actually, should be crediting Harper for the massive devaluation in our dollar by tying our economy to oil. That’s what’s attracting tourists.

All those tourists, flying here, driving here and travelling around once they get here!

Some think that tourism will be the economic saviour of our province. Many of these people also think that the oil and gas industry should be shut down.

But without the oil and gas industry, how will all of those tourists get here in the first place and once here, how will they travel around to see the sights?

I suspect, probably by burning fossil fuels!

Kind of a Catch 22, wouldn’t you agree?

Fate.

Canada’s economy was tied to oil long before Harper came on the scene and will be long after he has left.

Canadian oil is for the most part owned and exported by foreign companies, mostly US, and the Federal Government has very little to do with the industry.

It easy to blame Harper for your personal failures however, surely you can get beyond Harper. Sit back and watch what pretty boy does in the next few years, then you will really have someone to kick.

Wonder how many of the above tourists came to Prince George, or did they all stay in the Vancouver, Vancouver Island area.??

Pal 34 billion dollars of subsities for fossil fuel in 2014 x ten was bad enough but almost all of Canada’s R&D money going to heavy oil . That’s as stupid as it gets . I feel both hopeful and more than a little concerned for engineers graduating wondering what they will do . It would be nice to see them build something rather than digging something up .

Harper was in power for 9 year. The Tar sands did not really take off until 2000. The Sands are very expensive to develop and the oil is expensive to extract. With more research, cheaper extraction methods could probably be found.

It is difficult to find good reliable data on the difference between Norway oil and Canadian oil as far as royalties go. One thing is for sure, the money coming to the state in Norway is far greater than that coming to Alberta. Norway has built itself a large nest egg for times such as we are currently going though while Alberta has not.

Best I can find is that the royalties coming to Albertans is between 5 to 10% of gross profits. In Norway it is around 70%. On top of that, profits should be higher since the extraction costs are cheaper.

The Feds do not get any royalty from the oil.

For 9 years Harper has been diddling by leaving the oil sector running the way it has been and not taking a tougher stand on paying money to those who own the oil, and not making sure that we strengthen some of our other sectors which suffer when we have an inflated dollar which makes running a manufacturing sector more expensive when it comes to trying to sell those products on the world market.

Even though he has a post grad degree in economics he has not learned the notion of hedging your bets to smooth out the peaks and valleys of economic corrections.

I expect Governments to ensure the viability of the regions they are responsible for to run a economy that is more sustainable over both the short term plus the long term.

One interesting tidbit I found, Albert takes in more money from gambling than from oil.

Perhaps they are learning how to finance government services from Macao rather than from Norway.

After reading the above, you may very well ask, who is Albert? ….

The guy with the trucknuts next door ?

gopg2015:-“For 9 years Harper has been diddling by leaving the oil sector running the way it has been and not taking a tougher stand on paying money to those who own the oil, and not making sure that we strengthen some of our other sectors which suffer when we have an inflated dollar which makes running a manufacturing sector more expensive when it comes to trying to sell those products on the world market.”
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First of all, it would be Alberta and other provinces where oil is found who set the royalty rates, NOT the Federal government. And secondly, just HOW are you going to “strengthen some of the other sectors that suffer” from having an ‘inflated’ dollar, (one that actually is worth a dollar, not 70 cents or less), without being subject to countervailing duties for subsidising production imposed by countries we’re hoping to sell stuff to?

What the hell would you bright lights have expected Harper to do? The anti oil crowd go on and on that Harper put all his chips on oil. Well when you have one of the biggest reserves on the planet, I would suspect developing the resource will make up a large portions of government revenue. What should he have done. Throw more money at bombardier? That company has cost us billions. Finance a solar plant?Restart a
money losing pulpmill? We know how that worked out in BC. Cost us .millions.

Government needs to set the tone for private investors with low tax rates, trade agreements, less red tape and let he private sector get at it.

If you green clowns really think renewable industries would replace commodity revenue you don’tt havea functioning brain pan.
By the way altaloss, your oil industry subsidy numbers are a pant load of crap. The Pembina institute calculates that number by adding up a bunch crap and calling them subsidies. Get beyond the tyee.

Look at Ontario. Governments f$$k up everything.

“Government needs to set the tone for private investors with low tax rates”

BS …. the USA is near the top of the corporate tax rate in any of the developed countries. Their money is going to tax havens as a result, but their investments are still in the USA. Like the rest of the world plants and services have been moving to countries where labour is cheapest.

So tell me, why can most of the western European countries survive in today’s world with some of the highest living standards yet have high corporate taxes and send some of their work overseas?

Try looking at some of their joint developments such as the European Space Agency which is maintaining the communication satellites we have all become used to now for TV, GPS, etc.; Airbus, pharmaceuticals, medical research, automotive, electrical and electronic systems, alternate energy developments.

Why are we buying from them instead of competing with them.

The only investments in Canada are extraction of stuff from the earth and growing on top of it.

Easy, government subsidies. France on the road to bankruptcy. Their business model for the whole country is clearly unsustainable. The great socialist experiment of western Europe is on death watch. This is being sped up by the migrant crises.

As for the USA, high taxes will push corps to do anything to avoid them including moving to a lower jurisdiction. Ireland was a great example in the 90’s up to the crash in 2008 of companies relocating there. If you think tax rates have no impact on investment decisions, well your to far gone to throw logic at.

gopg2015:-“The only investments in Canada are extraction of stuff from the earth and growing on top of it. ”
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That’s not true. There are numerous products designed and made in Canada which compete very well internationally, and are even sold in northern Europe in direct competition with similar products made there. Tigercat forestry machines, to name but one. The key to marketing products internationally is to have an actual DEMAND for them, and for the country buying them to have some means of paying us for them.