[Muta]

Originally Posted by photon

I agree other companies can and should get breaks, and I think they do in many ways. Businesses came to Alberta because the government's economic policies were conducive to doing business, lower taxes than other provinces, etc.

As someone's already pointed out, the "break" in this case is kind of deceptive, while buddy with the IT company pays $10 tax the oil and gas company paid $20.. now with the break they're paying $18, still more than their "fair" share.

But I totally agree, I would love to see huge incentives for alternative energy sources, big rebates on electric cars and more efficient appliances and furnaces, etc etc. People won't change unless doing it means the path of least resistance, so take the surpluses and allocate some to getting people to change.



I don't know nearly enough to even pretend to make an educated guess as to what the right thing to do there is. On one hand I don't like rewarding mismanagement, on the other laws and regulations are in place to stop companies from getting away with things that will ultimately hurt themselves. So on one hand I say let them fall, on the other you have to ask if the same goal of improving the industry so things like that can't happen again without destroying the economy along the way.

I'm a pragmatist.. if the minimum amount of suffering results in some fat cats getting away with poor management (intentional or not), so be it, next time try to do a better job of catching this stuff before it gets out of hand.

For the most part, I agree. Great post.