Alberta Politics Thread

[Fuzz]

No, what they wanted, apparently, was money from the carbon tax. By cancelling these agreements, they don't get that sweet sweet tax.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

So I apologize if I have this wrong, but shouldn't the NDP be happy that companies are backing out of coal powered contracts? After all, their whole thing was cutting carbon tax emissions. With companies now backing out, doesn't that lessen coal usage?

Originally Posted by Fuzz

No, what they wanted, apparently, was money from the carbon tax. By cancelling these agreements, they don't get that sweet sweet tax.

You have to remember the fundamentals of the NDP Philosophical Manifesto:

Companies are not allowed to make money, profits are evil. They are however allowed to lose money doing something that the NDP consider for the Public good.

Because thats how companies work.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

So I apologize if I have this wrong, but shouldn't the NDP be happy that companies are backing out of coal powered contracts? After all, their whole thing was cutting carbon tax emissions. With companies now backing out, doesn't that lessen coal usage?

See in a perfect world, which the NDP subscribe to, without any concept that their policies and actions having effects on the people that live here . . . sure.

But the reality is that their coal phase out plan has already hurt a lot of people. There are stories in the paper for example of whole towns that are being devastated by their plans for their high speed coal phase out. So they destroyed a sector of a economy that's already battered without a plan on how to help the towns or people.

So Grande Cache for example is outright seeking to be dissolved because the coal mines shut down.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle30621783/

Other towns and companies that are based around the coal industry are likely to face the same fate as the NDP plunges ahead without an actual plan besides Carbon evil, people don't matter.

They can stand up there and say . . . but but green jobs. But we all saw the failure in Ontario when they created about 12,000 green energy jobs and put 200,000 people out of work in the manufacturing sector because of their increased costs to do business due to utilities costs and taxation.

The outright stupidity of this government is actually . . . baffling, especially with this current lawsuit where they're crying because they didn't know the rules and the effects of what they're bringing in.

Oh wait, there's a possibility that they did know, but they're either lying or denying based on their internal report that stated that the Carbon tax would sweep through the Alberta Economy like a scythe through a wheat field.

But then again when the most economically competent person in your party is Joe Ceci it says a lot.

I'm still waiting for Sarah Hoffman's explanation about why they put a radical environmentalist in charge of the Oil Sands advisory panel by the way.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

So I apologize if I have this wrong, but shouldn't the NDP be happy that companies are backing out of coal powered contracts? After all, their whole thing was cutting carbon emissions. With companies now backing out, doesn't that lessen coal usage?

No, because the Alberta government operates the balancing pool these PPA deals originate from. So by cancelling the contracts, these energy companies are handing the entire mess right back to the government. Which means that we taxpayers are eating the entire cost of phasing out coal when the NDP obviously expected private industry would be the one to bear the burden.

Whoops.

[mrkajz44]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

So I apologize if I have this wrong, but shouldn't the NDP be happy that companies are backing out of coal powered contracts? After all, their whole thing was cutting carbon emissions. With companies now backing out, doesn't that lessen coal usage?

Yeah, it's pretty much the perfect storm for the Carbon tax. Here's the quote from their website:

Alberta is developing a new strategy on climate change based on recommendations put forward by the Climate Change Advisory Panel. While details of the final strategy are still being developed, but there are 4 key areas that the Alberta government has moved forward on:

1) Phasing out emissions from coal-generated electricity and developing more renewable energy
2) Implementing a new carbon price on greenhouse gas emissions
3) A legislated oil sands emission limit
4) Employing a new methane emission reduction plan

Goal number 1 has just been accelerated! No need to phase them out anymore.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

No, because the Alberta government operates the balancing pool these PPA deals originate from. So by cancelling the contracts, these energy companies are handing the entire mess right back to the government. Which means that we taxpayers are eating the entire cost of phasing out coal when the NDP obviously expected private industry would be the one to bear the burden.

Whoops.

Thats exactly it and now they're finding out that private industry made sure there was insurance to prevent exactly this from happening and now they've got egg on their face.

To put this in perspective: Expecting the private energy industry to to rapidly kill itself and pay for the privilige is no less batcrap crazy than expecting Mexico to build a wall and pay for it.



"What do you mean they wont do it?!?!?"

[chemgear]

http://calgaryherald.com/news/politi...-power-lawsuit

Mayor Naheed Nenshi is blasting the NDP government over a lawsuit involving city-owned Enmax, calling the legal action aimed at repealing one of the province’s own regulations “outrageous.”

“We have the spectacle of the provincial government suing itself because apparently it didn’t know its own policies that have been in place for 15, 16 years and that Enmax has been abiding by.”

Nenshi also took a shot at the NDP, jokingly saluting the government for “job creation” by hiring a Vancouver-based lawyer to handle the case.

[CaptainCrunch]

So I guess the future buddy cop movie staring Notley and Nenshi is shelved.

[Zarley]

The idiocy of this move is beyond belief, even for the NDP. I imagine this will be thrown out in court, but the damage to investor confidence in the regulatory environment in this province will be done. At least there's only 2 years and 10 months until the next election.

