Quote:
Originally Posted by CaramonLS
If Wild Rose 1) manages to get elected and 2) runs a surplus budget, I'll eat my hat.
Until then, I'm inclined to believe we have a revenue problem.
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Alberta's economy is structurally exposed to difficult to manage problems...
1-We export resources...so as export prices go...so does our primary resource economy
2-Our secondary sectors (Manufacturing and services) are tightly linked to the resource sector...this tight linkage makes the economic impact in resource exports greater
3-As people move to Alberta they place demands on the infrastructure and only bring with them their tax revenue. As Ralph said people moving to Alberta don't bring their hospitals with them. How do you plan for this?
4-When the resource sector does well, it can challenge the rest of the economy by raising the price of inputs that other sectors need (e.g. people)...it can also hurt in the long term by focusing attention on a sector that may not have as many long term benefits as other sectors (imagine Alberta's Steve Jobs 2.0 drops out of school to work on a rig...never to create ICT companies)
So Alberta is a challenging economy to manage...Back in the 1970's Peter Lougheed and the PCs displaced the Socreds who were tired old bible thumpers and pursued an activist political agenda which led to a lot of policy including the Alberta Heritage Fund (which is the neglected tool Alberta needs most right now).
As far as I can tell the Wild Rose party is all about debt management...their commentary about infrastructure is limited to roads and how to get better management of road projects for better ROI.
In my opinion the Wild Rose party is not ready to manage the complex realities of the Alberta economy of today as well as developing a plan for developing the KNOWLEDGE infrastructure necessary to prepare Alberta for its INEVITABLE post-oil economy.
Its like the mailroom intern gunning for the CEO's job...
I'm not saying the PCs of today are doing a great job (I get the anger and frustration)...and I believe their time to Govern will come to an end...but for the love of God not until there is a Party with more sophistication in their policy than "Debt is bad...taxpayers deserve more money in their pockets"