Quote:
Originally Posted by Flame On
Probably sounds as assinine to you as hearing Encana make statements along the lines of "Alberta has done well out of it".
Yes but an independent review board is suggesting it's doing as well out of it as it should be. Period.
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I'm gonna assume you meant "Isn't".
And that's fine, if the board thinks that the province should be taking more, but for ANYONE to think that these changes won't have a massive economic impact is naive, and completely uninformed.
All they see is the panel saying that Alberta should be taking an extra $2 billion worth of royalties.
I'll ask you this? Do you know why the board made these recomendations?
Do you know what the structure change will be?
Do you really think you're informed enough about this to be debating it if you answered no to EITHER of those questions?
What these recomendations do is remove the competetive advantage that Alberta has enjoyed, and is the reason for the boom, which for the vast majority of Albertans has meant prosperity (hell ask the guy who's making $12 an hour selling doughnuts). These changes erode Alberta's ability to attract investment, and in a substantial way (as evidenced by EnCana's statement).
Too many people are looking at this and seeing that extra $2 billion, and ignoring the other numbers that are just as relevant, namely like the one EnCana has thrown down.
Don't kid yourselves, EnCana will spend that money and will still make a pretty good profit from it, but the money won't be spent here and the benefit will be felt elsewhere, NOT IN ALBERTA.
If my company moves their capital dollars out of Alberta will that affect how much I make? Nope, not one bit. Us "Big Oil Fatcats" will keep living large, but I can guarantee that the guys working for the service companies, will be the ones that feel it.
So if anyone wants to justify it by making remarks about how much the CEO makes, or how all the office folk (presumably the target of the oil biz bashing) are making too much, and driving up house prices, etc, you should understand that it won't for the most part affect highest paid folks at the largest companies, it's gonna be everyone in towns, like Edson, Medicine Hat, Cold Lake, Grand Prairie, etc that will feel it the most.