Hydraboss

"Are you blaming white racism against other non-whites/minorities because other white people point out that other white people are being racist? And then accusing them of inflaming other white people's racism? " What I am saying is that people like Margrace love to call white males racist to the point of exclusion for other peoples. I am also sick to death of the apparent fact that ONLY white males can be racist. Everyone is racist. Period. There is not a soul on Earth that is not, given the right set of circumstances. If a Chinese guy stole your new car, you would be using some race-slandering comment to describe him to your friends. If the guy was Indian, same would apply. If the guy was white, you would find an equally degrading comment like "drunk", "stoner" or "neo-Nazi". People like Margrace wish only for the entire white race in Canada to become self-deprecating, apologetic for their ancestor's actions, and willing to give their entire earnings to seniors and new immigrants. Anyone who refuses (and is white) is racist, biggoted, selfish, self-serving, and most certainly is not CANADIAN. I, for one, am very tired of being called un-Canadian. So who makes the rules as to what is Canadian and what is not? You? If the way I feel is not Canadian, then let my province seperate and we'll do things our way. You Liberals can have the rest.

Perfectly racist comment, Margrace. "There will always be ignorant and racist white people" People like you make these types of comments and then wonder why people react badly to "minorities". Us ignorant, racist white people are tired of being the only people on the face of the planet that could possibly be racist. And you ignorant, racist white people making stupid comments such as this only serve to inflame the situation. So as far as you're concerned, there is no such thing as a racist "minority"? Indians aren't racist? East Indians aren't racist? Chinese aren't racist? Blacks aren't racist? What about Ukrainians? They're minorities, but also white. Does that make them "mostly racist"? Or maybe a "white minority" and therefore not racist? What a bunch of BS.

I forget. Which is the biblical quote that says, "And the son shall ride on the coat tails of the father, and shall put forth the ideas of the father, and shall have fame based solely on the fact that he shares his father's name, and he shall destroy the kingdom as his father tried to do." Stignasty, Stephen Harper does not represent Alberta. He is a birch tree. For those of you who do not know, the single largest organism in the world is a grove of birch trees. While they appear to be individuals, they are in fact "suckers" that sprung from the same root system. They look seperate, but there is really no difference between any of them. Harper will not protect Alberta from Trudeau, because he is no different from Trudeau. That is like saying, "I would rather be beaten to death with a blue bat than a red bat."

Please God, Let Justin T win his riding. And then let him win the party leadership. And then let him win a majority general election. And then let me get the contract to build the fence between Canada and the West. And then let me be the one to shut off the valve. Thanks, Me. ---------------------- If Justin Trudeau is like his father, then he will be pushing the multi-cultural, communist, steal-from-the-west, here comes another NEP agenda. Federal theivery. Personally, I would love nothing more than to see JT go through the motions and win a general election. It would certainly forward my agenda of choice in the West.

So this thread has been going for about four months, and the tally stands at 60% in favor of seperation as posed in the original poll questions. So let's change it up. Of those people who voted "yes" to allowing seperation, should Alberta be allowed to seperate if a referendum got, say, 50%+1? Let's assume that the province assumes it's share of debt and CPP liability. If you're from Alberta and even if you don't want to seperate, should the province have this power?

Hey Gerry (Catchme), would you please do us all a favor and look up the meanings of the words "slander" and "liable"? For someone who professes to be all-knowing, you seem to have overlooked a simple concept. By the way, the whole slander/liable thing has been dealt with in the past (as you know) and generally it is viewed as grandstanding. My lawyer can beat up your lawyer. On a side note, anyone know if there were any NHL players that got a Hatrick last night? Just wondering.

"A tax is going to shut down Alberta?" Guyser, let's get this straight. All people have priorities, it's natural. Right now, the environment is the new black. But take that same person and put him in a position where he has to choose between his money going to save 1/3 of 1% of the world's GHG emissions, and his money going to more doctors when little Johnny gets sick. No brainer. He'll say "screw the environment". The same principle applies when you jepardize someone's livelyhood, and he can't buy little Johnny a Christmas present because he lost his job due to cutbacks. When people talk about carbon taxes on Alberta, they rarely understand the impact it would have on the province...and let's not get into the NEP talk, let's look at the reality. A vast majority of the jobs in Alberta are directly related to O&G and it's spinoffs. Take that money and employment out of the economy, and little Johnny gets nothing. That is when you will see the "I'm all for doing everything to protect the environment" crowd change their tune to "screw the environment, screw the federal government, screw the ROC". How would you react if the government, an environmental cartel, and I decided that the company you work for will be taxed to the point that they will lay you off? Are you prepared to say "it's okay, it's helping the environment"? If you think you would say that, then A) You smoke waaaay too much drugs or you've never had any bills and committments. As for seperation, if the aforementioned situation were to happen you would see the Kwebek-West thing happen in a hell of a hurry. People are willing to stay in Canada so long as it doesn't negatively affect their quality of life. Once it does, the rah-rah-flag-waving crowd will sing a different tune. As Charles Anthony so often puts it, "It's always about the money."

