Alberta Separatism

[idealisttotheend]

Alberta succeeds in spite of it's incompetant government. It does so because it posseses so much oil.

I think people in Alberta are generally as decent, hardworking etc. as anyone in Saskatchewan or Manitoba but I don't think that they are more so even though every one seems to argue that they are because Alberta has more money.

And this:

willy

[Albertans] are special, they have no debt. This is what 60 years of Conservative rule can accomplish. Isn't it beautiful?

is the absolute most "silly" thing that I have ever heard.

Alberta had a Soc Cred government until was it 69 or 72? So the Conservative government has only been in power for about thirty years ("only" lol). In any case it wasn't all that conservative until Klien came along and has gone back to it's more liberal roots spending wise since 98 or 99.

After Getty Alberta had the highest debt per capita in the country. Again, Alberta had the highest debt (and defici) per capita in the entire country and that's with all the resource revenues that their neighbours can only dream of. That was as late as 93. Saskatchewan was actually the first province to slay it's deficit under an NDP government and without the oil revenues Alberta has. This was done well before Alberta did.

If oil is $5 less a barrel Alberta still has plenty of debt so thank OPEC not "60 years of Conservative government"

[Big Blue Machine]

Still, being debt-free in good. Alberta will be a rolemodel for deft-reduction.

[jimrahn]

Maplesyrup you think its a great country, you probably think Cuba is a great country. This country was alot better in the 1950's when we actually had a strong military, a strong family foundation, a strong economy, and a strong democracy. What happened to that country, oh yeah right, that country was evil and facist, and Pierre Trudeau enlightened us.

Your version of Canada is not my version of Canada.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Uh, sorry, but what exactly does Canada having a strong military in the 1950's do with our quality of life in 2005.

Canada's miltary capabilities in the '50s would do nothing to add to our security today, the threat is completely different.

I would argue our economy was stronger.

Back in the 50's, the large military structure Canada maintained sucked megabucks out of the economy, while at the same time Canada's national debt was never higher than in the 1950's.

(Remember World War II? That wasn't paid off until the mid-60's.)

Drive down almost any street in any city or town in the country, look at the houses built in the 1950s and compare them with the houses being built now.

There is no possible way anyone can argue that the standard of living was higher then than it is now.

Just exactly how was democracy stronger? The Charter of Rights put severe limitations on government power to act in an arbitrary fashion.

And I don't think you can realistically blame Pierre Trudeau for everything that is wrong in politics today. He hasn't been prime minister for over twenty years.

Besides, Canada had a Liberal prime minister back in the1950's as well.

That is until John Diefenbaker got elected.

Look at the numbers: When the Conservatives came to power in the late 50's is when the economy went into the toilet.

Fact is, Liberals are better money managers than Conservatives, despite the perception that the opposite is true.

Western Canada historically has experienced the most rapid economic growth when the Liberals were in power in Ottawa.

Case in point: Alberta in the early 80's, boom! boom! boom! Prime Minister: Pierrre Trudeau, Liberal.

Alberta in the late 80's early 90's, bust! bust! bust! Prime Minister: Brian Mulroney, Progressive Conservative.

Anyone see the pattern?

Cheers!

[Hawk]

Its easy to have a surplus when you cut funding to... well, everything =p

You just like seeing the bottom line, conservatives like to know where that money came from and where it goes

That is true money management