Jerry J. Fortin

You know what people, it is about time for this stuff to happen. Its been a long time coming and maybe now we can finally deal with the issues. The Middle East has been a powder keg since '46. I mean 60 years is a long time, generations have gone by as the entire world watches people die. Let the chips fall where they may, but let those folks decide how they want to live, or die without our interference. If Israel wants to do whatever it wants, and the Arab states want to do whatever it is that they want, well its certainly not up to me. Or you folks either really. If you want to do something for these people then go over there and enlist on whatever side you want. But lets not drag every nation in the world into what can only be described as a religious war.

Best plan for Israel; Give 72 hours notice to deliver the three citizens or face the forced evacuation of the West Bank and the destruction of Gaza. If the citizens are not returned within 72 hours, clean out the West Bank and level Gaza with artillery. The next day call a media meeting to watch bulldozers puch the rubble of Gaza into the sea. Build a nice little park on the newly created land and put a memorial on it with an epitaph.

I think it is clear that North Korea has promised to conduct nuclear war on the United States should they make an attempt to utilize a pre-emptive strike. Having said this in public, the Americans have now lost face in eastern terms. Kim is winning the propaganda war, big time. A couple more screw ups by Bush and he will lose the support of China. Then there will be nobody to turn this off when it gets started.

Watch for the rise of the Democratic Party!

Direct Democracy, let the politicians propose legislation and let the citizens decide whether or not to accept it.

You're right Jerry. Soon the Chinese will be making everything. Cars, car parts, hard drives, TVs, MP3 players... We'll just be doing the McJobs of retail and collecting garbage...Except. Surely the Chinese are not going to keep sending us cars and car parts for free. At some point, surely, the Chinese are going to want something in return. No? Well yeah that is true. It won't kill me here in Alberta, we will still be selling them oil and by then I will be retired and living on a pension anyway. But the folks in central Canada will see a hell of a lot of jobs disappear overnight.

irrelevent. That would depend on your point of view! Charles do work for somebody or are you self employed?

Once again the government doesn't have a clue what to do. At the same time private industry doesn't either. You would think that such a small problem could be handled, but no. Alberta needs people to come here and work, but we just can't get enough people here quick enough. Meanwhile in eastern Canada they are complaining about an influx of immigrants. Ahh.... excuse me but duh....! Tell you what, if your city doesn't want these people than forfeit an affordable housing credit to them and stick them on a bus to Alberta. Have the feds kick in another credit and ship it here too. We build a place for them to live, and we give them a place to work. Then we will collect their taxes which the feds will ship back to you in an equalization transfer payment!

Without developing a military industrial complex in Canada that would be folly. We would be better off just writing checks to the foreign defence contractors and keeping our sons and daughters alive.

I am an Albertan, and I am not involved in the oil patch. But I have my own little opinion on royalty rates. For openers, our royalty rates are amongst the lowest in the world. Both Norway and Alaska charge lower rates than we do, that is true. But it is a little more expensive to get the oil out of the sand than out of rock or under the water. So the government recognized this and made some changes to the tax regime. That policy has worked to a large degree. To arbitrarily change the regime in place would no go over well with the oil company investors, but we could and probably should negotiate a more equitable distribution of realized profits considering the climb in market price. The oil companies can afford to do this, and the province actually needs to do this, let me tell you why. A large portion of our oil revenue is derived from conventional wells, and their production rates are falling. The known reserves of this type of oil are finite and this is where we get most of our production. The oil companies know this. As our economic position changes they have to realize that our political position will also change. They likely have some shelved plans to deal with this. There is a large price difference between biumen and synthetic oil, and there seems to be some colusion in the market pricing of bitumen. There is a lot more going on the oil patch than what meets the eye. At the moment Albertas are getting about .25 on a barrel of oil from the tar sands. We also have one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and its all related to tar sands development. We have no provincial debt and no budget deficit. So in dealing with the oil companies they will take a hardline position, and we will need a government with a spine to work with them. The long and the short of it is that we are not getting a sufficient return on investment from this sector. The investment is the tax benefits granted to the companies by the government in the name of the tax paying citizen. This is where the rubber will hit the road and some traction will finally kock in with the public. While Albertans are by and large conservative by nature, and true capitalists to the core, when it comes to government we are strangely enough largely democratic in spirit. The conflict we are about to walk into is one which will pitt democracy verses capitalism to the forefront of our local political agenda. Whether people will want to believe it or not, there is going to be a conflict very shortly over this very subject because citizens want taxes to fall. But unless the oil companies are dealt with this can't happen. Strangely Albertans will find themselves taking a position of individual rights verses capitalistic profit motive because of the impact to the family. It is not as if we will take a hard left, God forbid, but we will take a citizen first approach on a slight libertarian curve. The government being seen as the major culprit, and the oil patch seen as the one caught between a rock and a hard place. Albertans will sympathize with the oil industry and at the same time become more angry with the government. I will predict that this very issue will cause the demise of the Conservative government in Alberta within the next few years. It could very well create a separatist sentiment in reaction to parlimentary government in Alberta.