Great. Carbon tax. Nifty idea. Geoffrey said it clearly. Expect $2.00/liter gasoline. Same with diesel. If anyone places an additional carbon tax on oil and gas producers, all you will see is a pass-through from CAPP and SEPAC. There is nothing illegal about them raising their wholesale fuel prices as high as they would like. Collusion is outlawed, but not the concurrent decision of corporations to increase market price. When you force a company to become unprofitable, said company will close or move. Tree-huggers go home. Canada produces approximately 1/3 of 1 percent of the world's GHG. So please don't continue with the platitudes about "reducing" this, and "cutting back" on that. If Canada completely shut down all GHG production, there would still be 99 2/3% of existing production worldwide. Try and shut my nation of Alberta down over such a ridiculously miniscule target, and you'll see seperation. And about damn time.

Catchme, allow me to let you in on a few things: 1) Propaganda has always been, and will always be, used by the government of the day. Kyoto is good? Brainwashing . 2) The Liberals will ensure that Canada remains vibrant and economically viable. Brainwashing . See point 1. 3) Canada, as a country, has values. Brainwashing . Canadians have values, not countries. 4) Canadians are not apathetic. Brainwashing . Canadians are as apathetic as people can get. 5) The members of the military do not want to be in Afganistan. Brainwashing . Canadian troops believe in their mission. A suggestion for you: IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM! Incidentally, Canadians ARE pathetic. CB hit it on the head in his posts. As long as the people of a country are willing to allow millions and billions to be spent on "culture" and "foriegn aid" while Canadian children starve, the word pathetic will have to do.

WDW, here we go...(insert tongue in cheek) What I am saying is if the ROC wants a 15% carbon tax (just made the number up), then Alberta can say "no problem". We'll just double the price we charge the ROC for a barrel of oil, and you can take 15% of that (which would effectively be a 30% tax on the current price in true dollars). Alberta doubles the price, everyone in Canada pays twice as much at the pump (even more money for the fed's), and then the Alberta govenment refunds money back to ALBERTANS ONLY to effectively bring the price of gas for ALBERTANS back down to today's prices. Tree-huggers and liberals are now happy because there is a carbon tax (in addition to GST increases, etc), and Albertans are happy because they pay the same for gas and our province gets richer becausse of increased royalties charged on all oil and gas sold to the ROC. The oil producers are happy because although they are being charged a carbon tax, they get to charge the ROC a ridiculous amount for their product; net gain for them. The only unhappy people will be the poor schmuck's that have to pay double for their gasoline. Keep in mind that Alberta can do this very same thing with natural gas stock used by eastern factories, raw stock for home heating fuel, and everything else that comes out of the ground in this province. Bring on global warming and carbon taxes. We're ready.

I don"t know why this is such a problem. Want a "carbon tax" in Alberta because that will cure global warming? Okay, get after it. Put two taxes on if you want. It's all very simple (use your own units of measure/price): Alberta sells oil at $65.00 CAD per barrel (I know, this changes daily) right now + $0.00 per barrel carbon tax. Canadians pay approx $0.849 per liter for regular unleaded. (insert carbon tax here) Alberta now sells oil at $130.00 CAD per barrel + $19.50 CAD per barrel (15%) carbon tax (this price only applies to oil sold in Canada, not the US). Canadians will now pay $1.88 per liter for regular unleaded. Albertans receive $1.03 per liter rebate from the provincial government, and therefore only pay net $0.85 per liter. The ROC now gets their carbon tax that makes the world a better place. They also get to pay over 200% increase for gasoline. Albertans agree to pay the extra $0.001 per liter in the name of combatting global warming. Problem solved. Anyone wanna hear my idea for home heating fuel (which we don't really use here in Alberta)????

