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I was talking with my Dad the other night. The topic of jobs in Alberta came up (both my brothers are working there and I'm currently shopping around for something else). We were speculating on how long this boom is going to last.

Dad says he can remember in the 80's, seeing bumper stickers along the lines of "God let their be another oil boom, this time I won't piss it away".

I guess there has been talk back home along the lines of "it's happening again." Instead of investing in the province (education, healthcare, roads, housing etc) Ralph is mailing out checks.

What do you guys think?

   

Alberta already has it's debt paid off, the best roads in the country, a functioning health care system and good schools.

What more is there to do?

A surplus is nothing more than overtaxation. So Ralph's giving it back to its rightful owners-the taxpayer!

Thank God the Conservatives are in out there! If it were the NDP or Libs, they'd be running around trying to find new ways to spend it. If it were Dalton Mcquinty or Bob Rae in the Premiership of Alberta, they'd be trying to set up new programs that would do nothing more than create a new class of people dependent on government hand-outs for their very survival.

We've got enough of that in Canada thanks.

   

hopefully it will dictate loud and clear people are being shafted by prices at the pumps and everywhere else including interest rates .

   

probley gonna see major tax cuts. Might cause a commercial boom.

   

Ooookay, was kinda hoping to hear from folks in Alberta. When I left the province for KY, teachers were going on strike, and now Ralph is talking about a need for a third way health care.

My uncle (a lawyer living in Calgary) says theres been a homeless problem ever since funding for shelters etc was cut. Downtown alleys smelling like feces etc. I havn't talked to him in over a year, maybe the situation has improved.

   

Unless you believe in a socialist utopia, there will always be an underclass. The fact is Alberta is now experiencing negative unemployment. There are more jobs than people willing to fill them. So while I believe we should take care of the poor to some extent, I don't think we should encourage voluntary unemployment. We could throw Alberta's entire budget at the underprivileged, and for what? So that some could choose to remain on the fringes rather than joining in society? So that some should be rewarded for not participating and not contributing? No thanks!

Better that Alberta's budget should be spent on those contribute and those who will appreciate what is done for them.

That said, I do think Ralphie could spend our money more wisely. The investments in Bio and Medical are bearing fruit, so why not promote further diversification? Why not encourage manufacturing investment from Canada and abroad? Why not work a deal with the Feds to increase immigration to Alberta? Why not invest in the diversification of other Provincial economies?

   

This is correct ...Calgary is somewhat of a shit hole the roads are all bad ... I remember when snow removal was so efficient you hardly knew it was winter now people must use tire tracks to drive and it makes winter very long , Parking on a side street means taking a run at it to make a track for you to get in and out and whereever there is plowing they pile it up against your drivers side of vehicle so you have to dig yourself out.

   

So blame the commodity traders who bid-up the price of crude at every pseudo-crisis. Or blame the oil companies who use instantaneous increases to jack-up the price of their existing stock. The Government Of Alberta doesn't set oil prices and there is no logical reason for it to subsidize that price for out-of-province sales any more than it already does.

   

Ralph likes to get rid of everything and so far the cuts have done nothing to improve commercial growth .....Good Schools ??? A functioning health care system ...... hardly

   

I'm going to hang on to that one because it will definately come in handy.
Dead on correct!

   

The lion's share of taxes are collected at the federal level, while the majority of services are delivered at the local or municipal level. This is the fiscal imbalance the Conservative's were talking about, and we'll see if they were serious about reducing it. At the provicial level, transfers to municipalities have been given an extra $3 billion in the last two years, so it's not like the Government Of Alberta hasn't done it's part to reduce the imbalance. But regardless of where the money comes from or how much is given, we let our local politiicians off too easy. We need to start holding THEM accountable for how and where they spend OUR money.

   

My guess would be 99.999999%pure gold paid Civil Servants

   

Yeah, me too.....I love that one.

   

Except when the surplus should be used to paydown an accumulated debt or to undo spending-cuts to important priorities like health and education.

Of course, in the leftist's world, a surplus amounts to an invitation to expand spending into new, and mostly unnecessary, programs - whilst conveniently ignoring existing priorities.

I've never understood how a government in debt can declare a surplus. I imagine if I was deep in hock to creditors and I was not providing the necesssities for my family, that all concerned would be a bit amused to hear me declare I had a surplus and that I intended to spend it on new toys (and beer and popcorn).

   

Are you guessing that I am a civil servant? If so, keep guessing.

   

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