocy and reelect him!!
Yes, it was very clever how the NDP made the Progrssive Conservatives spend all that money before they ever held power.
BTW have you seen Kenney’s debt totals? Makes Trudeau look like a miser.
Check the public service wages. There is your answer how clever everyone was. None of them miss a beat in the pandemic, in fact many are crying about how overworked they are. Hey, pay me 100 k year with Cadillac benefits and overwork the hell out of me. That is worth it.
haha! indeed!
Why don’t you do some research so you don’t have to look so stupid. start with the following
“Royalties down 32% Billions in Federal Revenues Lost”
Make certain you read what Peter Lougheed said about how we were being screwed thanks to Klein.
Why are you guys so ignorant when the seniors in my world aren’t?
Dogknox. When Fed Up resorts to putting you down, you have won the discussion. It is usually futile to try and talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance. (Thomas Sowell)
AS you said. Do some research your self, without conservative blinders and bias.
Why don’t you provide some proof instead of just stupid comments? Have you noticed I provide the proof while you have absolutely nothing to back your comments? Did you bother to read the article I made reference to and with Lougheed involved in it how would you dispute it in court?
it is absurd that anyone can blame the lack of heritage fund on the ndp. moreover, to discount the superior results of alaska and norway because they do not pay into equalisation, as does alberta, is also plain stupid. equalisation amounts to a speck of what left alberta due to: gerrymandered “royalty” schemes that allowed oil cos to rake in massive profits and return relatively next to nothing; tax privileges conferred to oil cos; and the massive gifts of direct public monies coming from federal and alberta public coffers and going to oil cos.
the primary reason norwy and alaska fared so well relative to dumb and corrupt alberta is that they held strict to what oil cos would have to return to the public. norway did it best: they maintained over 50% ownership of all cos extracting their resource wealth. alberta: we gave it away…or, more to the point, pc govts gave it away after lougheed’s leadership came to an end.
to add insult to injury, this link is worth the short read, reminding us that we are likely on the hook for the environmental damage left for us to deal with:https://theleap.org/portfolio-items/five-things-that-will-blow-your-mind-about-albertas-oil-and-gas-wells/
I think lawyers have been right we should just start suing anyone who helped put this province in this financial mess. they have absolutely nothing to defend themselves with considering all the true facts staring them in the face that they have decided to ignore, what do you think?
agreed – suing is essential at this juncture…however, govt being what it is, a bunch of lackeys owned by big corp, we will not expect anything that makes the grafters pay their share.
therefore, i agree also with seth’s comment that follows here. i see the party system as too long broken; democracy is broken; our electoral system is broken…and change for the better will not come from within the system, if for no other reasons than because the system is corrupted.
Since Lougheed, the Conservative government have just played the diversion game like good shysters do to get away with thievery and corruption. “Hey we’ll put a few coins in your front pocket as a diversion, while our partner pick pockets your whole wallet“.
…and no, I’m not an NDP or Liberal supporter for that matter. The whole political system is a cesspool of garbage.
The problem is there are no true conservatives anymore they are Reformers who are only interested in looking after their own wellbeing and that of their rich friends and these stupid seniors aren’t smart enough to understand it.
The Reformers weren’t able to get anywhere under the Reform Party name so the stupid Conservative Parties were dumb enough to allow them to take over their parties and look at the mess they have created.
It was like Don Getty telling me that inviting Liberal Ralph Klein into the Conservative Party was the dumbest thing he ever did. I certainly agreed. The fact is there was nothing Liberal or Conservative about Klein he was a Reformer and Jason Kenney is also.
But these poor ignorant Alberta seniors just don’t get it. They think making up idiotic comments to defend these phony conservatives and show the world how smart they are is all that matters while these phony conservatives are promising to take their money. not only may they end up getting sued, I hope they enjoy standing line at the food banks