Quote:
Originally Posted by EddyBeers
It was the policy, put forward by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and adopted by the Federal Government which forced refineries east of the Ottawa River to purchase higher priced Alberta oil. Thanks Ontario for helping create the Alberta Oil industry, we will always be thankful for your benevolence and kindness in subsidizing our province. Of course, when the Federal Liberals wanted to amend the energy policy, we got very upset because by that time we were making a lot of money and did not want the awful federal government to take our money.
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The Feds forced everyone WEST of the Ottawa river to buy Alberta crude, and did so at a fixed price. For awhile that was higher than the world price, and later much lower. There were also export taxes placed on the product, which basically sucked the life out of the industry. Luckily the gov't moved that money to politically connected individuals drilling boondoggle wells. (Dome and Jack Gallagher)
I believe that was subsequently the largest bankruptcy in Canada up to that time, and it was basically based on smoke and ridiculous tax credits.