Tony Hladun

I hear what you're saying, particularly if you get out of Vancouver and Victoria. Even in Alberta Calgary and Edmonton are swinging to the left. If the four Western Provinces could stand together they could do a lot to either get a better deal from Ottawa or as a separate country. With a GDP of around $900 billion (CDN) that would make us about number 20 in the world (Switzerland or Argentina). But BC just won't play along...

Herbie, Here are some facts. Global oil consumption https://www.statista.com/statistics/271823/daily-global-crude-oil-demand-since-2006/ Oil consumption is increasing, not decreasing. Alberta has installed 4.7 GW of wind and solar and just about shut down coal. As I write this 0.062 GW of wind/solar generation is online and the AESO has been posting alerts on capacity shortage available. http://ets.aeso.ca/ets_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet Yes there is climate change but the way we're dealing with it is a joke and is putting us in great peril. The worse error you make is that Ottawa really is out to destroy the fossil fuel industry. If that happens we will buy oil with a 60 cent dollar (just look at Australia today and our dollar was 62 cents before the oil sands expanded). Then you'll see what the pain of inflation is really like. But we're way, way off topic.

What are you talking about???

Eyeball, you call it salmon but it's still a knife in our back. Destroying Alberta will have OPEC replace our production in minutes and it won't solve your problem in the least. Actually China will just burn more coal and global warming will get worse. Be positive, let's work together to come up with solutions that work for you, salmon and Alberta. You joke about tankers in Vancouver harbour but it's a real problem and all you can think about is blockades.

Moonbox has already said it. Trans Mountain may be nearing completion but BC has made it a horror show throughout. Let's just wait and see what happens when tankers sail through Vancouver harbour. BC's lack of cooperation has resulted in an undersized line being built to the worst location for a tanker terminal. What Alberta (and Sask and Manitoba) need is a utility corridor to Prince Rupert. BC has never sorted out indigenous land claims so every project is an endless battle. Let's see where the current LNG project goes. In summary, BC has to realise that the world uses fossil fuels and that Western Canada is a global producer of these. Western Canada also needs ocean access for agricultural, mineral and wood products. BC could actually economically and environmentally benefit from sensible development but it repeatedly chooses not to do so.

You're right that north-south alliances would be better but I don't think Quebec and Ontario would ever agree and after Quebec tried the legislation is stacked to prevent separation. Alberta could survive on it's resources but what can't happen is that, every time we square off with Ottawa, BC stabs us in the back. BC has to help and it's never done so in the past.

Here we go. What's your thoughts on the ASA? I'm an Albertan and I do feel that Ottawa plays fast and loose with what are provincial responsibilities. As an example, Canada is a country of energy consumers and energy producers (we are the 4th largest oil producer in the world). Ontario and Quebec, where the population is, are energy consumers so Ottawa is very consumer oriented. But resource development is a Provincial responsibility but by CO2 regulation and no-pipelines Ottawa tries to choke that industry which is Canada's largest net exporter. So Notley tried to cozy and Kenney wrote letter's and both got nowhere, but DS, as she says, is trying something different. If Ottawa oversteps its Constitutional bounds or if it targets Alberta with legislation it does make sense for Alberta to fight back. Quebec does it with not-withstanding all the time. Now to negotiate with Ottawa you need a process which the ASA lays out in law. So far it seems the biggest criticism is that the Alberta Cabinet is given the power to act, but how else would you do it? It sounds like the critics want everyone in Alberta, at a given time, to shout "Ottawa is a bad boy!". Now where would that get us. So guys pull those those pins and throw those grenades.

As Dougie93 says QE is the new variable. The US started in 2008 but Japan has been at it for a longer time and it's not turned out well for them. No gain in Nikkei since 1990. Central banks can now influence long term bond rates and that's deadly. It's like having drunks control the price of liquor.

This thread has gone exactly to where it proves the concern I tried to express in my video. It's now all name calling and accusation and principles and issues are long forgotten. "In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve." Joseph de Maistre We deserve no better.

Here's why I was CEO of a software company dealing with the DoD and the Minister of Defence at the time was Kim Campbell. The media decided she would be the next PM and it was interesting to watch how the media made that happen. Allison Redford had little (none I believe) support from the MLA's and look at her reign. On the other hand, Trudeau studied drama and that's the perfect qualification today.

Yes I didn't talk about leadership. Firstly, the Conservative parties need a plan. Then they need to pick a leader that is consistent with that plan. In Alberta we have made picking the UCP leader a popularity contest and what have we gotten? I like the way counties do it where you elect the councillors and then they elect a reeve. The media would never tolerate that.

Moonbox, The quote at the end of your post is quite demeaning, but I'll ignore it. You seem to want to take the esoteric intellectual high ground. So OK, in simple terms why do we have inflation?

