Ed Stelmach trying to destroy Alberta

Well Ed Stelmach you win! You have accomplished what you set out to do as an unelected official. Your government has increased its power and predominance in the Alberta cultural and economical landscape. No longer is the sovereign citizen Alberta’s advantage. No longer are free markets and hardworking individuals Alberta’s most important assets. Instead we have zealous governments, subsidized housing and soup kitchen mantra. Well done. Very progressive. In your effort to extort more money from energy companies you have started the process of crippling Alberta’s conventional oil and gas industry and eventually the means to maintain Alberta’s fierce spirit of independence and self determination.

Since you tore up legal contracts and arbitrarily changed taxation legislation associated with energy recourses, drilling levels have fell from 80% rig utilization to 30%. This low rate lasted from March 07 to Dec 07. Now the winter drilling season has begun— these 3 months are crucial for Alberta companies to earn high amounts of profits, because of the traditionally slow spring break up. March and April are too wet to move equipment in Alberta so capital investments earn next to zero amounts if revenue. High winter profits allow companies to carry staff and debt through this difficult time. Well rig counts have surged to 55% this month. That is possibly enough drilling to break even for a lot of Alberta companies. Layoffs continue to abound. Drilling stays slow. House prices continue to drop. Unemployment is on the rise and investment continues to leave. The worst part of this is that Ed’s Conservative plan doesn’t even take full effect till 2009.

So we have identified Alberta’s loss what about the energy company’s loss? Nope. They just reinvest those dollars elsewhere. For instance Encana moved a billion dollars of investment from Alberta to North Texas overnight. Their earning potential stays unchanged. Encana doesn’t own the equipment needed to drill. They don’t pay to transport it. They contract those services from people in the places where they drill. The equipment and services for drilling are generally owned by Albertans in Alberta. Albertans own the trucks, tools, rigs, pipe, and personnel that are being most affected by pink Eddie. It is Albertans that are losing.

Add to this the fact that government will collect less revenue with higher royalty rates in the first fiscal year since the plan was announced. Less revenue will be collected with higher royalty rates. Brilliant— even for a socialist guise.

Ed Stelmach must be held accountable for what he did. Ed was not even elected by Albertans and he tore up legal contracts and rewrote our energy policies. Where are the checks and balances we demand in a free country? We never elected Ed Stelmach. It has been over a year since he was awarded by power and he still has not called an election. This is a travesty and should not be supported by any Albertan regardless of political affiliation.