[Dion]

Smith talks about the PC dynasty during the election in 2019

Notley campaigned on the legacy of Lougheed in 2015. She governed in his spirit throughout the past four years. She even mentioned him in the last line of her campaign launch speech. This has been deliberate branding and it’s the reason Albertans who remember his reign find themselves so torn.

Notley is, without question, the inheritor of the Lougheed tradition. That’s not to say he was a full on socialist, but Notley isn’t either. I think most Albertans have been shocked to see how pragmatic she has governed, particularly as it concerns natural resources.

However, Lougheed clearly did believe that government could be a force for good and that it should actively intervene to steer the economy. Those were the glory days of government revenue, where resource revenues peaked at nearly $10,000 per person. Lougheed presided over a seven-fold increase in government spending, led by health, education and social services. He also led a progressive agenda to tear down some of the remaining oppressive conventions of the Social Credit era around drinking and Sunday shopping.

On the business side, Lougheed is credited with saving Syncrude when it nearly collapsed in the mid-’70s and Alberta sold its shares in 1995 for a big profit, and launched Alberta firmly into the bitumen business, which now makes up the lion’s share of Alberta’s resource revenues. He was at the ribbon-cutting for the first ethylene plant in Joffre, launching Nova into creation as one of the world’s largest ethylene and polyethylene production complexes. Even Pacific Western Airlines had some small profits before the government sold it.

But as we discovered in the two decades following Lougheed, overconfidence can lead to financial ruin, and there is always a hangover after a bender.

No one brags about government trying to build cellphones through NovAtel, which cost taxpayers $614 million; or prop up pulp mills, which cost $325 million; or support Gainers, which cost $209 million; or the $440 million in the Swan Hills hazardous treatment plant; or MagCan, whose abandoned magnesium smelter site I drive past every day on my way home, which cost the province $164 million.

These government failures also paved the way for Ralph Klein, who I think of as the anti-Lougheed. He cut spending by 20 per cent, including the cherished areas of health, education and social services. He got out of the business of business and privatized registries, liquor stores, VLTs and electricity. He contracted out laundry services, road maintenance, driver training, to name just a few. When he got into surplus, he cut taxes. The biggest smile we ever saw on his face was when he held up the sign declaring Alberta debt free.

I believe Albertans want both. They want all the spending and Heritage Fund investment of the Lougheed era, all the low taxes and debt repayment of the Klein era. Trouble is, we can’t have both. This time, even getting back to balanced budgets has to be done without the benefit of a substantial boost from oil, natural gas or bitumen royalties.

There are tough decisions ahead. Are Albertans ready for it?

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/co...ection-choices