Alberta Citizens Caught in the Tempest of Big Oil

The Parkland Institute has released a new report which confirms what the average Albertan already knows first hand: middle class Albertans are no better off as a result of the current boom, and Alberta’s poor are actually worse off than before.

The Spoils of the Boom: Incomes, profits, and poverty in Alberta provides a close look at a cross-section of the Alberta economy to determine how the province’s dramatic economic growth is being distributed. The study finds that, disproportionately, the benefits of the boom are being reaped by corporations and Alberta’s wealthy, while the poor and middle class are, quite literally in many cases, being left out in the cold.

Also from the Parkland Institute, Taming the Tempest: An Alternate Development Strategy for Alberta, by Diana Gibson, argues for a development strategy that manages Alberta's resources to forward social goals.

With over $169 billion in large scale construction projects on the horizon, Alberta’s already overheated economy is only going to get worse. Alberta’s inflation rate has reached national highs. Housing prices have increased at rates as high as 50% per year in Edmonton and Calgary. Public infrastructure is being built at enormous premiums. Meanwhile,homeless rates are rising across the province, climate change emissions are increasing dramatically, conventional fuels like natural gas are being depleted, and the government is even considering using nuclear power to fuel tar sands development.

There is no question the bulk of this boom is being driven by fossil fuels and specifically investment in the province’s tar sands-over $100 billion of the $169 billion in projects slated for development is for the tar sands alone. The desirability of this level of private investment is not being questioned by the Alberta government; it is being seen as an end in itself. However, investment is not a goal; it should be considered a tool to be harnessed towards achieving social goals. Unlike Alberta, many oil rich regions have a framework to guide their resource development and this report shows that the Alberta government is under-selling the people’s resources.

...

This reports lays out the framework for a development strategy that would slow the pace of investment to minimize the boom and bust cycle, and put into place policies to maximize returns from Alberta’s fossil fuels, fuels, maximize the processing and upgrading of those resources into higher value products, and put into place a long term plan for using the resource revenues to guarantee future for the province.

Imagine development led by the needs of people and not profit mania!

Links:

The Spoils of the Boom: Income, Profits and Poverty in Alberta, Parkland Institute

Taming the Tempest: An Alternate Development Strategy for Alberta by Diana Gibson of the Parkland Institute

View a clip of Diana Gibson speaking about Alberta's Tar Sands on CBC's On the Map with Avi Lewis

'Lets Share It', photo taken at Kyoto Rally in Calgary, by local activist and photographer Tavis Ford

Comments

[Psychols]

"The Parkland Institute has released a new report which confirms what the average Albertan already knows first hand: middle class Albertans are no better off as a result of the current boom, and Alberta’s poor are actually worse off than before."

I think this sums it up perfectly. Most of my friends have expressed dismay at the declining quality of life in Calgary. Our city is transitioning from a friendly small city to a large business metropolis. I once felt that I lived in the best city in the world. Sadly I no longer feel that way.

[Polly Jones]

Psychols, I am shocked by the changes in the city as well. I will walk in Kensignton and find one flashy car after another passing me by, while people sit homeless in doorwells.

I think governments have to plan for economic developments so that production for profit does not so easily outpace production of basic needs.

I think the Parkland Institute is doing an amazing job of following the key issues for Albertans.

[Feynman & Coulter's Love Child]

The Parkland Institute has released a new report

Actually, that sums it up even more nicely. The boom makes the poor poorer because "climate change emissions are going up?".

Just some Parkland Institute looneys...move along folks, nothing to see here.

[Red Jenny]

Hey Polly, there's a little something for you here