There is only one solution. You need to go over there to talk to him one on one. You tell him straight up that your citizens are not very happy with the threat of a nuclear confrontation. Then you ask him what his intentions are. While you are doing this you tell him that blackmail isn't an option. Its time to get a grip, a threat to peace is a call to war. If he wants peace then he shuts up and does as he is told. If he wants war then he can do what he likes. Be a man, make the call.

The last thing I would choose to support is a King! I favor a republic, a nice tri-cameral system with at least the hope of democracy available to the public.

The reason they can sell a car for about a third of what we do is because they are paying their workers about $3.00 an hour. Now having said that, when everybody wakes up and has had a cup of coffee I would like them to think about that for a minute. So its cheaper to buy those imported products, and we stop buying our domestic products. That money disappears out of the country and goes into the pockets of the factory owners in China. No problem we say, the guy earned those dollars by making a product that I chose to purchase. So off we go and tell our friends about the great deal we got on a car. They all agree and go buy some cars too. Pretty soon, they have to quit making those domestic cars because nobody wants to spend that much money anymore. Of course there were about 100 different suppliers of parts to build those cars, so they stop making car parts too. Now with all of those thousands of unemployed people having a reduced income they don't buy as much stuff as they used to. Now the little shops in their local towns lose a lot of their income which was realized from catering to those citizens who lost their jobs. The little shops start to close, some move into the big cities but lots don't they just go out of business. Now all of the doctors and lawyers, and the accountants start moving out of the little towns too, because they needed those citizens to provide them with employment. On and on it goes, getting worse each step of the way. These things are not merely possible, they are damned likely because of our short sighted economic policy.

Just another reason to have an independent Alberta. Get rid of direct taxation. Slap a sales tax on things but no witholding or other income taxes at all. It works, run the numbers.

Well I simply have to agree that the treaties were and are legally binding documents. I would love to see the governments honour the damned things and remove this stain on the hearts and minds of citizens. I for one am tired of getting beat up for what the damned government does or does not do. My family has lived in Canada for a few hundred years and in all that time the government has not lived up to its obligations, that in itself is a tragedy. But I must ask again, how do we get out of this problem? How much land is being contested? I will say this with respect to land. If it is in private hands then compensation will have to be made to the current owners at fair market value, if it is government land, no charge. If the land has a business on it, good deal for the natives because they should be entitled to a lease fee from it. Does that sound fair?

