Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Monahammer]

I think it's possible. The numbers are as favorable or more as the election they did win in. NW Calgary, Cochrane, Okotoks, SE Calgary, St. Albert, Sherwood park are key flips that need to happen for them to have a shot.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I'd like to see a pollster do 1000-2000 size sample in Calgary only, by riding. Since it is the battleground, lets see where things stand.

338 does a district breakdown, but I am unsure of their methodology or what their sample sizing is like:

https://338canada.com/alberta/districts.htm

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

338 does a district breakdown, but I am unsure of their methodology or what their sample sizing is like:

https://338canada.com/alberta/districts.htm

It's just based on all the public polls, suing weighting and algorithms, I think. I just want actual polls directly tied to ridings, limited to Calgary so the sample size is large enough to be realistic. To me, this seems much more useful than province wide 500 person polls.

[Fuzz]

NDP repeating their same mistakes, calling for a resource revenue review.

We do have a volatile revenue structure in this province, and at some point, some day, Albertans are going to have to consider what we need to do to correct that

Periodically, government should take a step back and look at their revenue structure for its appropriateness and efficiency, and that day is coming. I would suggest that day is coming ideally in the next year, 18 months.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...765833?cmp=rss

[Looch City]

Ha I see what you did there.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

NDP repeating their same mistakes, calling for a resource revenue review.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...765833?cmp=rss

I will say that regular scheduled royalty reviews that make small non sweeping changes every 5 years run independently from the politics process would likely be reasonable.

The quotes from the article show a huge misunderstanding on how royalties work. They have to be volatile. When you have a volatile source of income you save prudently to balance the peaks and valleys.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

NDP repeating their same mistakes, calling for a resource revenue review.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...765833?cmp=rss

I can't believe you're now supporting the UCP!

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by GGG

The quotes from the article show a huge misunderstanding on how royalties work. They have to be volatile. When you have a volatile source of income you save prudently to balance the peaks and valleys.

Smoke and mirrors show.... we'll end up making it stable by asking for a flat payment which will be paid no matter the price of oil, but the companies will burden the volatility. What the conservatives won't tell you is the new payment will be lower than the average, so the companies will just pocket the rewards during high oil prices.

I know, unlikely, but man nothing surprises me anymore with this government.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Smoke and mirrors show.... we'll end up making it stable by asking for a flat payment which will be paid no matter the price of oil, but the companies will burden the volatility. What the conservatives won't tell you is the new payment will be lower than the average, so the companies will just pocket the rewards during high oil prices.

I know, unlikely, but man nothing surprises me anymore with this government.

I don’t think industry would want that though. For sure the smaller companies prefer the lower royalty at low price because it reduces break even and keeps debt servicing payments and keeps profit to debt ratio style covenants from triggering. The big guys might want an absolute lower rate but even for them maintaining year over dividends is important

I can’t see industry lobbying like that and the province can’t get stability without raising the bottom rate. So unless stability really doesn’t matter and it’s a pure gift to industry then I think this is a competence thing.

[Superflyer]

Paramedics don't hold back at town hall with MLA

Notebooks and pens were busy in the hands of many of the 25 attendees at MLA RJ Sigurdson's EMS town hall Tuesday evening.

The Okotoks Elks Hall was the first stop on a tour around Alberta by the parliamentary secretary for EMS reform to hear from frontline workers and members of the community on how best to improve the struggling system.

One woman recounted the experience of a friend who has served for eight years in a large centre.

"She went to work one day and her boss said, 'You have a new partner' and partnerships are incredibly important, because they are life saving, they reinforce each other when you build those kind of long term relationships," said the attendee. "She was put with an [advanced care paramedic] who was transferred. The second day, she asked a question and the fellow blew up in her face, hit her, sexually assaulted her and she ran across the station yelling for help.

"She was told by the supervisor, 'We don't have enough ACPs, we're just going to all have to be a little tolerant about PTSD in this current environment.'"

In an impassioned plea, a man, who said his wife works as a registered nurse, expressed his distaste with the recently-announced initiative which would see nearly $100 million dedicated to incentivize oil companies to clean up inactive well sites. "I do not want one single penny of the money going to all the gas companies that are flush with cash, making profits hand over fist last year," he said. "I want that money to go to the people in this room and their colleagues.

"This is unconscionable that Premier Smith is digging in talking about RStar when these people in this room are on the verge of committing suicide and some of them have. This is corporate welfare in place of public welfare and it's got to stop."

[Torture]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1632820264638586880

I tried to give them money but they wouldn't take it! Also, I did give them more money than they wanted.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight

[Muta]

I'm still at a loss as to why we're incentivizing already-rich oil and gas companies with money, and not just telling them to clean their #### up immediately or else fines and legal penalties will be imposed?

Am I missing something here?

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Muta

I'm still at a loss as to why we're incentivizing already-rich oil and gas companies with money, and not just telling them to clean their #### up immediately or else fines and legal penalties will be imposed?

Am I missing something here?

Nope, I don't think you're missing anything. This is just what it looks like when "Business leaders" have the Government bought and paid for

[Looch City]

You forgot to think about the shareholders!

[Ozy_Flame]

Corporate welfare is not the same as public welfare. The former is for investment, the latter is for communists.

[calf]

All these folks like Brett Wilson complaining about government spending and lack of fiscal restraint don't save money for when their bills and obligations come due.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Nope, I don't think you're missing anything. This is just what it looks like when "Business leaders" have the Government bought and paid for

When you put it like that it sounds pretty awful, hopefully the UCP can find a way to dress it up a little nicer by blaming the NDP and Trudeau

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

When you put it like that it sounds pretty awful, hopefully the UCP can find a way to dress it up a little nicer by blaming the NDP and Trudeau

I can't believe the evil socialists forced the UCP's hand like this. Those bastards

[Faust]

Smith says Calgary didn’t request dollars for downtown; Gondek sent letter in November:

https://globalnews.ca/news/9531708/s...gondek-letter/

[Rutuu]

Originally Posted by GGG

I don’t think industry would want that though. For sure the smaller companies prefer the lower royalty at low price because it reduces break even and keeps debt servicing payments and keeps profit to debt ratio style covenants from triggering. The big guys might want an absolute lower rate but even for them maintaining year over dividends is important

I can’t see industry lobbying like that and the province can’t get stability without raising the bottom rate. So unless stability really doesn’t matter and it’s a pure gift to industry then I think this is a competence thing.

Nothing like making a point about the volatility of the business and royalties having to match that, then mentioning the debt in the capital structures of the oil companies. The dividend ponzi scheme that some of the shops around Alberta were running is/was hilarious. Bank money in...dividend payout ratio higher than 100%...borrow money to repay because its cheap...prices drop...complain about land tax and royalties...all while under funding the true abandonment cost and taking the liability off larger corps balance sheets. Smartest guys in the room always, but they keep getting away with it, so who knows.

As for royalties. Any changes means outside capital gets scared away. Capital hates uncertainty.