Quote:
Originally Posted by crazy_eoj
Norway also directly invests approximately 75% of all costs involved in oil exploration and production.
Are you suggesting Alberta should spend somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 billion dollars per year in oil and gas exploration to increase our take?
If we are going to compare apples and oranges...
Capital flows where it is the most competitive, especially in this global economy, and pretending that Alberta doesn't have to take steps to retain a competitive petroleum economy when pitted against global projects is probably the most ridiculous assertion in this thread.
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I'm glad you brought that up, because I completely agree that it's an apples to oranges comparison.
It seems like 1 + 1 = 2. Norway has a structured industry devoted to capitalizing as much as possible on oil wealth. It's heavily, heavily regulated, heavily taxed, and doesn't work at all like Alberta's royalty system.
Maybe Alberta needs something similar? Or maybe we shouldn't pine for economic stability and future oil wealth? Seems like it's one or the other.
If the royalty system isn't benefiting Albertans and Canadians, maybe we should look at an alternate method of accounting for resource extraction.
I don't know what that looks like, but it seems like an opinion that runs parallel for me with the Alberta government: If you've been doing something a certain way for a long time and you aren't benefiting from it, maybe it's time to change up?