Moonbox, Thanks for your comments. When I talk about carbon tax to have it work you need to have a family sit at the kitchen table and decide whether they will buy food or gasoline. We're not, and won't be, doing that. A refundable carbon tax has not reduced consumption. We can study and debate monetary theory forever and I admit I'm no expert, but I think the explanation is actually simple. If the central bank aggressively buys government bonds (QE) you will have trouble.

dialamah, Thanks, you make good points. I'll add a few comments. If Conservatives had a plan I'm hoping that would take away some of the support for the extreme right. There's a vacuum there now and the extremists fill it. In talking about government debts you have to include provincial debts which add a lot. The problems with debt become more of an issue as interest rates rise; as is happening now. If you look at Canada as a resource supplier than our economy is stronger than the US, but if look at technology than the US is stronger. So, as always, it depends. Regarding CC I would say WHAT CAN WE DO NOW. Here are four quick suggestions: In Alberta we've converted our coal plants to run on gas. Trouble is those plants have a thermal efficiency of about 30% when a phone call to GE could get gas turbine combined cycle plants that are 60% efficient. Good publicity but bad engineering. EV's are not the answer, PHEV's are. PHEV's allow for a gradual transition that can start today. The batteries in one EV could electrify about 10 PHEV's so you get leverage. Also, most commutes are short and could be done on electric power rather than lugging 1,500 lbs of batteries you never use. Over 160 ships and submarines are powered by small nuclear reactors like is being talked about today. They have long operational records. Stop talking and build them! When I grew up on the farm we put storm windows on in the fall. Let's do things to make buildings more energy efficient. Not just gimmick new construction but what about existing buildings. Canada is two countries in one. We are an energy producer and and energy consumer rolled into one. It's like taking Kuwait and gluing it onto France. Right now I say the energy consumers are blaming and crippling the energy producers but doing nothing positive.

Traditional Conservative parties don't have a plan for becoming the Government with current Canadian voter preferences. They've tried Liberal-light approaches but those don't work. Do they need to go back to traditional Conservative values and either win or lose on principles and integrity? I've put together a YouTube video with some suggestions. I hope you find it interesting. Thanks in advance for looking at it and I look forward to comments. There's an error at 4:53 where I say "lower cost of living". I meant to say "lower standard of living".

Don't hold back boys...have at it. I'm done here.

Who are you talking to and what are you trying to say???

I've stated the simple facts, you've spun a beautiful conjecture and, yes, it would be news to you My definition of anti-vax is literal...against vaccination when I refer to COVID boosters.

Talked to another friend yesterday, 2 days after COVID booster he came down with COVID. This is beyond coincidence, there's a real problem here with people getting infected by the boosters. They've made me an anti-vaxer.

Except for indigenous peoples, we are all children of immigrants here. That said, today we have to ask the question...do we need more immigrants? We are a sparsely populated country so we have a large per capita carbon footprint. Do we need more of that? Our wealth comes from resource development and agriculture. Do new immigrants, who seem to settle more in large urban centres, contribute to our productivity in those economic areas? What we need is job creation and capital investment. Certain types of immigrants do that but how many are they? We also need to think hard about diversity. Cultures don't easily meld and blend and maybe our grandparents weren't totally stupid when they emphasised the "melting pot" focus. The main pro argument seems to be we need people to look after us in our old age. If that were true then China and India should be geriatric heavens, but I don't think that's the case. I know this is highly politically incorrect by today's standards but maybe it something we should think about.

There's so much fear and hate that any climate change discussion is totally wasted. What we want and what we do are totally disconnected. Something to think about...The Persians invented the windmill in about 600 AD. Then for about 1,000 years, until the dawn of the industrial revolution, the earth used green wind and wood energy; no fossil fuels. On the evolutionary scale humans were just as intelligent then as they are today. Yet at the end of that period the earth could support a population of only about 600 million people mostly struggling to survive. The economy was agricultural and territorial wars and colonisation were used to gain added agricultural production. Most of the energy was human labour supplied by serfdom and slavery. Not a glowing achievement for the green economy.

Last week I had my COVID booster and this week I was ill and tested positive for COVID. My wife had the 4X flu booster and this week she's got a bad flu but doesn't test positive for COVID. A friend of hers also got the COVID shot and became ill but I don't have details. I almost never get the flu so maybe this is just a coincidence, but we have some real concerns here. In the COVID hysteria is there enough testing, are the doses getting too strong, are the lock-downs weakening immune systems, etc.? We have taken the shots because we are in our 70's and we believe we should not burden the health care system by becoming ill when we can prevent it, but it makes you think.

There's only one way to check this out. Is the Monaco Yacht Club arming it's boats? (They're the ones that sailed her across the Atlantic with great publicity a few years ago.) Have there been some 50 cal machine gun orders mixed in with the caviar and champagne? Seriously, it's COP27 and she's got a new book. I've said in the past that, when it hit's the fan, there's enough to cover everybody. There is so much fear and hate associated with climate change then even if we did have a miracle cure there'd be those that would oppose it. Incidentally, we do have a miracle cure and it's called nuclear power and look what's happened to it!