How about a 1.5% income tax reduction on the first $30,000 earned? Or an overall 20% income tax that has no exceptions, deductions or other bullshit? So no deductons for popping out more rugrats? And no $500 sports refund vote purchase? If we can raise the tax-exempt amount to $15,000 I'm all for it. Careful now, or you'll be labelled anti-Canadian or seperatist or low-income-hating. I suggested this same structure and was shot to hell not that long ago. The experts should be out soon screaming the reasons why flat tax doesn't work.

jdobbin, please tell me you were not replying to CB's quote about Mr.Brutus. I agree that the Mennonite people should not be denied citizenship. Scum like Mr. Brutus do not deserve risk assessments; if they are killed in their own country...well...darn. What have these Mennonites done that threaten the country? Bake too many loaves of bread? Raise too many chickens? I don't recall any reports of Mennonite gangs running rampant in the streets. As much as I a believer in black and white laws, I also believe that there must be allowances for paperwork screw-ups. Grant them their citizenships and be done with it. And deport all the criminal immigrants - regardless of what they face in their country of citizenship. Even if it's Syria.

Hastings Street, which connect downtown Vancouver to Burnaby before becoming highway seven and going all the way to the suburbs, first runs through Vancouver East Side. What you see there now is still not pretty, but at least you no longer see drug-addicts shooting up in the streets. Hundreds of overdoses have also been diverted by having these safe-injection sites. For you the bottom-line may be all that's involved, and that's merely another factor to consider. But for many others, myself included, there are other aspects of the program which you just can't put a monetary value on. It's always about the bottom line. In reality, everything we do is connected to money. And this is not a social issue, it is a health issue and therefore a provincial responsibility. Anything can be connected to a "social issue" if you try hard enough; it's just a matter of degrees. BC should pay for it's own addicts, and in their own way. Want "come and relax while you shoot up illegal drugs" sites? Pay more provincial tax. It's high time (pun intended) that people started taking responsibilty for themselves. Nobody is paying for my stop-smoking aids. Why not? It's an addiction and therefore the government (read: the taxpaying public) should be footing the bill. And my beer. Yes, my beer. Pay for that too because I could be an alcoholic. By the way, I think I may be addicted to sex too. Guess what that means....

I think you would have to define who "the public" is. People within my sphere agree with me for the most part. Be it museums or any other type of entertainment, no one should be forced to pay for the enjoyment of another. Example: The town I live in proposed a $20 million dollar long term loan to modify a recreational facility with the usual two ice rinks, three indoor soccer pitches, seniors running track, etc.. The plebicite takes place and guess what? 72% opposed. One year later, the town proposes a $30 million dollar facility to be built "somewhere in the area". Plebicite happens, and guess what? 87% opposed. Why? Everyone was very vocal that the facility was a great idea, that it would no doubt benefit all the kid's teams, the beer league adult teams and seniors. But the minute it was announced that the "average" tax bill would go up over $200 per year, the "vocal majority" was just that...vocal. 87% said "we're not paying for someone else's kid to play". Had this same complex been funded and built by a private corporation, and just charged appropriate admission to use it, people would have probably flocked to vote "yes" to some municipal funding/tax breaks/etc... There is a fine line that can be crossed between helping your fellow man with "essentials" and paying for his "wants". When the line is crossed and costs Average Joe a noticable amount of his hard-earned cash, the answer will undoubtably be a resounding "NO".

No he isn't. I am saying that they are people that believe as you do; the majority must pay for the entertainment of the minority. Socially enriching? Sure, why not? Taking my friends and family out in my boat is also socially enriching and desperately needed. Where should I send the $150/weekend fuel bill? To you?

That's not neccessarily true. Many times the EUB and AESO come down hard on overspending. Companies are regulated to keep a tight ship. Transmission costs have decreased since deregulation, it's the only aspect of the system that has. Energy trading has something to do with this... a little research project for anyone that's interested. Not true. If the company hedges poorly and pays 50% more than they should for NG futures, they have the legislated ability to raise the cost of gas on your bill. Remember, this is "pass through" billing, as the residential suppliers are not allowed to make a profit on the cost of the gas (bs). So there is no incentive to buy smart because all they have to do is show that in the last quarter the cost was higher than their billing rates, and the EUB lets them retroactively increase bills. (It's called Rate Riders) Have the transmission rates gone down in Calgary? Northern and central Alberta trans rates have gone up considerably. In fact, the suppliers up here (you know, the ones who have been around a long time) admitted about three years ago that they mistakenly underbilled southern Alberta customers and overbilled the rest of us. They were instructed to payback this overbilling to customers, but it has not been done yet. Where is the "coming down hard" part? The more generation companies that come on line, the more our bills will stay the same. Competition is about as much a reality as the price of gas for your car. You can pay 88.9/liter here, or go across the street and pay 88.9/liter. Choices, choices, choices.