As an aside, it's interesting that the province's lawyer on this file is a Vancouver based civil liberties and constitutional law specialist for what is essentially a commercial contract matter. Obviously this is the NDP rewarding one of their own, but I would have expected an Alberta based corporate litigator.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Zarley

The idiocy of this move is beyond belief, even for the NDP. I imagine this will be thrown out in court, but the damage to investor confidence in the regulatory environment in this province will be done. At least there's only 2 years and 10 months until the next election.

As an aside, it's interesting that the province's lawyer on this file is a Vancouver based civil liberties and constitutional law specialist for what is essentially a commercial contract matter. Obviously this is the NDP rewarding one of their own, but I would have expected an Alberta based corporate litigator.

Oh I dont know, I'm kind of half expecting Notley to do a almost stand-up routine.

She starts at the Plaintiff's table:

"You honour, we demand that you declare these clauses null and void!"

Then she walks from the Plaintiff;s table around the bannister and sits in the Judge's chair:

"Agreed! *Bangs Gavel* Adjourned!"

[chemgear]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...suit-1.3695444

Deputy premier Sarah Hoffman said Monday the decisions of several power companies to end their contracts could cost consumers $2 billion.

"At the last possible moment, the day before the PPA auction commenced, they inserted the Enron clause into the PPA contract language," Hoffman said.

But McIver said the clause has been "available to all Albertans from the Queen's Printer for 15 years now. There's nothing secret about it."

"The government didn't do their homework. They triggered a $2-billion loss for Albertans and now they're looking for someone to pin it on."

"I've been at this for 27 years and this is the first thing like this I've ever seen," said Gray, former executive director of the Utilities Consumer Advocate.

"Today's announcement to take private companies to court over agreements signed at the turn of the century is extremely short-sighted, and will keep billions of dollars of necessary investment away from our province."


I was really interested in the logic of the NDP Deputy Premier. I wonder if in a few years they'll retroactively change the law and try to go after higher taxes on business and individuals based on the amount of money they still had:


Buyers have done very well by the process, making a collective profit of $10 billion since 2001, Hoffman said, and should now be prepared to face market downturns.

[CaptainCrunch]

Sarah Hoffman needs to resign, she's terrible, she's only there to be a bullet shield so Queeen Notley doesn't have to explain her actions to us, the little people.

[Resolute 14]

It's a bit ironic and greatly hypocritical that the NDP are fighting against interprovincial free trade agreements because they say local companies should get preferential treatment while continually hiring people and companies from BC to do their dirty work for them.

[Locke]

The hardest part of this for me is that we have tons of incredibly well educated, experienced and intelligent people in this province that do some of the most difficult and complex work in the world and when things like this happen the res tof the international community must think we're a bunch of redneck idiots who just fell off the turnip truck.

This must be how Americans must have felt everytime George W. Bush spoke.

It is unbelievable that this band of village idiots is running our Province.

[LanceUppercut]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Nenshi also took a shot at the NDP, jokingly saluting the government for “job creation” by hiring a Vancouver-based lawyer to handle the case.

They are turning the very popular mayor of Calgary against them, thus decreasing the even slim chances of re-election even further. What is the government going to do to piss off Edmonton? They have to be the only region in Alberta left on the list now.

[Jacks]

In somewhat related news.

http://business.financialpost.com/ne..._lsa=469d-a745

“TransCanada, the company that pushed the risky Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, is back with an even more dangerous plan to build a new pipeline across eastern Canada and ship tar sands oil by hundreds of tankers along the U.S. East Coast to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico,” the group said.

Its website features a fundraising campaign with a photo of celebrity and anti-oilsands activist Robert Redford with his arms crossed, the headline: Let’s Ban Tar Sands Tankers, and the quote: “Let’s slam the door on toxic tar sands crude.”

Weren't we told that caving in to the carbon tax demands would help our image and get these deals done? These people don't care what we do, they are going to oppose the oilsands no matter what.

[LanceUppercut]

The Environmental movement will keep moving the goalposts until we all live in caves.

[Weitz]

I think its more hilarious that a Vancouver lawyer represents the government.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by LanceUppercut

The Environmental movement will keep moving the goalposts until we all live in caves.

That's because the environmental movement is funded by American oil interests. Our environmentalists are just convenient patsies.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Jacks

In somewhat related news.

http://business.financialpost.com/ne..._lsa=469d-a745


Weren't we told that caving in to the carbon tax demands would help our image and get these deals done? These people don't care what we do, they are going to oppose the oilsands no matter what.

Go TransCanada go.

After Obama lied about the Keystone XL and went against the findings of his own state department report that stated that at worst Keystone was carbon neutral or slightly cleaner then using other methods of transportation, safer then using trucks and created lots of jobs, I'm all about the road warrior approach of shipping oil to markets.

I mean if its ok for Ontario to bring oil in through sensitive environmental areas suing tankers from the Middle East and Venezuala instead of allowing pipelines because they're hypocrites who don't give a crap about the environment, they're motivated by bribes, I say load em up. Pickups lined with garbage bags carrying our product to the East coast, thousands of tankers a day down the coast line.

Rusty trains with rusty tanker cars clogging the railway.