Go West, young man -- but stop at the Alberta border

[First Lady]

Go West, young man -- but stop at the Alberta border; Saskatchewan is booming

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Matthew Johnston
Western Standard

Like legendary investor Jim Rogers, I’m bullish on Saskatchewan. This resource rich province is now under the wise and gentle stewardship of Saskatchewan party Premier Brad Wall, and times are good.

In two reports released today by Statistics Canada, unemployment is down and retails sales are at record levels for the month of September.
"More Saskatchewan residents are enjoying the benefits of our growing economy," said Enterprise and Innovation Minister Lyle Stewart. "There are more job opportunities, and Saskatchewan's confidence levels in the economy are extremely high when compared to other Canadian jurisdictions."

<snip>

Back in Alberta, Premier Stelmach is struggling to keep Alberta’s oil and gas economy from collapsing. The province’s New Royalty Framework (NRF) has pushed drilling activity to British Columbia and Saskatchewan and it’s not clear whether the recent ad hoc, desperate tinkering to oil and gas royalties will help.

Alberta’s free market-oriented opposition Wildrose Alliance party thinks nothing short of scrapping the New Royalty Framework will give oil and gas investors the confidence to return to Alberta.

"This latest announcement is reactionary, policymaking on the fly designed to fix something the government has caused,” said former MLA and party leader Paul Hinman.

In a media statement, the Wildrose Alliance wrote “investors outside of Alberta may not have any faith that this government will even stick to this makeshift plan for the five years. They have proposed six revisions to the current Royalty framework in the past 14 months, all with a mind to raising tax revenues.” Not since Prime Minister Trudeau has the political climate been so uncertain and unfriendly to Alberta's energy entrepreneurs.

http://westernstandard.blogs.com/sho...t-young-m.html

[ok, ok,....I get it]

the sky is falling, the sky is falling

[Boblobla]

######y comment incoming:

I have trouble taking an article seriously that calls a party that doesn't have any seats in the legislature "Alberta’s free market-oriented opposition".

I am sure with the struggling economy world wide the next Sask gov't will be back to the profit sharing, public spending liberals that rob from the rich and give to the poor. This will scare the big business back west and all will be right again.

I generally agree with your political leanings and conservative stances but I am not a huge fan of this article.

[Cactus Jack]

Calgary is a little slow for me culturally, I can't imagine living in Saskatchewan!
________
Bong Pictures

[FanIn80]

No offence, First Lady, but methinks you have a bit of an agenda with some of these "news" threads.

Perhaps you should just make a thread that clearly details your stance on whatever your agenda is, and then see if people support it. Innuendo and passive-aggressiveness will get you nothing more than a buck-fifty for a bag of chips at the airport.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

No offence, First Lady, but methinks you have a bit of an agenda with some of these "news" threads.

Perhaps you should just make a thread that clearly details your stance on whatever your agenda is, and then see if people support it. Innuendo and passive-aggressiveness will get you nothing more than a buck-fifty for a bag of chips at the airport.

My feelings exactly! Sorry, ran out of thank you's

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

######y comment incoming:

I have trouble taking an article seriously that calls a party that doesn't have any seats in the legislature "Alberta’s free market-oriented opposition".

Agreed... but really, what could they do, mention the NDP and Liberals as "even more socialist controlled market-oriented opposition"? The Wildrose Alliance is the free market-oriented opposition, despite being toothless, having a lunatic fringe social agenda (sorry First Lady), and generally being out in the cold.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Didn't you just make a thread about how BC was booming due to Alberta's bust, and now one that says stop at the AB border?
How are people supposed to get to booming BC if they stop in Saskatchewan?

[Flame On]

Lots of gold in the responses so far!

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

No offence, First Lady, but methinks you have a bit of an agenda with some of these "news" threads.

Sure I do.... generating discussion.

Perhaps you should just make a thread that clearly details your stance on whatever your agenda is,

I think my election website is still up; if people choose to they can read my stance on several issues there. Or my blog.

and then see if people support it.

I am not looking for support. I post on several forums, a couple are very political and tend to be right of centre. It's like preaching to the choir.

I very much enjoy reading responses that are opposite or different to mine.They give me food for thought and at times make me rethink my position. I think it expands my knowledge and understanding of Albertans. So I guess if I have an "agenda"; it is bettering myself through listening to diverse views from Albertans.

Perhaps you would prefer I be like all the other political hacks and stay within my defined group; sorry, I like diversity.

If you don't wish to join the discussion or have a personal dislike for me; it is very simple to choose not to click on threads that I start.
I will not be offended; that is a difficult task to accomplish.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by First Lady

I will not be offended; that is a difficult task to accomplish.

I accept your challenge, although it might get me banned for a few weeks

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Didn't you just make a thread about how BC was booming due to Alberta's bust, and now one that says stop at the AB border?
How are people supposed to get to booming BC if they stop in Saskatchewan?

You do realize I am not the author of the article.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

The Wildrose Alliance is the free market-oriented opposition, despite being toothless, having a lunatic fringe social agenda (sorry First Lady), and generally being out in the cold.

Hey, I was the one who called for the worst part of it to be pulled. (...And did so successfully)

Which one would you say I should work on removing next?

[Bobblehead]

I wonder how things would be different if Dinning or Morton had won?

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I have trouble taking an article seriously that calls a party that doesn't have any seats in the legislature "Alberta’s free market-oriented opposition".

So what was your opinion on the green party being permitted into the leaders debate in the federal election?

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by First Lady

Hey, I was the one who called for the worst part of it to be pulled. (...And did so successfully)

Which one would you say I should work on removing next?

Nothing. I just noted that despite the alliance's faults, the statement was true.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Dan02

So what was your opinion on the green party being permitted into the leaders debate in the federal election?

Absolute garbage.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Nothing. I just noted that despite the alliance's faults, the statement was true.

I agree the statement is true. I am more curious as to what prompted you to use the term "lunatic fringe social agenda".

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by First Lady

I agree the statement is true. I am more curious as to what prompted you to use the term "lunatic fringe social agenda".

Mostly because that wing of the party tends to rip the relevance away from the Wildrose Alliance and deprives the more moderate people from being elected and actually serving as a free market-oriented alternative.

Its mostly out of frustration. We'd all love an alternative to the Regressive Conservative Farmers Party.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by First Lady

You do realize I am not the author of the article.

Of course, but assumed by posting them both, you were in agreeance to them.
If I'm assuming too much, please expand on your opinion regarding my point. Do you agreee with the author of this article about stoping at the AB border, or do you agree with the other article about the booming BC economy steeling revenue and jobs from Alberta?
I guess what I'm really asking, is for your opinion on the clear conflicting stances of the 2 articles you've just posted.