I think it is an overall downturn in the economy that might have a bigger impact. It doesn't have to all be about oil. jdobbin, you are absolutely right. If the economy as a whole takes a downturn, then all of industry (from the patch to Canadian Tire) will feel it in a big way. I just don't believe that oil alone will completely kill the provincial economy. LFC, it amazes me as well when I sit and have a drink with wireline engineers (a patch related job) that make upwards of $250k/year and listen to them whine that they might not make the house payment. WTF? If you have never heard it before, I will recite the Alberta Oilpatch Prayer (relax, you religious types!): PLEASE GOD, LET IT COME AGAIN. I PROMISE NOT TO PISS IT ALL AWAY THIS TIME.

Not a big deal really. The market will compensate on it's own. Gas drilling goes down, oil drilling goes up. I was in the field when it was the opposite, and everyone (myself included) thought "OOOhhhhh Nooooooo!" We were all wrong. The patch didn't disintegrate, it just changed.

LFC, Alberta has gone through the boom-bust days in the past. The 80's were extremely rough due to the NEP (Figleaf will tell you it never happened). Mortgages shot up to 17-21% and a lot of people just walked away from their homes. I remember driving through Nisku (the industrial park) and seeing guys standing at locked gates wondering where the hell the company they worked for went overnight. When and if the bust comes again, there will be lots of houses for sale, and those Burger King employees will be taking cut-backs if they want to keep their jobs. According to Figleaf, working for $45,000/year for 50 weeks work is akin to slave labour, so do the math on that same job at $5.65/hour. Let's see.....40 hours a week X 50 weeks X $5.65/hr = $11,300.00/year. For some reason, that doesn't seem to be as much as $45,000.000/year. Maybe I'm using a metric calculator or something. It has happened before and it may happen again. A federal Liberal carbon tax should be quite effective in ensuring that. Want to see "hard to get work?" If unemployment numbers hit the same levels as the Maritimes, wait an see what the requirements are to do basic accounting for a small company. Can anyone say "degree required?" There won't be a successful job candidate that doesn't have a high school diploma. And that will include the trades. Grande Prairie has had hard times in the past. So has Ft. Mac. And every other town and city in the province. That recession in particular is what has fueled Alberta's overall hatred of Ottawa. And yes, Figleaf, I know you're about to say the same eastern-centric BS that you always do. Do us all a favor and save it. It just turns into an east vs west slander-fest and it's getting old.

Figleaf, you are clueless. I can only assume that you are simply trolling out of boredom. The kids...yes, kids...that I was referring to are grade 12 graduates (sometimes), work lots of hours, get two weeks off a year (paid), full benefits, share options, 4% automatic RRSP contribution (employer funded - not them personally), can put in another 4% if they wish, are supplied with all workwear and safety gear free of charge, get a ride to work if needed, receive training (on-the-job or apprenticeship if they qualify), and get treated like silver (no, not gold). And for this, the lowest paid ones make around $45,000.00 per year. Did you make that when you graduated high school (assuming you did)? How many people working retail make that much that you personally know? I'm starting to believe that perhaps the reason you have such a chip on your shoulder about Alberta is that you are jealous of what we have here. Perhaps you don't make $45k/year? Does your jealousy cloud your judgement or do you simply respond with the most inflammatory comments you can muster? Why don't you try adding something of value to the discussion.

My three bedroom bungalow just south of Edmonton runs 150-190/month on average. And as a further note, any new transmission lines, plants, etc are paid for on my bill. There is a spot on the bill for the payment of infrastructure, and they like to bill in advance for things they have not built yet. An example would be the additional main transmission to Ft. Mac for which the control board ok'd an increase on all bills issued in northern & central Alberta. Generation companies in this province are legislated not to lose money. If they overspend, they get to increase rates. If they make a purchase of natural gas stock, they get to increase rates. What a deal. Competition (deregulation) in this province has been a major flop, and has cost me thousands in additional billing. Prices go up, and I can live with that. But the bill on my house used to be $43/month. Not anymore.

I would think that almost anyone that spends any time on this board should be able to figure out my vote.

I spend a fair amount of time in FSJ as we have a branch office there. Jobs are plentiful. As far as I'm concerned, though, the place isn't worth the powder to blow it to hell. I have always found it to be dirty and rowdy, and attracts a lot of scum-of-the-earth types. Like my inlaws. If you want money, and like to hunt and/or fish....it could be a great move. There is not, however, enough money on the planet to convince me to raise my kids there.

Again, I'm not in HR. That being said I know that the divisions that are looking include specialty (moving those huge modules up to Ft. Mac) with combination units (40+ wheels?), rig moving (tractor-trailer, bed truck (oil lease off road), and oilfield light haul (drillpipe and other small stuff on tractor-trailer). We don't really have any straight truck, but if I had to make a suggestion it would be to check with DHL (ex-Loomis) and Purolater. The guys that do our route say they are desparate for route drivers and they make a damn good living. And they're all body-jobs.