Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
It was bad policy. It hurt Alberta. But a lot of people associate the entire 80s price collapse and decade-long downturn in the industry to the NEP. The price of oil would have collapsed, NEP or no NEP. The economy in Alberta would have tanked, with or without the NEP. Did the NEP give it a nudge in the wrong direction? Yes. But people who are still blaming the NEP for their mortgage being underwater in 1986 are just looking for someone to blame for a global commodity swing that was beyond anyone's control.
I think the downturn we're in now will be a long one, and I'm waiting to see who the myth-makers will blame this one on. The Saudis? Justin Trudeau if he become prime minister? Environmentalists? It will be someone. Because, you know, the global price of oil doesn't just go into the tank - there must be some villain behind the scenes trying to ruin things for Albertans.
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Who should the people who's mortgages collapsed in 1980-1984 blame; when Alberta's real estate market crashed far worse than any other place in North America and when oil was at an all time high? The NEP was a terrible policy that cleaved 50-100 billion dollars directly from Alberta for the sole benefit of Eastern Canada when oil prices were at an all time peak. That's some "nudge".
Pretending that the commodity crash of 1985 somehow means the effects of NEP policy should be ignored doesn't make any sense at all.