Are you folks nuts? First of all I contest that the Alberta economy will tank anytime in the forseeable future. Is inflation hitting Alberta, yes. Are housing prices rising,yes. Is that a problem,no. The proposed solutions to this non-problem involves taking more money out of Alberta to slow down the economy and that is simply foolish. This province currently funds 90% of the federal equalization program as is. We have no debt or deficit and are able to fund and provide all the programs and services we desire. So we are subsidizing the rest of the nation with our tax dollars and taking care of our own citizens at the same time. There is no reason for the fed bank to interfere with our economy nor is there any reason for the federal government to take any action on our behalf to attempt to control the economy. What is it that you people want to do create another NEP here? Don't go there! Look the current inflationary pressures in Alberta are associated with growth. There is always problems associated with growth. What we need right now is simply the time and political space to act in our own interests. The market price of oil will continue to climb, you can expect $1.50 per litre by Christmas, or about $100.00 per barrel. Demand will continue to outpace supply for the near future anyway. To step into the Alberta economy and perhaps comprimise the necessary growth in that industry will further raise the price of fuel. So messy around with our economy will impact the entire nation in an adverse way, at least it could. What Alberta needs to do is bring more people to the province and get the labour supply and demand issue under control first. That will reduce wages to some degree but will speed development which is limited by the labour supply. The reason housing is in short supply is because any tradesman with a brain is headed to a mega project somewhere in Alberta out in the boon docks. There just isn't enough of them left to build enough houses to keep up to that demand. With the increase in population we will require more public infrastructure as well, schools and hospitals and that kind of thing. But the bottom line is that real estate is going through the roof because of demand, and that is the simple truth. The reason for that we have already discussed, but that is the ONLY thing going on in Alberta, a boom. On the other hand this boom is like no other that we have seen before. At this point we are talking about multi-billion dollar development that extends into the next decade. The damned government of King Ralph has simly no clue as to how to handle this situation, neither does the Tory party. What we have happening here is that the government doesn't want to spend money on infrastructure and development because they fear the impact on the new fiscal situation that we find ourselves in. They don't want to go into debt, but they don't know how to avoid it. So they do nothing and sit on their hands while the average Albertan watches home prices go through the roof. Its making current Alberta citizens rich but it is preventing any new residents to benefit. The government doesn't give a damn about the citizens, they care about their revenue streams. Since the province doesn't get anything from property taxes they simply don't give a damn about real estate. The province doesn't deal with schools or hospitals either these things are all local authorities. While it is true that the province funds the local efforts, they do not administer them and hence the direct heat from that supply and demand issue doesn't touch their desks. See nothing and hear nothing is the motto with the Tory government. The problem with Alberta is local, its our business because there is nothing that can be done about it from any other level. Taking money out of the province will merely detract from our ability to solve the problems we already have. Don't mess with interest rates, don't mess with the monetary system, don't do a damn thing to interfere in this local issue. We will look after it ourselves, and if we don't, that will be our problem too!

Giving them a pass for any reason is simply not acceptable, politically expedient or not. The situational ethics that are so common these days cause more problems than they solve. The entire concept of grey scale politics sucks big time.

While you may having been waiting for this development, you haven't said what you think will happen. I submit that we will soon be playing a global game in which we will not be able to compete. In a very real sense what is at stake is our standard of living.

Citizens are different everywhere? I contest that within some basic parameters, I think they are the same in that they all want the same thing, less taxes and more freedom from government oppression and interference in our lives. Where in the world are citizens not like that?

Look people we are beating this to death without purpose. We cannot change the past, that is a fact. We are not responsible for the sins of our fatheres, that is a fact. Now having said that there is a problem to be solved. I suggest that solving the problems are more relevant than pointing fingers and blaming everything under the sun for the tragic mistakes that were made. I think that the Kelowna Accord was a step in the right direction, are there a disenting opinion to this?

Hey that is right isn't it! The price of gold was pegged during that period of time.

Thats the pont isn't it! From my perspective we have a sad case of triplication going on that while it employs a lot of citizens, I can't say that I find any tax dollar value in bureaucracy. Between the politicians and the bureaucrats nothing gets done and we spend a lot of money doing it. Make the Mayors sit in Provincial Legislatures as representatives, let the Provincial Legislatures sit in the House of Commons. Let the people elect a single leader for the entire nation and let them ride herd on all of the rest of the politicians. Do something ! Anything to stop the multi-directional navigation problems in politics. Citizens are the same everywhere. We all want the same thing, less taxes and more freedom from government oppression and interference in our lives.

I kind of like it. It means that years will pass before the dummies will do something wrong!

Going back to the gold standard would really anger the bankers. Hell, the actual control of the money supply rests with them nowadays, with something like 90% of the total money supply not in hard currency but instead created as interest bearing debt!! Converting would be a bitch. But you are right in that through manipulating the money supply you do get real effects. I live in Alberta so I am not a big fan of equalization at all. That little plan takes billions of dollars out of Alberta every year. Taxes are supposed to be levied to provide REAL services to the citizen being levied. How the hell is that true in the case of an Alberta citizen?

Well have at 'er mate! This nation will not learn so it must suffer some consequences. It could be so simple to fix the problems but that would require balls and a spine to be politically incorrect. As far as I am concerned this nation is effectively politically incompetent. To fix the problem they need to completely restructure both the Senate and the Commons. All provinces are supposed to be equal to the federal government in this commonwealth nation. But not a single effort was ever made to ensure this reality. Since the nation has no desire to "open the can of worms", that unratified piece of junk of a constitution, to deal with the issues, oh well what can I say! We have part time Mayors, Premiers and a part time Prime Minister. Any citizen that showed up for work as often as these guys do would find themselves looking for work on a regular basis. Ole Ralph Klein only had the Legislature up and running 39 days one year here in Alberta. Then they wonder why they can't get anything done! Morons!